Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Sixers, Rookies

If Knicks president Phil Jackson was looking to get value out of Carmelo Anthony in a trade, his negative comments have only hurt the forward’s stock, Fred Kerber of the New York Post writes.

While Anthony posted reasonable numbers for the underachieving Knicks in 2017/18, the fact that Jackson has slammed both his personality and playing style certainly aren’t reassuring.

Phil made a statement basically that Carmelo’s a losing type of player. Well, if he’s a loser for the Knicks, he’s going to be a winner someplace else? That obviously didn’t help,” one Eastern Conference executive told Kerber.

Anthony’s famous no-trade clause already limits who the Knicks may be able to trade with, so Jackson’s mystifying approach to marketing make it even less likely that the franchise will be able to yield a reasonable return for their once-prized building block.

There’s more from the Atlantic:

  • It’s easy to be excited about the NBA draft — the Sixers have been planning for it all year. A more telling day, in terms of shaping the franchise of the organization, however, could be this Tuesday’s draft lottery. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer lays out the various possible outcomes the team faces when the order is revealed.
  • The extra attention put toward Isaiah Thomas in the postseason has put more pressure on the Celtics‘ supporting cast, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England writes. More has been asked of teammates like Jae Crowder, Blakely writes, and they’ve stepped up.
  • Don’t expect an immediate impact out of this year’s draft class — at least that’s what Knicks boss Phil Jackson implied to Lakers president Magic Johnson, Al Iannazzone of Newsday writes. “It’s just really tough,” Jackson said. “The maturation level, particularly the education the game has stepped to, the amount of work it takes physically, mentally, the preparation. We don’t expect a whole lot.
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