Report: New York Knicks Owner Had Spies Record What Carmelo Anthony Said on Court
By Josh Sanchez
New York Knicks owner James Dolan is a mysterious man and he appears to be willing to go to extreme measures to keep track of his player.
Just a few days after Carmelo Anthony was in an on-court altercation, it is being reported that Dolan kept close tabs on his star forward in the following games.
According to Dave D’Alessandro of the Star-Ledger, Dolan had a handful of Knicks employees listening in on Anthony’s every word and everything that was said back at him during the team’s loss to he Chicago Bulls at home on Friday night.
"Two audio technicians were stationed at two corners of the court — one a few feet just behind the Knicks bench, the other diagonally opposite — and they were holding those umbrella-shaped contraptions known as parabola microphones, which fed the audio into a DAT recorder on the truck on the loading dock.These guys had one directive from Dolan: Record every syllable Carmelo Anthony utters and absorbs while he’s on the court and on the bench, the Madison Square Garden CEO ordered them, and send the tape directly to me."
That is a very bizarre tactic from Dolan and it appears to serve no real purpose. The decision to listen in on Anthony is part of the aftermath from his altercation with Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett that spilled into the locker room, but there is nothing to gain from listening in — unless Dolan is trying to discover new brands of cereal.
What Dolan really needs to do is find a way for Anthony to mature.
Every NBA player has trash-talk thrown their way and most players direct some harsh words right back out at their opponents. It’s part of the mental game that takes place on the court and the players need to learn to deal with that. It’s no one else’s fault that Anthony is a sensitive individual. Spying on him will prevent or teach us nothing.