The New York Knicks face yet another decision to make at head coach, and Carmelo Anthony said he wants to be a part of that process, according to ESPN.
“I think you have to,” he said Wednesday night. “I think you have to have some type of input, whether it’s input or dialogue, whatever word that you want to use. I think you have to have that. I think at this point it needs to be some type of connection, some type of communication. Especially if we want to right this ship, there definitely needs to be some type of communication.”
The latest reports out of New York suggest interim head coach Kurt Rambis is the favorite to land the full-time gig despite his lack of success at nearly every head coaching stop in his career. Rambis has gone just 8-17 since the Knicks parted ways with previous head man Derek Fisher in February. Despite the poor record, Anthony complimented the job Rambis has done to this point.
“I like Kurt,” he said. “I thought he was kind of thrown into a tough situation with the firing of [Fisher] and kind of gathering the troops, getting guys to play and finish the season up. As far as what’s going to happen this summer, this offseason and next year, who’s going to be in that spot, I have no idea. I haven’t had any conversations with anybody about that. I’m pretty sure they’ll address that when the offseason comes.”
Anthony said he has yet to have any conversations with management about including him in future personnel decisions. While he likes Rambis, he said he thinks the franchise needs to at least consider other options.
Meanwhile, team president Phil Jackson has increased his presence on the practice sidelines since Rambis took over. Still, Rambis is not willing to concede the notion he was just a proxy for Jackson on the sideline.
“I grew up playing basketball a certain way, and it’s very consistent with what Phil believes and thinks,” Rambis said. “So I don’t consider myself a puppet of his. It’s just a mindset of how we think the game should be played.”
Rambis went on to say he believes good communication is necessary for any franchise to succeed.
“It’s extremely important,” Rambis said of the coach-executive relationship. “It’s so important that that’s why you see some coaches that have clout in this league wanting to be able to be the administrator and the head coach, and hopefully they have a good relationship with themselves.”
It seems Jackson, Anthony and Rambis are all in agreement on the power of communication, but it remains to be seen if they will actually practice it.
[ESPN]
