It doesn’t matter how great of a player you are, if you don’t have help your team is going to struggle. For the majority of the year Carmelo’s teammates have either been hurt or played terribly.
When they started to play better, the Knicks started to play better. It isn’t the most complicated thing in the world.
Phil Jackson recognizes that and I think Melo re-signing with Knicks is becoming more of a possibility than it was before Phil came aboard.
Here is what Phil had to say about Melo carrying the load for the Knicks.
“He’s had to carry a big load. It’s been a tough year for him. But it’s been a tough year for everyone. It’s not just isolated with him. But I think he feels the weight of it a lot more on himself.”
Center Tyson Chandler has repeatedly said that if the Knicks make the playoffs, teams won’t want to face them in the first round. Jackson agreed.
“Well, with J.R. [Smith] playing at the level he’s playing at now, yes,” Jackson said. “When Carmelo had to carry the load in scoring, a lot of times on his own back, and other people weren’t stepping into helping him carry that load, which Amar’e [Stoudemire] and J.R. have done, it could be a struggle. But now they have more than one option out there on the floor, and I think that we’ll give teams trouble.”
I think if you surround Carmelo with the right type of players, he is more than capable of leading a team.
We will have to see if Phil Jackson can do that if Melo re-signs.