Phil Jackson: We haven't seen Carmelo Anthony's best yet
Knicks president Phil Jackson speaks on stage at Phil Jackson in Conversation with Ben McGrath at the MasterCard stage at SVA Theatre during The New Yorker Festival 2014 on Oct. 12, 2014 in New York City. Credit: Getty Images / Brad Barket
Knicks president Phil Jackson believes the best is yet to come for Carmelo Anthony.
"He has just touched the surface of his greatness,'' Jackson said Sunday night. "He's still young enough to have some great years ahead of him.''
Jackson made his comments as part of the New Yorker Festival in Manhattan, where he was a featured speaker.
Jackson signed Anthony, 30, to a five-year contract this offseason. He praised Anthony for both the way he handled the Knicks' disappointing season and how he was willing to take less money in order to give the team some salary-cap flexibility down the road.
"He carried himself the right way in what was probably a very difficult year last year,'' Jackson said.
Jackson said that one of his hopes this year, in the Knicks' new triangle offense, is that Anthony will run the lane more frequently and take the ball up the floor less often.
New Yorker staff writer Ben McGrath, the moderator for the program, questioned Jackson on a variety of topics for 90 minutes. Among them were Spike Lee, the triangle offense and even if he would "prescribe'' LSD to Anthony, given that he once experimented with it.
When asked about LSD, Jackson said with a laugh: "No, it's not one of the prerequisites.''
One thing Jackson is prescribing for Anthony and the rest of the team is mindfulness training, and he said first-year coach Derek Fisher is on board with it. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing one's thoughts in the moment, and training often involves meditation and breathing.
Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Derek Jeter are among the stars who have said they have made mindfulness or meditation part of their regular routine in order to improve performance.
Another interesting development is that Jackson said he has the players all wearing an Under Armour-type shirt during practice. The shirt is designed with equipment to monitor their workloads and collect data so they can decide how best to use players.
Jackson also had a few other interesting comments about various people in the basketball world:
Jose Calderon has picked up the triangle offense better than anyone else on the Knicks.
Lee is "an avid Knicks fan who doesn't know anything about basketball.''
Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling has always been a "weird duck.''
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
