Tag: Phil Jackson

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Phil Jackson Isn’t Leaving the Knicks in Dire Straits

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Phil Jackson is goink, goink, gone as President of the New York Knicks.

The news was passed down early yesterday morning, as Jackson and owner James Dolan began to have major philosophical differences about the future of the franchise. This frustration is reported to have revolved around a potential buyout of Carmelo Anthony, an avenue that would have entailed the Knicks paying him a large sum of money, potentially up to $54 million, to play elsewhere. While Anthony wanted out of New York, Jackson wanted to get something back for his services. With this, the tumultuous, turbulent, three-year tenure of Jackson’s rule over the Knicks came to an end yesterday.

The reaction to this news? Predictable:

HALLELUJAH.

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Needless to say, Knick fans are pretty stoked about the team getting out of Jackson’s grasp. At this point, though, it’s probably a good idea to take a look back at Jackson’s time with the Knicks and just what exactly went so wrong for him and the team over these past three years. It’s also important to look at where the Knicks are now as opposed to where they were when Jackson took over as the team’s lead executive.

On March 18, 2014, the Knicks hired Jackson as their team president. The team was 28-40 at the time and in no position to make a run towards the playoffs. In fact, Phil’s first move as the lead executive, as certain individuals will happily remind you, was to sign Lamar Odom, who, at the time, was in the midst of an addiction to alcohol and cocaine. As a metaphor, it wasn’t the best start to the Jackson era in New York.

After the season, Jackson fired head coach Mike Woodson and replaced him with the recently-retired Derek Fisher. While the hiring was met with optimism, the Knicks previously had their heart set on Steve Kerr, who instead took a job with the Golden State Warriors. The team reportedly low-balled Kerr by offering him $13 million for three years; the Warriors offered to pay Kerr $5 million per year for five years, an offer he happily accepted. Three years and two Golden State championships later, it’s clear that the disenfranchisement of Kerr set a negative tone for Phil Jackson’s tenure as president of the Knicks.

Perhaps more telling, though, were the assistant coaches hired by Jackson to help the inexperienced Fisher. Among others, Jackson hired Jim Cleamons and Kurt Rambis to spots on Fisher’s bench. Why was this significant? Well, both men were former assistant coaches under Jackson in his time with the Bulls and Lakers; they would help implement Jackson’s favored Triangle offense, an offensive system he used in both of his previous coaching stints to help him win eleven championships. The Knicks, however, did not have Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, and it showed, as the team went 17-65 for the 2014-15 season, Jackson’s first full campaign as leader of the Knicks’ front office.

The seminal move of that season was the team’s trade of J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a three-team trade that also included Dion Waiters and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Knicks acquired… Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson, and Lance Thomas. Smith and Shumpert became important pieces to the Cavaliers’ run to the NBA Finals that season and both are still in Cleveland. Jackson had finally helped build a title contender. Unfortunately, that title contender played in Cleveland, serving as yet another metaphor for the hapless Knicks.

Jackson’s lasting legacy as an executive will be his selection of Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Porzingis has been excellent as a Knick and represents the team’s future as Carmelo Anthony begins to decline. Of course, in true Jacksonian fashion, he tried to trade the 21-year-old Porzingis before this year’s draft. When asked why he would even think about doing such a thing, the principal reason he cited was the Knicks’ future. The main reason for trading Porzingis would have been because he blew off last year’s end-of-season exit meetings because he, like everyone else, was and is frustrated with the Knicks’ dysfunction. While Phil cited the future to explain why the Knicks took calls about Porzingis’ availability, little did he know that trading the team’s best asset would have sabotaged the future Jackson said he was trying to protect.

This is also to say nothing of the relationship (or lack thereof) Jackson cultivated with Anthony. Among other insults, Jackson suggested that Anthony was a ball hog and didn’t necessarily care about winning. Jackson later went back to his Twitter with this truly bizarre clarification after subtweeting his star player:

One thing Jackson does understand about being an executive is the use of social media. As an influential leader in the 21st Century, Jackson understands that Twitter is a way to get your message out without going through the media. Unfortunately, his Twitter usage only created further problems for the Knicks, a team already torn apart by bad management and poor performance.

So where are the Knicks right now? After firing Fisher and bringing in new coach Jeff Hornacek before last season, the Knicks are at something of a crossroads. While Jackson and the Triangle are out, Hornacek and the remains of his staff and the team’s front office will have to fend for themselves with a roster somewhat in question; point guard Derrick Rose is a free agent and the team reportedly wants to try to trade Anthony, even though Jackson has left the front office.

Even though Phil Jackson proved to be a fairly awful executive (the Knicks were 80-171 under his leadership), he didn’t completely sabotage the team’s future. While there were times it looked like he would, Jackson still left the Knicks with Kristaps Porzingis and the opportunity to get something meaningful in exchange for Anthony’s services.

