{"id":2300,"date":"2016-11-09T20:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T01:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2016-11-09T20:00:04","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T01:00:04","slug":"knicks-must-part-phil-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2016\/11\/09\/knicks-must-part-phil-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Must Part With Phil Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2014, the New York Knicks<\/strong> and Phil Jackson<\/strong> agreed to a five-year, $60 million deal to make him the team’s president<\/a>.\u00a0Jackson, perceived as the greatest basketball mind ever, was hired with zero front office experience. However, owner James Dolan<\/strong> felt that Jackson’s knowledge of the game and success as a coach\u00a0made him a great candidate for the position. But\u00a0it was clearly a massive mistake; Phil Jackson needs to go.<\/p>\n

Knicks Must Part With Phil Jackson<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Triangle Offense and the Calderon\/Chandler trade<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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<\/strong>. In the deal, he\u00a0traded All-Star<\/strong> center Tyson Chandler<\/strong><\/a> and point guard Raymond Felton<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for, most notably, point guard Jose Calderon<\/strong><\/a>, as well as center Samuel Dalembert<\/strong><\/a>. Jackson thought\u00a0that Calderon was the point guard he needed to run the triangle, and he traded away\u00a0Chandler because he\u00a0thought that Chandler messed with the team’s\u00a0chemistry. However, he was wrong on both fronts.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0the 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.<\/p>\n

Re-signing Carmelo Anthony to Rebuild?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In his first off-season with the Knicks, Jackson showed Carmelo Anthony<\/b><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong>\u00a0in a sign-and-trade and gotten back either Jimmy Butler<\/strong><\/a> or Taj Gibson<\/strong><\/a>, as well as Nikola Mirotic<\/strong><\/a>. Another scenario could’ve featured the Knicks trading Anthony to the Houston Rockets<\/strong> for young forward Chandler Parsons<\/strong><\/a>. Jackson proved that he doesn’t exactly know what it means to truly rebuild.<\/p>\n

Derek Gone Fishing Quite Quickly<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In his first\u00a0move as president, Jackson hired then-Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong> guard Derek Fisher<\/strong><\/a> 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<\/strong> to be his head coach. Granted, Fisher did play\u00a0under Jackson in his coaching days with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> <\/a>and Iman Shumpert<\/strong><\/a> to the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/strong>. Fisher was then given an average roster by\u00a0Jackson the following year, when he brought in center Robin Lopez<\/strong><\/a> and guard Arron Afflalo<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Triangle Buddies\u00a0For Life!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rambis was an assistant under Jackson for the Lakers, and unlike Fisher, he had actual coaching experience. Rambis once coached the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/strong>, but\u00a0he 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\u00a0games 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.<\/p>\n

The Jeff Hornacek Signing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To replace Rambis, Jackson hired Jeff Hornacek<\/strong> 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<\/strong><\/a> seems to fit the bill perfectly for that offense,\u00a0being 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\u00a0the triangle, according to Bleacher Report<\/b>:<\/p>\n

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Phil Jackson reportedly unhappy about Knicks\u2019 limited use of the triangle offense https:\/\/t.co\/vmSoFZJJXQ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/moq0mXNRyK<\/a><\/p>\n

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) November 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n