Carmelo Anthony has been through worse.
He played almost half of last season, the absolute worst year in the history of the Knicks. So yeah, seeing another coach fired in-season is not cause for him to wander into the woods and contemplate life or Phil Jackson’s essay posted on Twitter, the day after Derek Fisher was canned.
“I’ve been through worse,” Anthony said Tuesday before the Knicks officially ushered in the Kurt Rambis Era — not to be confused with the eras of Mike D’Antoni, Mike Woodson and Fisher, the other Knicks coaches Anthony has played for since arriving from Denver.
“At this point you become kind of immune to all the B.S. that goes on and the politics. You become immune to that,” said Anthony, who had a game-high 33 points in the Knicks’ 111-108 loss to Washington Tuesday. “My goal is to continue playing basketball, focus on the group of guys that I have in there and leave that faith to management, to the front office.”
That was how Anthony responded when asked if he were convinced he wants to stay a Knick. He spoke of the trust he has in Jackson. He could have left in free agency before last season but stayed. He trusts Jackson, who gave a somewhat bizarre answer regarding Anthony on Monday.
Jackson noted that with the trade deadline fast approaching, some players are off the table. Does that include Anthony, who leads the team in scoring, rebounds, assists?
Right, Anthony has a no-trade clause, Jackson replied.
Not exactly the warm and fuzzy answer most expected. But Anthony said he trusts in the 11-time championship coach whose record as a team president stands at 40-97. That’s a record that gets coaches fired but supposedly instills trust from players.
“You have to continue to put your trust into Phil,” Anthony said. “At this point, what could you do? Can’t shy away from that. Can’t go against it. So for me, it’s continue. I have to trust in it. I decided to stay here, I decided to make that decision to trust in the Knicks and trust in Phil. I have to continue doing that.”
Anthony doesn’t have a choice. He trusted the process in free agency, was paid handsomely and remained a Knick. Knee surgery limited him to 40 games last season. This season, he has battled a sprained ankle and soreness in his surgically repaired knee. Despite Jackson’s assertion the Knicks played well when Anthony was unavailable, the bottom line reads 0-7 in the games he has missed.
Anthony wants some consistency. In Denver as a rookie in 2003-04, he played for three coaches (Jeff Bzdelik, Michael Cooper, George Karl). Karl remained in place and beyond Anthony’s trade. In February 2011, Anthony went to the Knicks and was met by D’Antoni. Then Woodson. Then Fisher. Now Rambis. Give him a little longer and he may rival the Nets’ Brook Lopez, now working on his eighth coach in eight seasons.
“It’s tough. At night I kind of wrap my brain around it and put everything into perspective as far as how many coaches I’ve been through since being here,” Anthony said. “How many coaches, how many different teammates have I been through since being here?”
Yeah, wonder what Solomon Jones and Earl Barron are doing these days?
“So we’re trying to find some kind of consistency when it comes to that,” Anthony said, “but the business of basketball, it’s a tough business.”
Made tougher when you watch the playoffs as an outsider. Anthony made the playoffs every year in Denver, his first three with the Knicks. The last two seasons, not quite. Fisher said the process overshadows the playoffs. Rambis stressed getting back in the postseason is the highest priority. No argument from Anthony.
“I don’t think that’s even a question for me, as far as playoffs. My goal every season is to try to get to the playoffs and try to win a championship so I think Kurt is spot on when he says that,” Anthony said. “That should be our goal as a team. It was our goal. It should be our goal now, remain our goal.”
Because there’s not much worse than a season without the playoffs.