D’Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets makes his move on Jarrett Jack of the Knicks. (Image Credit: USA Today)
The narrative for the basketball landscape in New York City lately has centered around the Knicks and Nets heading in different directions.
The Knicks are under new management with team president Steve Mills and general manager Steve Perry. On the court, the trade of Carmelo Anthony signaled the official beginning of the Kristaps Porzingis era.
Brooklyn is in year two of a massive rebuild which has caught the attention of everyone around the league.
Where the Knicks have struggled with cohesion, the Nets have thrived. For proof of this, all you would have to do is take a quick look at the standings.
Coming into Friday night’s matchup at Madison Square Garden, the Nets were 3-2 and coming off of an impressive home win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, not only were the Knicks looking for their first win of the season –- they were also looking to silence any whispers of their team heading in the wrong direction.
There was plenty to feel encouraged about for Knicks fans, starting with the play of point guard Frank Ntilikina.
The Knicks finally pulled the plug on Phil Jackson. The team announced both sides would be parting ways, effective immediately.
The news comes at a time where, once again, the Knicks were dangerously close to forcing their fanbase to pull their plug on supporting them. Has there ever been a team, like this, that can find more ways to blow it?
Jackson is already in the history books as one of the greatest NBA coaches ever, it’s just too bad he was unable to transfer some of that over to the front office. He’ll go down arguably as one of the worst team presidents in history.
Knicks and President Phil Jackson are expected to announce that they’re parting ways early Wednesday morning, sources told ESPN.
If Jackson needed a reason for being shown the door, all the Knicks had to do was point to the numbers. In just his first ever role in a front office position, Jackson finished with a record of 80-166. It was three seasons of destroy and rebuild during his tenure, no playoff games, and the complete opposite of the stability fans were hoping a man with his resume would bring.
Numbers never lie but, in the Knicks case, there was so much more which led to the end.
Phil Jackson, The Triangle, The Drama
Jackson’s insistence on having the Knicks run the triangle offense, a system none of the players seemed to ever buy into, stunted any progress they tried to build off of. The Knicks, during Jackson’s three-year run, revamped their roster three times to try and find the right mix of players for the triangle — it never worked.
Carmelo Anthony (Image: Getty)
Jackson came away with $60 million dollars for running the Knicks further into the ground. I’d find it very hard to believe he’d ever say he had trouble sleeping after all this. If anything may haunt Jackson it could be when he decided to give Carmelo Anthony a no-trade clause. Anthony’s still around, at least for now, while Jackson’s not.
There was the triangle, the Carmelo saga, the exit meeting with Kristaps Porzingis which never happened and it’s aftermath. The list reads like a manual on what not to do as team president. Perhaps someone should have given Jackson one before he said yes to the job.
Remember when all Jackson had to do was draw up a play then put his hands up to signal the triangle? He’d then tell his team to give the ball to number’s 23, 34, 8, or 24.
But Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant were not coming through the doors of Madison Square Garden. Neither was Steve Kerr, Jackson’s first choice to teach the Knicks about the triangle.
The Knicks hiring Jackson sounded like a good idea, then quickly became another mess. It was another toxic situation for the Knicks with no end in sight.
The argument can be made Jackson never really wanted the job to begin with. He was inept at hiring a head coach to do the job he wanted no parts of.
Three years, three head coaches, and $60 million dollars later – the Knicks find themselves right back in familiar territory.
