New York Knicks president Phil Jackson's decision to select Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis with the 4th pick in Thursday's NBA Draft struck a majorly negative chord with Carmelo Anthony, per an ESPN report on Friday.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said Friday that Anthony was "furious" with Jackson's decision.
"I [was] talking to my sources last night. All they said was, he's furious, he's livid. He feels completely hoodwinked and betrayed by Phil Jackson," Smith said on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. "He feels like he was lied to, like he was sold a bill of goods. And he's willing to concede that he wanted his money. But he didn't know it was going to be like this. He didn't know it was going to be this bad. And he can't believe that his second season under the Phil Jackson regime, he has to look forward to it being worse than even last year was."
Phil Jackson told reporters on Friday that he texted Melo about the pick on Thursday night, but he was unwilling to reveal how Anthony responded.
However, he did say that he had the 31-year-old Anthony in mind upon making the selection of Porzingis.
"Carmelo is always on my mind," Jackson said. "He's our favorite son. At this point in his life, that's the way it should be. But the second-most important thing is what we do for this franchise. And that has to be a consideration. And I let Melo know that as we made this choice. He actually sat in during KP's workout for a few minutes. ... We anticipate it's going to be [a significant period of development] regardless of whether we have a 19-year-old KP or a 19-year-old whomever. They're still young players."
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