Carmelo Anthony and Phil Jackson never had a good relationship. The legendary head coach and the forward never clicked, which was very visible during their struggling times with the New York Knicks.
Phil was a terrific coach, and his triangle offense brought him a lot of joy with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. As the New York Knicks president of basketball operations, Jackson decided to implement this offense. However, Melo wasn’t having any of that.
He opted to ask Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant for advice on how to break the triangle, worsening his situation with Jackson. The latter often accused him of manipulating the offense. Talking with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on ‘All the Smoke,’ Melo explained (43:52):
“We would watch film and he would teach me how to break the triangle… like, this is what you got to do. I think he was a little sick that I learnt it before, from Kobe and MJ. I would just sit with them and, Yo! Wassup with this triangle? Phil hated this fact that I figured that out, how to get to my spots, how to get what I really wanted. So he used to always say I was manipulating the offense.”
Things didn’t end well between Carmelo and Phil, who agreed to part ways with the Knicks in 2017, just like Melo. The forward then played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets before getting waived by the Chicago Bulls in 2018.
After playing the last two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, Anthony is getting ready to face a new challenge with the Los Angeles Lakers. The purple and gold assembled a terrific team for the upcoming season, and Melo will try to help long-time friend LeBron James win that championship.
