New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson caused quite the ruckus last month with his unwise choice of words.
Jackson, as many know, decided to use the word “posse” to describe superstar forward LeBron James and his group of associates. The comment sparked conversations and debates across the nation, with talks taking place between fans, league workers, and even NBA players — One of them being Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
Many expected Phil Jackson to eventually apologize to LeBron, especially after James and his group publicly responded to his remarks. Jackson, in a full interview with CBS Sports, didn’t exactly apologize. However, he did admit his wrongdoing in one particular area:
“We are not supposed to discuss other teams’ players in this position that I have here. So I violated one of the tenets,” Jackson said, as translated by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “The obvious thing is, the word itself carries connotation. And I just don’t understand that part of it, the word. So I guess word choice could be something I could regret. But talking about other teams’ players, that’s out of the box.”
Jackson isn’t wrong — Speaking about other players in the manner he did while serving as President of the Knicks isn’t the brightest idea.
From this point forward, expect Jackson to turn his attention towards his own franchise, a franchise certainly in need of further internal guidance and clarity.
