Carmelo Anthony has been waiting for this. He has openly declared his plan to enter free agency since the start of the season. According to a New York sportswriter, it's no longer his choice to make.

Melo appeared relaxed and unfazed with all the Phil Jackson buzz rumbling all over the Big Apple and reverberating throughout the basketball world.

Before the game against the Boston Celtics (which missed Rajon Rondo), Melo talked to the NY Daily News: "Me? I don't think it'll have any effect on me, as far as what I'm thinking or anything like that. I never, ever once talked to Phil Jackson since I've been in the NBA."

Carmelo has no reason to worry if you base it on his stats. He has had one of the best individual seasons of his career. He has been scoring and rebounding more than the past season. Clearly, the Knicks losses cannot be directly blamed on him.

The prevailing opinion is that Phil Jackson was hired to fulfill the top priority on the Knicks agenda..re-signing Carmelo Anthony.

However, Flip Bondy of the New York Daily News warns that Carmelo's confidence may hint of ignorance.

He writes: "Jackson was not wooed by Garden management in order to recruit Anthony, because the player hardly knows the old fellow. In fact, Jackson is unlikely to appreciate Melo's low-intensity style. Jackson built two NBA dynasties around a pair of ultra-competitive maniacs, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who spat fire from their eyes. The notion that Jackson would come to the Garden and construct a franchise around a good-natured shrugger is a difficult stretch of the imagination."

This corroborates George Karl's opinion that Carmelo is "not a Phil Jackson type of player."

Anthony admits he was consulted about the Phil Jackson move: "Them guys gotta do what they have to do in the front office to make the moves. They brought (the Jackson talks) to me, they told me a couple of days ago, but it wasn't something that was do-or-die based on my decision. They were going to make that decision regardless of what I said."

Phil Jackson did not take a coaching job. He specifically wanted to take full control. There is a reason why he asked for that. The Zen Master has a plan, and Melo might not be included.