Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers were handed a gut wrenching loss at the hands of the New York Knicks on Sunday night, thanks to the clutch shot made by Jose Calderon. Kobe lost to Carmelo Anthony but Kobe also lost to his old coach, Phil Jackson.
Jackson is the president of the New York Knicks and his team, for the second year in a row, won’t sniff the playoffs. Despite Phil being at the helm, the Knicks missed out on big free agents last summer and some have already ruled the Knickerbockers even before the free agency period has started this summer. Jackson did draft rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis but all season long, there has been talks about what’s next for knicks star, Carmelo Anthony, and if Jackson would deal the star forward. There have been more negatives than positives over Phil’s short Knicks tenure and the future, right now, is very murky.
Jackson’s future with the Knicks is not clear but based off his past, the Knicks could be in for a big run of success. One big part of Phil’s prior success, Kobe Bryant, is retiring at season’s end but the player who won five NBA championships under Phil Jackson has one message for Knicks fans. Trust Phil Jackson.
Following from Ian Begley of ESPN.
Kobe Bryant has a message for any New York Knicks fans who have lost faith in team president Phil Jackson.
“People in New York just need to trust the fact that he knows more about basketball than any of them put together,” Bryant said after he and the Los Angeles Lakers lost to Jackson’s Knicks on Sunday night.
Bryant later added: “In my opinion, he’s the greatest coach in any profession. Ever.”
Bryant said Jackson’s task as president of the Knicks isn’t all that different from the challenge he faced as a head coach.
“As a coach you obviously have more control over the outcome, to a certain extent,” Bryant said. “What he does now is really understanding the personnel. But that’s no different than what he did as a coach. As a coach, he would have broke down the players, understood the players. That’s the same thing he has to do as a GM.”
