The Phil Jackson era in New York hasn’t been too successful yet, unless you’re one of those fans who supports tanking, which if that’s the case then New York is the wrong city for you.
The Knicks have the worst record in the NBA at 10-43, and have shut down Carmelo Anthony for the rest of the season after he played in this past weekends All Star Game. While Phil may have all those championship rings as a player and a coach, this whole team president thing hasn’t started off so “hot” for him.
One person who isn’t surprised but this (other than myself) is former Bulls GM and Phil Jackson’s former boss Jerry Krause. Krause was the man who hired, and fired, Jackson during the Michael Jordan era of the Bulls, and built the Bulls teams that won six NBA titles.
“I’m not surprised at all (on the Knicks struggles),” Krause told Pro Basketball Talk. “I knew Phil had a bad ball club. If (Knicks owner James) Dolan offered him $2 million a year or even $5 million, he wouldn’t have taken it. But $12 million is overwhelming. Phil didn’t take the job because he thought he had a playoff club. He took the job for the money.”
Jerry and Phil had a rough relationship when working together in Chicago so these comments aren’t shocking. Yes, $12 million a year is hard to turn down (unless you’re Dave Chapelle) and the Knicks are just awful this year, but it is just year one.
The Knicks will have a ton of cap space next year with Andrea Bargnani and Amare Stoudimire off the books, and will most certainly go after a prized free agent like Marc Gasol.
They are also almost guaranteed a top 5 lottery pick because they’re so bad and they just picked up a second rounder after trading Pablo Prigioni yesterday.
Do I think Phil will be a good Team President? Honestly I don’t. I think his ego will get the best of him and he’ll try to force things onto puppet Derek Fisher, which isn’t healthy for a team or team chemistry.
