EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Shane Larkin ‘can’t control the ball because he has such tiny hands’. At least that’s what New York Knicks president Phil Jackson had to say about his former reserve – and at times starting point guard – on the Knicks last season.
When Jackson talked to Charley Rosen as part of his ‘Phil Files’ – a once-a-month conversation regarding the state of the Knicks – in part 7 Phil Jackson talked about two of his former players who are now conveniently members of the Brooklyn Nets. He ripped apart Andrea Bargnani and Shane Larkin in particular in that installment and since then, Larkin hasn’t had a chance to really say anything.
Until Nets media day on Monday. Larkin talked to the media and had an opinion on what Phil had to say about his ‘tiny hands’.
“I was going to palm a ball and put it on Instagram for him, but I felt like that wasn’t the right move,” Larkin said. “I never met a man so concerned with another man’s hands, but it’s all good.”
Larkin did add that he had “nothing but love for Phil Jackson and that whole organization,” even if Phil’s comments left a sour taste in Larkins mouth.
“He’s old school,” Larkin said Monday. “He’s blatant about what he says, and he knows what he wants, and obviously he has the jewelry to say what he’s got to say. So he’s proven that he’s a great leader, and if that’s what he feels about me, that’s what he feels about me. I’m not on his team no more, so he don’t have to worry about it.”
The Nets current roster includes Larkin as the presumed backup point guard and Ryan Boatright, who is competing with Donald Sloan as the third point guard on the team. Both Larkin and Boatright have oddly enough posted two of the bottom 10 smallest recorded hand measurements at the NBA Draft Combine.
Sure, Larkin’s hands are small but that doesn’t take away from the skill he has on the court. Shane will thrive in a Brooklyn offense that plays to his strengths, especially if coach Lionel Hollins plays up tempo, as he says the team will do this year.
Bargnani on the other hand (no pun intended) had no words for Phil Jackson, refusing to answer any questions on him and continuously saying he’s ‘moving forward with the Nets’.
