New York Knicks president Phil Jackson believes Carmelo Anthony will be able to play power forward this season when paired with Robin Lopez.

“One of the reasons why we really thought Robin would be the best fit for us as a center was that it would allow us to be more flexible as a team and Carmelo can play more of a ‘4’,” Jackson said on Friday. “As opposed to maybe a Greg Monroe who is not the same size, not the same defensive player.”

The Knicks have had success with Anthony at power forward in recent seasons. Last season, they outscored opponents by 5.7 points per 48 minutes when Anthony played power forward, per 82games.com. They were outscored by 7.2 points per 48 minutes with Anthony at small forward.

Just how much Anthony's position on the floor factored into those numbers is up for debate, of course.

Jackson said on Friday that nothing has been determined regarding Anthony’s position this season.

The Knicks have multiple power forwards on the roster (Kyle O’Quinn, Kristaps Porzingis), so it may make sense to have Anthony play small forward often this season.

“A lot of how Carmelo is going to approach the game is who’s going to guard him and the matchups that go along with that process,” Jackson said. “One of our reasons to get [free agent Derrick] Williams was the fact here’s a guy 6-8 who can play 3s, 4s, interchangeable, has the speed and activity to play with or for Carmelo in any situation.”

In theory, putting Anthony at power forward allows him to use his speed to get to the rim against bigger defenders.

The bigger advantage to playing Anthony at power forward may be on defense. As a power forward, Anthony can guard bigger, slower power forwards instead of quicker, perimeter-based small forwards.

“The big key is about defending. That’s what it comes down to: how are going to defend as a basketball team. That’s the challenge for Carmelo and all of our players,” Jackson said.

Another issue worth thinking about when it comes to playing Anthony power forward? The physical toll playing bigger players may take on the 31-year-old. Anthony is entering his 13th season in the NBA and has played the second-most regular-season minutes of any player in his draft class (behind LeBron James). He's entering the second year of a five-year, $124 million contract so the Knicks need to think about his long-term health.

Fisher doesn’t regret winning 2 of 3 late last season: The Knicks seemed in good position to finish with the worst record in the NBA late last season. But they won two of their final three games and lowered their chances of landing a top pick in the draft lottery. When New York ended up with the fourth pick in the draft, many criticized head coach Derek Fisher for the team winning two of its final three.

Fisher said on Friday that he wasn't disappointed when the Knicks fell to fourth in the draft.

“How can you be disappointed that you’re going to get a top-5 pick in the NBA draft? There have been guys at every number who’ve proved to be great and who’ve proved to be not so great,” Fisher said. “And so I didn’t feel that I did us not so much of a favor by trying to encourage our team to win games late [in] last season’s final stretch. I don’t think that necessarily doomed us. Ultimately Kristaps will be the biggest proof of whether the pick is great or not. I was fine with it, I was OK.”