We need to make a habit out of splitting Phil Jackson into two people. There’s normal Phil that speaks preaches gold because he’s a legendary coach and still has a pulse on the game.
And then there’s NY Phil who spins garbage for the good of the team and the Knicks fans’ stress levels. The latter I roll my eyes at and go “let’s wait until the season starts shall we?”
But this particular conversation starter, is one made by ‘normal Phil’. He is currently questioning players that come from Duke, maybe were over rating a College that make good College teams but not translate that greatness in individual players.
Jackson thinks he might not be aggressive enough. “Also, if you look at the guys who came to the NBA from Duke, aside from Grant Hill, which ones lived up to expectations?”
Now yes, you may look at that and go ‘Knicks Phil’ but if you look at the Duke players in the league now, you kind of get it.
Carlos Boozer, Josh McRoberts, Mike Dunleavy, JJ Redick, Austin Rivers to name a few. I mean the only ‘Dookies’ that even have a chance of becoming Hall Of Fame calibre are Kyrie Irving and Jabari Parker. And maybe Luol Deng but only because he’s a great ambassador for the NBA in Africa.
And I don’t want to call Jahlil Okafor or even Justise Winslow yet because they haven’t even played in an NBA Game yet, so let’s not bark up that tree just yet.
