Dallas Mavericks' Tyson Chandler has hit back on allegations that he caused chemistry issues while he was still with New York Knicks. When Phil Jackson took over as the Knicks new president on March of this year, first step he made was to move out players who he deemed don't fit the system that he wants. One of those was Tyson Chandler who won the Defensive Player of the year in 2012 with the Madison Square Garden-based team.
Although the two parties separated on a good note, words reached Chandler saying he was one of those who destroyed team's chemistry, leading to their early exit last season. The prep-to-pro player finally had the chance to address that issue and he was clearly infuriated by it.
"I did nothing but try to help the culture there the three years I was there," Chandler said as per report by ESPN.
"You can say I didn't live up to whatever or you didn't like the way I played or anything. But to ever question who I am and the type of leader I am in the locker room, I don't even know where that came from.”
Chandler insists though that he's not sure if those accusations came from Phil Jackson himself.
"I honestly don't know where that came from. I don't know if Phil put that out there or who put that out there, but to me, that was the ultimate shock. And you don't have to say that to get rid of me or to trade me. The trade is over.
"So to judge my character and what I've done, you can go look at all my teammates and ask all of my teammates in the past, and the coaches I've played for, and I've never been a problem and never had a problem. So that was a shock to me that I didn't appreciate."
Dallas Mavericks, on the other hand, are upbeat on the re-acquisition of the 2012 Olympics gold medallist.
"We think Tyson makes our defense better and we still maintain quite a bit of cap flexibility," Mavs owner Mark Cuban told ESPNDallas.com right after the trade.
Tyson Chandler is also positive that he will provide positive impact to Dallas Mavericks where he won the2011 NBA Championship.
