Phil Jackson
The 2015-2016 NBA season is three months away from starting, but that doesn’t mean that basketball isn’t on the brain. The New York Knicks are coming off of their worst season in franchise history as they only won 17 games which is something that team president Phil Jackson is attempting to remedy this summer. Jackson missed out on signing the top-tier players in free agency as none of them wanted to be a part of the Knicks rebuild. But the Knicks are high on forward Kristaps Porzingis who was the fourth overall pick of last month’s NBA Draft. Jackson envisions Porzingis as a work in progress while he still looking to build a team around small forward Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is 31-years old and he is coming off of knee surgery as it will be interesting to see if he can regain his form as one of the best scorers in the NBA. The head coach of the Knicks is Derek Fisher who is set to embark on his second year with the team. Jackson brought Fisher to New York due to the fact that Fisher is a disciple of his coveted triangle offense as he played under Jackson for 10 years. But it will be interesting to see if Jackson’s love for the triangle will hurt or help the Knicks going forward.
A big part of the Knicks struggles last season were a lack of talent and the fact that they were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Most of the Knicks roster didn’t grasp the triangle offense and it was like attempting to mix oil with water as Jackson and Fisher never attempted to adjust to their personnel. And going forward that stubbornness could hurt Jackson in New York City with the Knickerbockers.
As a head coach Jackson has won more NBA Championships (11) than any other head coach in league history and it was all done under the banner of his triangle offense. But Jackson also had the luxury of winning with two of the best shooting guards in NBA history. Jackson won six NBA Titles with the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, while he won five more with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. But like I’ve said in the past, Jackson has never built a team from the ground up, and more importantly, he hasn’t done it in New York City where the media and fans alike can be relentless.
Carmelo Anthony
Even as Anthony is recovering from knee surgery, he is still the Knicks best player. For his 12-year NBA career, Anthony has averaged 25.2 points per game and he’s never had a season where he averaged under 20 points. But as good of a scorer that Anthony is and can be, he is more of an isolation player that is a volume shooter due to the fact that he needs to take numerous shots to score and he isn’t effective without the basketball along with the fact that he doesn’t make the players around him better. Last summer, Jackson had to talk Anthony into re-signing with the Knicks after he opted out of his deal. Jackson’s championship resume was enough to make Anthony stay with the Knicks and although last season was a wash for New York, he is trying to build a team around the eight-time NBA All-Star.
During the 2015 NBA Draft, Jackson shipped shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., to the Atlanta Hawks for the draft rights to guard Jerian Grant. Hardaway was one of those players on the Knicks roster last season that struggled in the triangle as there were internet rumors that he and Anthony weren’t on the same page. And whereas Jackson was unable to bring in free agents with star appeal, he was able to sign center Robin Lopez and shooting guard Arron Afflalo.
Kristaps Porzingis
What Porzingis, Grant, Lopez, and Afflalo all bring to the table for Jackson is that they are players that are effective without the basketball in their hands which is something that is important if Anthony isn’t going to alter his game as the Knicks will need that kind of personnel in order to be able to contend in an Eastern Conference that is improving.
Jackson has received is fair share of criticism from the press in New York City, but being that he played 11 seasons for the Knicks which included helping the franchise win their only two NBA Championships, he knows how to deal with the folks in the Big Apple, and thus he has thick skin. Like any physical structure, building a solid foundation for a team takes time as you need the right pieces to fit your system. But in the NBA, all players don’t like the triangle system which could scare players away from potentially joining the Knicks. And if that is the case, would Jackson be willing to adjust his system or would the bling from his 11 title rings blind him from seeing that? Only time will tell.
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