Although he’s headed to the playoffs as a top-four seed with the Wizards, Brandon Jennings spent most of the season with the Knicks, and said on Thursday that he thinks the constant trade rumors and speculation surrounding Carmelo Anthony had an effect on his old team in the weeks and months leading up to the deadline.
“It definitely took a toll, I think, on the team. Because it wasn’t even about basketball anymore, it was more about what was going on with Melo,” Jennings said, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “… I think it was just a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster for him this year with everything he had to deal with, which isn’t fair. For a player to wake up every day and you’re hearing trade rumors and you might be gone and this and that. It was like a two-week span where everybody was hitting your phone, (reading reports) about Melo leaving.”
The rumors surrounding Anthony began in earnest around mid-January, when Phil Jackson‘s longtime friend and confidant Charley Rosen published a column criticizing the Knicks forward. Although Rosen dismissed the notion that he was acting as Jackson’s mouthpiece, a handful of reports surfaced in the following weeks suggesting that the Knicks were reaching out to other teams to gauge their interest in the 10-time All-Star, in the hopes that he’d waive his no-trade clause.
Between mid-January and the trade deadline on February 23, the Knicks lost 12 of 17 games, though it’s a bit of a leap to assume that correlation equals causation — even before Rosen’s column was published, New York was off to a sluggish 18-22 start to the season.
Whether or not the constant trade talks had an impact on the Knicks’ on-court performance, Jennings says they weren’t fair to Anthony, as Begley details. In Jennings’ view, Carmelo had “a lot of pressure on him dealing with stuff with Phil.”
Anthony ultimately stayed put at the deadline, but the Knicks are expected to revisit trade possibilities in the summer, at which point Carmelo may be more open to accepting a deal.
Tank for Porter or Doncic
Jennings always has something to say, like saying the Bucks would beat the Heat in the first round years ago. The Knicks were just trash, Melo is getting paid 24 million he would be idiotic to even care about trade rumors making that kind of money. He just doesn’t play defense its that simple, when does Melo ever hustle on defense? NEVER, the NBA is soft back in the days defenders were in your face the moment you got the ball, I can only name two guys at the top of my head who play on ball defense CONSISTENTLY and it’s Kawhi Leonard and Avery Bradley.
Spot on Dionis, spot on
You see it, the Carmelos distraction for the team. Brandon MISTER Jennings to say it the truth, not all way, but this time the bullseye. How many season do the world waiting for playoffs for the New York club? Maybe best for the Carmelos to be trade to the Miami?
He would be a nice fit there as a small ball 4, there are talks about the Clippers but I don’t see him going there unless Blake goes elsewhere. The thought of Blake and Melo together on the court instantly makes me think the Clippers will be really stagnant and lack chemistry because Blake and Melo operate similarly in the half court and Melo isn’t just a shooter he likes to iso alot. That said my prediction is he works things out with Phil this summer and Phil will make the necessary moves this summer but he would fit in lovely alongside Walker and Batum because they really need another offensive weapon in Charlotte because Batum is a 3rd option not 2nd.
Look at the Dwayne MISTER Wade.
Can we fire Phil please? He completely gutted a decent roster, alienated the team’s best player, and forces the coaches to run an antiquated offense that doesn’t fit the players HE acquired. On top of that he’s the highest paid GM in the league!
Stop blaming Melo because the Knicks suck. We have 5 undrafted rookies on the roster and 4 of them have been starters this year. Half the Knicks roster wouldn’t even make the roster for 75% of the other NBA teams much less be in the rotation….It’s hard to win with no talent.
Phil drafted a superstar in Porzingis and he’ll likely swing another homerun this draft, relax and be patient, Phil believed Melo had potential to lead a triangle but he was wrong, it happens, thats Carmelo for you a great scorer but another McGrady and Carter who never reached his absolute best.
Calling Porzingis a superstar at this stage is very premature. Also just because he’s made one good draft pick that excuses all the other shit he has pulled? He’s alliened an entire team and the entire knicks fan base which is pretty freakin hard to do since knick fans are some of the most die hard fans in the sports world. He needs to shut his mouth and focus on doing his job instead of talking about how melo isn’t a fit and the comments he made about Lebron earlier this year were not only out of line but they were pointless. Talking about Lebron’s squad and how he wants special treatment as if Phil wouldn’t get Lebron to come to New York in a heartbeat if he could.
Dude I am a Knick fan and I don’t want Lebron anywhere near my Knicks, he soft and mentally weak, I don’t want him bringing all that whining to NY and constantly having to read about his every action on the daily news.
LMAO, Dionis dude you know that’s complete BS! I’m a die hard Knicks fan since the 80’s and also a founding member of the Lebron Haters Club…but I would love it if he was on the Knicks. He’s the best player in the world for crissakes! Who WOULDN’T want him on their team?? Sure he’s a whiney prima donna but he’s also been in the NBA finals 6 years in a row.
The soft and mentally weak arguments were invalidated years ago. LeBron haters need to come up with a new angle.
Decent roster? What world were you living in. At least the Knicks have some decent young pieces now. Melo at this point in his career can’t be a team’s best player. He could be there primary scorer but he can’t lead a team on his own. That being said can Jennings just shut up? He acts like he knows so much about being part of a winning team MISTER 5 teams in 7 seasons
If you are referring to my comment, Phil traded Tyson Chandler, JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Tim Hardaway Jr. within his first year and all we have to show for that is Lance Thomas and the ghost of Derrick Rose. Other than Chandler, all of those players I just named are rotation players for playoff teams. So yeah, we had a decent roster that he completely gutted for little to no return.
Stop trying to blame Melo for the Knicks troubles. I can agree that he shouldn’t be the #1 on anyone’s team going forward but that wasn’t true 3 years ago when we were coming off 54 wins. We were a few pieces and a decent coach away from being a contender….but Phil comes in, hires a coach with no coaching experience EVER and trades away all the talent for scraps. But it’s somehow Melo’s fault?? Put Melo on the Hawks, Raptors, OKC or Portland and they are in the WC/EC finals. He’s be someone’s VERY good #2 option.
Why would making a lot of money mean Melo doesn’t care where he lives? He has a no trade clause he obviously cares where he lives.