In March 2014, the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson agreed to a five-year, $60 million deal to make him the team’s president. Jackson, perceived as the greatest basketball mind ever, was hired with zero front office experience. However, owner James Dolan felt that Jackson’s knowledge of the game and success as a coach made him a great candidate for the position. But it was clearly a massive mistake; Phil Jackson needs to go.
Knicks Must Part With Phil Jackson
The Triangle Offense and the Calderon/Chandler trade
When Jackson was hired, he reiterated that he wanted to run his beloved triangle offense. He made this even more clear when he made a more than questionable trade in the off-season with the Dallas Mavericks. In the deal, he traded All-Star center Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton for, most notably, point guard Jose Calderon, as well as center Samuel Dalembert. Jackson thought that Calderon was the point guard he needed to run the triangle, and he traded away Chandler because he thought that Chandler messed with the team’s chemistry. However, he was wrong on both fronts.
Calderon never averaged over 10 points per game with the Knicks, and he showed an inability to stay on the court. On the other hand, Chandler went to Dallas and proved to be the type of player a team wants to anchor the defense. Also, to make matters worse, Felton stepped up in a major way for the Mavericks in last year’s playoffs, and he proved that he was a much better-rounded player than Calderon. Jackson deserves all the blame for this trade.
Re-signing Carmelo Anthony to Rebuild?
In his first off-season with the Knicks, Jackson showed Carmelo Anthony the money, keeping him in New York on a five-year max deal. However, Anthony and the Knicks underwent the worst season in franchise history, recording only 17 wins. Then, once the season ended, Jackson said that the goal all along was to rebuild and tank for a draft pick.
Jackson’s decision-making really comes into question here. If he was tanking for a pick and doing what he considers “rebuilding”, then why did he re-sign Anthony? If Jackson was truly set on rebuilding the Knicks, why would an aging Anthony be a part of that plan? He could’ve sent Anthony to the Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade and gotten back either Jimmy Butler or Taj Gibson, as well as Nikola Mirotic. Another scenario could’ve featured the Knicks trading Anthony to the Houston Rockets for young forward Chandler Parsons. Jackson proved that he doesn’t exactly know what it means to truly rebuild.
Derek Gone Fishing Quite Quickly
In his first move as president, Jackson hired then-Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher to be the team’s head coach. Fisher inked a five-year, $25 million deal. Yes, Jackson signed a player fresh out of the NBA to be his head coach. Granted, Fisher did play under Jackson in his coaching days with the Los Angeles Lakers. The thought was that because he was a product of Jackson’s championship teams in L.A., Fisher would be a great fit to coach the triangle. However, that was not the case.
While Fisher did have a good knowledge of the offense, the Knicks never had, and still don’t have the roster to run the triangle. In his first season as head coach, Fisher could only garner 17 wins. However, he had a legitimate excuse due to Jackson tanking the season, most notably by trading guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fisher was then given an average roster by Jackson the following year, when he brought in center Robin Lopez and guard Arron Afflalo. But Fisher still couldn’t make this team a playoff contender, and Jackson cut ties with him, eating up the remaining three years of his deal. Jackson then turned to assistant coach Kurt Rambis.
Triangle Buddies For Life!
Rambis was an assistant under Jackson for the Lakers, and unlike Fisher, he had actual coaching experience. Rambis once coached the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he finished with a dreadful 32-132 record in his two years as head coach. Although Rambis is considered to be one of Jackson’s closer friends and a coach who Jackson admires, Rambis yet again failed in a brief stint as head coach – he won only nine of his 28 games as head coach of the Knicks. Despite the fact that Rambis is a triangle product and someone who has a very similar thought process to that of Jackson, he should’ve remained head coach.
The Jeff Hornacek Signing
To replace Rambis, Jackson hired Jeff Hornacek to become the team’s third head coach in the last three seasons. Hornacek likes to play an uptempo offense, headlined by aggressive point guard play. Current Knicks point guard Derrick Rose seems to fit the bill perfectly for that offense, being the high-energy, aggressive guard that he is. Despite the combination of Rose and Hornacek, Jackson insists on the team playing the triangle. His triangle offense favors a point guard who can shoot and facilitate. Rose is not that player, and now Jackson is expressing displeasure about the Knicks’ failure to run the triangle, according to Bleacher Report:
Phil Jackson reportedly unhappy about Knicks’ limited use of the triangle offense https://t.co/vmSoFZJJXQ pic.twitter.com/moq0mXNRyK
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) November 8, 2016
However, the face of the franchise, Anthony, seems to have a different viewpoint, according to Ian Begley:
Melo: "We're making adjustments offensively regardless of what we're running. At this point I'm getting tired of hearing about the triangle"
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) November 6, 2016
Furthermore, in what world does a center like Joakim Noah fit into an offensive system like this? Noah is a defensive demon in the paint, but he is extremely limited offensively, and the triangle offense values a center who can play in the post; Noah is not that type of player. Jackson’s two biggest off-season acquisitions make no sense in his triangle offense, and his moves are completely contradicting to what he’s looking for in both a point guard and a center.
Unfair Treatment of Hornacek
Finally, in what world does the president or general manager of a team tell the coach how to run his offense? It’s unheard of. Jackson has been abusing his power as president throughout his entire tenure with the Knicks, and he doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. As stubborn and wrong as he is, if Jackson wanted the Knicks to be devoted to the triangle, why didn’t he just keep Rambis as head coach? Why would Jackson bring in someone with whom he has no history, and runs an offense that Jackson thinks is ineffective. The bottom line is that Phil Jackson has turned the Knicks into the laughing stock of the NBA.
Jackson’s Future With the Knicks
In Jackson’s two full seasons with the Knicks and brief time with them this season, the team has 51 wins. To put that in perspective, the Los Angeles Clippers won 53 games last season, recording more wins in one year than Jackson has in his entire tenure with the Knicks. Whether it’s in the next two weeks or in the off-season, this year must be the end of the Phil Jackson era in New York.
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