Knicks · Isola suggests Lin as suggested by Melo was fabricated....... (page 1)

And MDA not having it......

As the media horde horde began peeling away one by one from Carmelo Anthony’s locker late Monday night, the Knicks captain suddenly had an epiphany.

“There are a million of you guys,” Anthony said to one reporter. “I can’t win.”

Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the Knicks’ blockbuster trade for Anthony, one of the NBA’s greatest scorers and enigmas.

It was Garden chairman James Dolan who orchestrated the deal to bring Anthony to New York and in turn bring hope to a desperate fan base.

The following day, Anthony was given a hero’s welcome at the Garden. Remember the song — “ Coming Home” — and the accompanying video? Within days, the club announced that it was raising ticket prices. Fans’ expectations went through the roof. The Melo era was officially underway.

And yet, 12 months after that franchise-altering transaction, the one question that was asked about Anthony on Feb. 22, 2011 remains unanswered today. To paraphrase Melo himself, “Can he win?”

Anthony is arguably the most scrutinized star athlete in New York today.

He’s got the lucrative contract, the impressive stats and the All-Star appearances. What he doesn’t have is a playoff resume. He’s been out of the first round only once in his career and that includes last season’s loss to the Boston Celtics in four games.

Since acquiring Anthony from the Denver Nuggets, the Knicks have an overall record of 30-35, including a 16-17 mark this season.

Monday’s loss to the Nets was significant because it was Anthony’s first game in two weeks and his first since Jeremy Lin became a household name. The Knicks had won six of seven games without Anthony.

It’s unfair to blame the 100-92 loss on Anthony, who is recovering from a strained groin and is clearly not in top form. Deron Williams, obviously exhausted from hearing about Linsanity, scored 38 points and showed why he is an elite point guard.

Lin led the Knicks with 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

He also attempted a team-high 18 shots. In fact, the case could be made that Anthony (11 shots) didn’t shoot enough and that Lin shot too much. Or look at it this way: What would the reaction have been to Toney Douglas taking seven more shots than Anthony in a loss?

“Carmelo is one of the top 15 players in the league,” says one current NBA coach. “I don’t know why he’s so worried about fitting in with Jeremy Lin. Just play.”

The pressure to win in a city that hasn’t won a single playoff game in 10 years may be getting to Anthony.

Last season, he was dogged by questions about whether he could co-exist with Amar’e Stoudemire, and now those same unanswered questions are being raised about Anthony and Lin.

The problem, however, is that Anthony may not be a good fit with Mike D’Antoni’s offense. Anthony prefers to go one-on-one and needs the ball in his hands to make plays. Kobe Bryant is the same way.

But on Monday, Anthony tried to convince anyone who would listen that Lin, who has nine career starts, should be in charge of the offense.

“I want Jeremy to have the ball,” Anthony said. “Hands down, I want him to have the ball. I want him to create for me, create for Amar’e, create for everybody and still be as aggressive as he’s been in the past two weeks.

“I want that. There’s going to be times I have the ball in the pick-and-roll situation, being a distributor and trying to be aggressive. But for the most part I want Jeremy to have the ball in his hands.”

The words sounded as if Anthony is desperate to prove once and for all that he’s not a selfish player. The Garden also pursued on an image makeover by leaking a story that it was Anthony who suggested to D’Antoni that Lin get a chance.

However, D’Antoni denied that account on Monday, which undoubtedly is not sitting well with Dolan and perhaps also with Anthony. It’s like that old Godfather line: “Don’t ever take sides against the (Cablevision) family.”

For D’Antoni to go off script like that was telling and speaks to a larger issue of mistrust between the coach and Dolan, which probably started with Donnie Walsh being fired. D’Antoni could have easily gone along with the tale about Melo advocating Lin but chose not to.

It’s been a rough couple of days for Anthony. His current coach refuses to recite the company line about Melo inventing Linsanity while his former coach, George Karl, took a couple of subtle jabs by claiming that Anthony wants to get “that monkey of losing off his back” and that “he just hasn’t figured out” how to win yet.

And Anthony thought the media were tough on him.

Anthony would be better served just playing his game, ignoring what is being written and said about him and competing on every possession.

