Phil Jackson’s thoughts, feelings, and assessments of the New York Knicks and his own career were gathered by ESPN.com’s Charley Rosen throughout Jackson’s first go-round as president last season. The latest from Rosen’s compilation of Phil notes was a player-by-player analysis of the Knicks roster at the time.
Jackson had praise for some players, acknowledging their effort and growth, but the same was not at all said of Bargnani:
“AB was and still is a big tease. When he was injured he refused to do simple non-contact activities like dummy our offense in practice. He seemed to be a malingerer and this had a bad effect on the team, and also on the way the Knicks fans reacted to him. When he was on the court, he had a hard time staying intense, didn’t hustle back in offense-to-defense transition, wasn’t active enough in defending screen-rolls. Still, his offense is perfectly suited to the triangle because he really doesn’t have to work very hard to get shots. He’s another guy we renounced, but whether we can agree on financial terms for his return, or he winds up someplace else, AB will always be somewhat of an enigma.”
Injuries did play a role in keeping Bargnani from proving his worth to the Knicks, and since he didn’t provide the kind of effort and toughness that Jackson or Knick fans were looking for when he did play, Bargnani’s presence only contributed to the negative stigma of the team. It is a shame because the “tease” with Bargnani is having a versatile 7-footer of his stature with shooting range and offensive confidence that can’t seem to fully flourish because of the surrounding intangibles. Perhaps a change of pace and setting is what he needed, or just wanted very badly, since he jokingly claimed to be willing to play for his new team, the Brooklyn Nets, free of charge.
Jackson and Knicks fans are probably fine with Bargnani being someone else’s enigma.
