Carmelo Anthony on Phil Jackson: 'I would never want to hear that word'

If you ever had a fantasy about LeBron James coming to New York one day to lift the long-struggling Knicks to a title, it probably isn’t happening as long as Phil Jackson is team president.

James spoke out against Jackson to reporters in Cleveland on Tuesday morning, a day after an interview with Jackson surfaced on ESPN.com in which Jackson spoke disparagingly of James’ need for special treatment, adding, “You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.”

LeBron James says he doesn't respect Phil Jackson anymore

First, James’ business partner and lifelong friend, Maverick Carter, tweeted, “All the hard work,effort and achievement and @PhilJackson11 still calls us a 'posse' every step you take they remind you, you ghetto.” He followed that up by tweeting, “Let me be clear I'm not saying @PhilJackson11 is racist, I'm calling out his disrespectful language.”

James then spoke at length Tuesday – and his close friend, Carmelo Anthony, also weighed in and took James’ side.

Anthony has long been a friend of James since the two came into the NBA in the same draft class in 2003. They faced each other in high school and have competed against each other, but also combined to win gold medals in international play together and their families vacation together in the off-season.

“I would never want to hear that word about me and my, I don’t want to say crew, but people that I consider family or people that I come up, been through thick and thin with,” Anthony said. “I’d want to be called a tight-knit group or family. That’s what I consider those close people to me.

“To some people, the word 'posse' might not mean anything. It might just be a word. To some other people it could be a derogatory statement. It all depends on who you mention it to and who you’re talking about in essence. In this sense he was talking about four, five black man. Do I think he meant it in any kind of way? I really don’t know. I don’t think he did. I would hope that he didn’t. Sometimes Phil just say things and he says the first thing that comes to mind. Probably he’s in his office right now regretting it. With Phil you never know what’s going to be said, what’s coming.”

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The thing is that players talk. Anthony and James vacation together with Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul. Those players are friends with other players. And in the times we are in, the midst of a racial slight, even unintentional, could close a door on potential free agents or even drive Anthony to finally waive his no-trade clause.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know how that conversation came up,” Anthony said. “I don’t know what happened. (The recruiting of free agents), that don’t worry me. I don’t really know what was the gist of the conversation, what was the topic or why Phil was even talking about LeBron in the first place.”

James felt particularly insulted because of the efforts he's made in empowering his group.

“For me, we see the success that we have but then there is always someone that lets you know still how far we still have to go as African Americans,” James said. “And I don't believe that Phil Jackson would have used that term if he was doing business with someone else and working with another team or if he was working with anybody in sports that was owning a team that wasn't African American and had a group of guys around them that didn't agree with what they did, I don't think he would have called them a posse.

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“But it just shows how far we have to go, but it won't stop us from doing what we need to do as a group. I've put together a great team, I've empowered some guys since I was a kid and we've all grown together and become one of the people that try to model after so we're not going to let Phil Jackson's comments stop us from doing what we need to do. It just gives us extra motivation, but it's still sad, though, to see that people at the top always want to try to put guys in power down.”

James won two titles while playing in Miami under the leadership of Pat Riley, the long-time nemesis of Jackson – and the person Jackson was needling when he made the comment about James. Asked if he had a relationship with Jackson, James did not mince words, but did express disappointment.

“Zero. No relationship at all,” James said. “I had nothing but respect for him as a coach, for what he was able to do obviously at the helm of my favorite player of all-time in (Michael Jordan) and also growing up watching the Lakers, but I’ve got nothing for him.”

Asked if he meant, “had” respect, James said, “Yeah.”

And he made what was his real point – if Jackson would say this into a microphone, what is being said or thought in private.

“It’s not surprising,” James said. “If he says it out to the media, you can only imagine what he says when the camera is not on him or the headset or whatever you guys record on. Just got a lot more work to do.”

Steve Popper writes for the Bergen Record, part of the USA TODAY Network.