Ultimately, there is one way for Anthony to silence his critics and coaches. It’s something Dolan brought him here to do:

Win.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/carmelo-anthony-ny-knicks-mesh-jeremy-lin-article-1.1026590#ixzz1n55XJTu

isola loves to stir shit. only in NY does this even become a story. this is soap opera garbage. must say i'm kinda embarrassed that i read it and then responded to it. lol.

but it's so scandalous. who knew the behind the scenes world of basketball was so filled with subterfuge and drama?

It is also quite possible that MDA is playing CYA and is just a credit hoard.

Who knows who is telling the truth - they are all our for themselves.

There are no saints here.

Michael Kay was talking about this the whole afternoon. My reaction is...Who the fuck cares? I swear there are too many drama queens in NY media.

isola loves to stir ****. only in NY does this even become a story. this is soap opera garbage. must say i'm kinda embarrassed that i read it and then responded to it. lol.

Totally Agree! Only in NY!

Sounds like Dolan to put some fiction out there.

I mean WTF, if you want MDA to play that then you have to extend him.

Isiah with looming sexual harrasment suit got extended and Larry got 18mil for one season so long as he was compliant in not bad mouthing MSG.

What and who do I believe?

Not Dolan.

MDA just wants people to believe that it was not a last ditch effort and that he did not just sh1t a gold rush. Nobody saw this coming - nobody!

MDA cares about this sh1t more than anyone because of his GIANT EGO. Just phucking coach - you are doing a better job with this team. Continue making it better, get them to play better defense especially when it comes to guarding the 3. Figure out how to implement Melo into this offense - he is still a superstar. And then, do well in the postseason and BANG! You get your extension and everybody is happy.

We all want the same thing - playoff wins! But some people wanna just take a side and be right.

The guys that reported Anthony went to D'Antoni I believe actually have sources. Maybe D'Antoni doesn't want it to appear that playing time for players or his rotation is controlled by players. Maybe he wants the credit for playing Lin to be his. Maybe he was planning on using LIn and Melo also suggested it. I think Isola is forced to rely on second hand information a lot of the time and then tries to sensationalize things. I wouldn't read too much into this.

ay a ay ya ay we as Knicks fans can't just have our moment in the sun EVER can we?

CrushAlot wrote:The guys that reported Anthony went to D'Antoni I believe actually have sources. Maybe D'Antoni doesn't want it to appear that playing time for players or his rotation is controlled by players. Maybe he wants the credit for playing Lin to be his. Maybe he was planning on using LIn and Melo also suggested it. I think Isola is forced to rely on second hand information a lot of the time and then tries to sensationalize things. I wouldn't read too much into this.

reality of the situation is that it's the coaches call to play players. so for melo to claim he was behind lin playing is sorta crossing the line. it's not like mda is out there claiming credit for melo's game winners because he told him to "hit the shot." if anyone sounds dumb in the whole scenario it's melo. and again, this whole story is ridiculous.

eViL wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:The guys that reported Anthony went to D'Antoni I believe actually have sources. Maybe D'Antoni doesn't want it to appear that playing time for players or his rotation is controlled by players. Maybe he wants the credit for playing Lin to be his. Maybe he was planning on using LIn and Melo also suggested it. I think Isola is forced to rely on second hand information a lot of the time and then tries to sensationalize things. I wouldn't read too much into this.

reality of the situation is that it's the coaches call to play players. so for melo to claim he was behind lin playing is sorta crossing the line. it's not like mda is out there claiming credit for melo's game winners because he told him to "hit the shot." if anyone sounds dumb in the whole scenario it's melo. and again, this whole story is ridiculous.

Melo is not the one that came out and said it. I thought it was Lin and backed up by sources. The coach needs to put an end to all this drama and take an ego chill.

Boy how I miss the days of Pat Riley in NY. Nobody questioned him because he owned this city - he came in as a winner and nobody disrespected him. You need to earn respect not just command it.

Wow ..Drama queen stuff..NY media turns it up..I heard Melo being asked about it but he never said it was him..He gave the credit to MDA during a Francesa interview ..Francesa even commented that Melo never said it was him after Melo got off the air..It was Lin who I heard said it in an interview...Also, why would MDA not play ball, if this is all true, he just assured himself not being resigned to coach this team..

holfresh wrote:Wow ..Drama queen stuff..NY media turns it up..I heard Melo being asked about it but he never said it was him..He gave the credit to MDA during a Francesa interview ..Francesa even commented that Melo never said it was him after Melo got off the air..It was Lin who I heard said it in an interview...Also, why would MDA not play ball, if this is all true, he just assured himself not being resigned to coach this team..

