The New York Knicks finished this season with a franchise worse 17-65 record. When you lose as many games as the Knicks have you can expect changes and expect them soon. 

Former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups was on a Knicks blog radio show and was holding back what he though of Carmelo Anthony as a leader. 

“He’s not that guy,” Billups said on “The Knicks Blog with Anthony Donahue” radio show. “Melo’s a good friend of mine, one of the best players I ever played with, but he’s not the guy who’s going to stand up in the locker room and give this rah-rah speech and get the team to rally. That’s not who he is.

“One thing he is, he’s going to come to play every single night, he’s going to practice every single day. He is who he is, He’s not that guy [who leads vocally]. But for who he is, he’s great. You've got to find another guy to make speeches, and another guy to do most of the leading. [Carmelo’s] going to most of the time lead by example. He’s not going to be vocal, he’s not going to rock the boat.” [...]

“That’s tough to ask for,” Billups said of asking a player to develop into a leader. “I’ll just say this, you've got all that cap room, you better go find someone [to be a vocal leader]. Melo, that’s not who he is and we are who we are. That’s like asking me to be this guy with a 40-inch vertical and go in there and be dunking on everybody like I’m Russell Westbrook. You can’t ask an apple to be an orange, that’s just not fair.

“[Carmelo] will lead by example," Billups said. "He’s going to come to work and he’s playing for the win every night. There’s no question about that, that’s who he is. He’s a great player, he wants to win. He’s going to come to work. He’s going to lead by example, he’s not going to be vocal.”  

Billups and Anthony were teammates in 2008-09 on the Denver Nuggets and went all the way to Western Conference finals. 

It will be a busy summer for Phil Jackson as he will look to turn this Knicks team around and get New York back to the playoffs. The Knicks will have a high draft pick that could end up evolving into Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahil Okafor. Phil Jackson also said he will be interested in trading the pick. The Knicks will go after big free agents like Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge as both of those players fit the triangle offence.  

It will take a lot to build this Knicks team even though they have the cap space to sign a max player. Knowing Carmelo Anthony is the center of attention in New York, players will have to realize their career stats will be going down. A big man who can post up and create plays for others in the post is needed on this team. 

Phil Jackson has said before that he wants Melo to be more of a leader. At age 30, Carmelo is looking for a ring and for the Knicks to win a ring they will need someone to step up to the challenge of being a leader, so he should take Phil Jackson's comments into consideration.