As for who will replace Jackson, that still remains to be seen. The top candidates to emerge for the position are former Cavaliers GM David Griffin and Raptors president Masai Ujiri. If the Knicks can lure Ujiri from Canada, the Raptors are likely to receive draft pick compensation in return. Of course, the success of Jackson’s replacement will depend on how willing owner James Dolan is to trust the new decision-maker(s). Dolan’s track record could use some improvement; since 2002, the Seattle SuperSonics have won more playoff games than the Knicks. Since 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics have been known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. The task awaiting whoever takes over as the president of the Knicks is to rebuild the worst-run franchise in the NBA into a contender. Good luck.

But the new president of the team will have Porzingis, Anthony, and, most importantly, a bright future for a team that has not reached the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. That’s a lot better than nothing.

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The Knicks Are Redefining the Meaning of “Dysfunctional”

Photo Credit: Paul J. Bereswill/New York Daily News

This probably is not going to come as a shock to most of America (or the world), but the New York Knicks are a complete trainwreck.

This organization is a different kind of trainwreck, though. They are the type of trainwreck that redefines the meaning of a trainwreck. The Knicks are a mess. The Browns and Jets are laughing at them. New Year’s Eve Mariah Carey thinks they are spinning out of control.

Last night, though, was a new low, even by Knickerbocker standards.

Last night, the Clippers came to New York and played the Knicks in a primetime, nationally-televised game. The Clippers have been struggling as well, having lost five out of their previous six games and having been without star point guard Chris Paul since January 16th. The potential was there for a less-than-stellar game, but what we got was much more than what we expected.

Midway through the first quarter, with the game tied at 19 and Latvian unicorn Kristaps Porzingis at the line, a disagreement between Knicks legend Charles Oakley and Madison Square Garden security escalated into a fight. Judge for yourself what exactly happened:

Oakley was an integral part of the Knicks’ success in the 1990s, helping lead the team to the 1994 NBA Finals and several 50-win seasons in that time period. During his career, he played just as he behaved on Wednesday night; with an enforcer’s mentality and a reckless abandon. He once slapped Scottie Pippen and tried to end Charles Barkley’s life in a preseason game. The fact that he would get arrested at a Knicks game isn’t exactly a surprise, especially when you consider that he doesn’t have the best relationship with owner James Dolan.

However, there have been two wildly different accounts of how everything went down last night at the Garden.

The Knicks organization contends that Oakley arrived at the game shortly after it started, almost immediately began hurling insults at Dolan (who was seated two rows down from Oakley), and was confronted by MSG security. Oakley, as could be seen on the ESPN broadcast, engaged in a physical altercation with the authorities and was arrested for three counts of assault and one for trespassing.

Oakley, on the other hand, says that he never directed any comments toward Dolan during the game and was escorted out of the game by Garden security for no particular reason. Oakley also added that Garden security asked him why his seat was so close to Dolan’s, forcing Oakley to explain that he bought his own way into the game. The authorities persisted, and that is when the fight escalated. There are multiple witnesses who have backed up both stories, and the truth of what happened is likely somewhere in the middle between the two.

This was the Knicks’ response to Oakley’s ejection from the arena last night. I assure that 100% of this is real:

The last line of the statement is my personal favorite: “He was a great Knick and we hope he gets some help soon.” There is a good deal of irony in that sentence. For example, just two years ago, Dolan received an email from a disgruntled, lifelong Knick fan about how badly the franchise was run. The fan, who at the time had rooted for the team for 60 years, ran through a laundry list of disgraces to the team and urged Dolan to sell the franchise. Dolan responded, suggesting that the fan was an “alcoholic” who was a “negative force” to anyone he came in contact with. But yes, Oakley is the one who needs help in this dispute.

Disparaging those who have given years of service to the franchise, particularly through a statement on Twitter, is not a way to professionally run an organization. Oh, right, Knicks brass already did that just this past Tuesday.

I mean, this franchise is the definition of dysfunctional. Jackson seemingly agreed with an article suggesting that Carmelo Anthony, the best player on the team, has not a care in the world for winning. Subtweeting the other half in a relationship is something you do right before a nasty breakup; Phil Jackson, unless he trades Melo, is stuck with him for another two years. I think his only strategy here is to make Anthony so angry that he waives his no-trade clause and agrees to play somewhere else. There is literally no way this relationship works unless that happens.

Remember when Jackson was brought in as team president to be a steady presence and a beacon of stability for the franchise? Yeah, he’s actually been the opposite. Jackson’s leadership of the Knicks has left the team without much of a direction and, besides from Porzingis, not much of a future, either. Free agents don’t want to play for the Knicks and coaches don’t want to coach for the team, either.

Don’t believe me on that last point? This is what current head coach Jeff Hornacek had to say about the team’s exploits before the organization collectively cratered last night:

“I kind of, not was warned, but it was expected that it was going to be something all the time, and it’s lived up to the billing. It’s been something all year. So, OK, let’s go play a game and try to win.”

That’s spectacular. To an extent, I kind of feel bad for Hornacek; this could be his last opportunity to be an NBA head coach and he is not being allowed to function normally. At the same time, he probably knew exactly what he was getting into with the Knicks, so this probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to him, even as the season has gotten more and more out of hand.

Speaking of out of hand, we will likely never know what really happened between James Dolan and Charles Oakley on Wednesday. What we do know is that the Knicks have definitively hit rock bottom…. for now.