New York Knicks president Phil Jackson is encouraging star forward Carmelo Anthony to defer his free agency until next year, and the scoring machine has said he'll think about the multi-titled coach's request.
The Associated Press on Friday quoted Jackson as saying, via Yahoo! Sports: ''I told him it might be a good idea to hang in here and see what it's like for a year, and go out the next year."
Anthony has repeatedly said he will be opting out the last year of his contract which pays him $23.3 million to be come a free agent this summer. However, Jackson sold Anthony the idea that waiting for one more year in New York has its financial benefits. It was also during that dinner he had with Anthony a month ago that Jackson bared his intention to hire Steve Kerr as coach, until the latter decided to spurn the Knicks' offer and accept with the Golden State Warriors coaching offer instead.
Jackson also bared that he has no ill feelings with Kerr, his former player in Chicago. He revealed that Kerr had committed with the Knicks a day before the Golden State Warriors coaching vacancy was made public. "So I had to kind of release him to actually go to this job and say you have to do what's right for yourself. I understood entirely the process he was going through to have that job open up. That was something he kind of thought would be a good fit for him. So that's good, we're happy for him.''
Jackson said he's still busy interviewing guys for the head coaching vacancy but declined to name names. Aside from that, he also has to convince their start player to stay for one more year and see what happens until next summer. He said about Anthony: "But this is a guy we recognize his talent and his skill is the kind of skill and talent that gets you through playoff games where things get sticky, grind out and basketball becomes a force game and suddenly you need to have a player who has the capabilities of scoring with someone hanging on them in a situation that's critical.
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