+1

The drama is from the coach. Not that great of a role model in this.

i love the fact that MDA is being called a drama queen or whatever.... and yet he is the one that is not quoted or not the one who at all brought this topic up. not once.

Notice at all that there is no direct quote?

Here's the scenario: MDA was asked and all he said was that he didn't remember.

You guys actually fell for this shit? mrKicksShot, you seem so confident that MDA is at fault here, and yet none of it is true. MDA same guy who put his foot down for JJ.

This is all so crazy now..We finally get the pieces and looking forward to some practice time during the all star break where players could sort out their roles and here comes the drama courtesy of the NY media...Micheal Kay loves this type of shet too...MDA must know he is done..If that's the case, let's not create drama here with this team...We are close..If changes have to be made to slow the drama, let's make them..

also, everyone here understands that Isola and Knicks have a beef, right? so of course he's gonna try to slant a story any which way he can.

holfresh wrote:This is all so crazy now..We finally get the pieces and looking forward to some practice time during the all star break where players could sort out their roles and here comes the drama courtesy of the NY media...Micheal Kay loves this type of shet too...MDA must know he is done..If that's the case, let's not create drama here with this team...We are close..If changes have to be made to slow the drama, let's make them..

Michael Kay lives for this garbage

Anyone writing this story off doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. We need to get this figured out ASAP so we can figure out the bad guy in the Linsanity movie.

Is Melo played by Cuba Gooding Jr. or Terry Crews?
Do we ask Kevin Costner to play Mike, or are we looking for someone with more of a Terrance Stamp sort of feel?

This is important stuff.

The Media is ALWAYS looking for any kind of turmoil and drama they can find. If there is none, they're not above creating a little to see if they can get some strife going with the Knicks. They LOVED the Isiah years!!!

Right now this coach and this team isn't divided. They didn't break down during the losing and I don't believe they'll break down over media created drama either. The guys on this team like each other and you can tell that they do. They do things for each other and they are friends outside of the basketball court.

Once this team gets a chance to gel and show everyone just how good they can be, then the media crap will stop.

MDA never came off as someone that had a point to prove, someone that would Game you.

He tells it like it is in every interview, every post game.

He's not going to lick Fat Dolan's greasy shoes and that's that.

The results on the court speak for themselves.

Dolan will have a nightmare on his hands when he declines to extend MDA and keeps Melo. He's going to be out of Linsanity and the team will be forever in the dumps.

8-1 playing D'Antoni ball, tearing through the league. Now we are in the swamps again.

My take is there is no big drama between the coach and the players.

If the public relations department (the ministry of propoganda) was trying to spin it to help Melo and his image and MDA was being cast in bad light how could you not blame the guy for not playing ball. Thats of course if you have an complete hard on to replace the guy with a mystical figure not yet known.

MDA has had the carpet yanked year after year and with little roster stability at all and we never hear a complaint. Fans get anxious and call for his head. This guy sees all the crap in the front office and knows all about the Isiah years. He has seen all the crap Walsh had to deal with, the Isiah influence with Dolan, and who knows what MSG management is capable of.

To me the team was having huge problems with the one key component MDA requires and thats a PG.

When we finally get a miracle of sorts with Lin no body is hailing Kenny Atkinson for the job he did, or the scouts, or the coach, but (if its true) we get a report Melo was the one? Hours of tape, conditioning and evaluation and MSG puts out something like that?

If they did, I think thats a load of crap and all MDA did was say "he don't remember". Pretty tame.

Basically Dolan usually buys propaganda loyalty when he grants you an extension. MDA don't have that.

I don't know too many coaches with the reputation as being an offensive genius available and has never lost his team except when it was full of Larry hughes and Marbury.

Im under the impression if MDA can't weave Melo into this then perhaps its the players and not the coach.

I want this to work. I think the players want it to work. Keep changing is fun and exciting but starphuching ticket sales schemes don't last.

Of course, maybe the coach don't want to extend and he is done here?