New York Knicks: In Defense of Phil Jackson

Since being named as team president of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson has been criticized for every reason. The majority of the public seems to think Jackson’s failed thus far, but they’re wrong.

Phil Jackson just can’t seem to do anything right, according to certain members of the media and the geniuses on Twitter.

Nope, the “Zen Master” who has won 11 titles as a player and coach just has no idea what he’s doing as president of the New York Knicks.

After all, he did just construct a team that only won 32 games this season, missing the playoffs for the third straight season.

Never mind the Dumpster fire of a situation that Jackson inherited when he accepted the executive position with the Knicks at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Let’s rewind to where the Knicks were when Jackson took over.

The Knicks were 26-40 when Jackson joined the Knicks organization, a disappointing record compared to the 54-28 record of the prior year. The Knicks ended the season at 37-45.

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One of Jackson’s first acts was letting coach

Mike Woodson

go after the disappointing season and bringing in recently retired player and former Jackson pupil

Derek Fisher

to coach the Knicks.

Armed with no picks in the 2014 NBA Draft due to moves before Jackson took over, an aging roster and minimal trade assets outside of Carmelo Anthony, Jackson decided to hit the reset button.

Jackson traded a 31-year-old Tyson Chandler, who was entering the final year of his contract, and a 30-year-old Raymond Felton, fresh off a career-worst season and an arrest for felony gun possession.

In return, the Knicks received Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington and two second-round draft picks in the upcoming draft, which would be used to select Cleanthony Early and Thanasis Antetokounmpo.

Most would chalk this trade up as a loss, but less than two years later, did the Knicks hurt their future with the deal? Not really.

The biggest move the Knicks made in the offseason was the re-signing of free agent Carmelo Anthony, who stayed in New York despite having better chances to compete for a title instead of staying on a team who was about to begin a painful rebuilding process.

Yes, the money helped and was probably the biggest reason why Anthony chose to stay with the Knicks instead of fleeing for greener pastures. Anthony signed a five-year deal for $122 million that included a no trade-clause.

While Anthony’s presence in New York hasn’t been enough to make the playoffs since, it’s a positive move for the Knicks that Jackson was able to retain one of the 10-15 best players in the league.

Jackson deserves some sort of credit for keeping Anthony in a Knicks uniform.

The first year of a massive rebuild is often the hardest and that was certainly true for the Knicks in 2014-15.

The team struggled adjusting to Fisher’s triangle offense that Jackson has famously been married to. Anthony underwent left knee surgery after the All-Star Game and missed the remainder of the season.

The Knicks also traded malcontents J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade that also involved the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In return, the Knicks added Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas. The Knicks waived Kirk, Amundson and Dalembert to complete the deal. The trade and subsequent releases were financially motivated and saved the Knicks in excess of $20 million in expenses.

While the Knicks certainly lost talent, they weren’t winning anyway at 5-32 at the time of the trade. It was a clear example of a losing team having a fire sale to cut their losses.

The Knicks finished the season at 17-65.

The Knicks were rewarded for their failures with the fourth overall pick, which they used to select a 7’3 Latvian, Kristaps Porzingis.

The Knicks faithful weren’t too happy with the pick.

One year later, Porzingis is a cornerstone for the Knicks going forward after a rookie campaign in which the 20-year old averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.

Again, Jackson deserves credit for selecting Porzingis and having the boldness to pick him despite the inevitable displeasure fans would have with the pick.

Drafting Porzingis wasn’t the only move that the Knicks made on draft night, trading Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Atlanta Hawks for the 19th overall pick, used to select Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant.

Grant struggled in his rookie season, averaging only 5.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting only 39.4 percent from the field. Grant failed to play well enough to be given the starting point guard job despite the Knicks having a glaring lack of talented point guards on the roster.

The Knicks getting a 1st for Tim Hardaway Jr is...wow.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 26, 2015

Still, getting a mid-first rounder in exchange for Tim Hardaway Jr. is an extremely worthwhile deal.

Hardaway Jr. averaged 11.5 points per game for the Knicks in 2014-15 as a result of attrition on the roster, especially at the wings after Anthony went out for the season and the Knicks traded Smith and Shumpert to the Cavaliers.

Also in that offseason, the Knicks used cap space to sign starters Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo, as well as rotation players Kevin Seraphin and Derrick Williams.

None of the signings are eye-popping, but they’re solid deals to players who can play a role.

In 2015-16, the Knicks improved to 32-50 behind Anthony and Porzingis.

The improvement wasn’t enough to save Fisher’s job, as he was fired after a 23-31 start to the season. Another disciple of the triangle offense, Kurt Rambis, took over in his place. Rambis fared even worse, going 9-19 as interim head coach.

After months of rumors that Jackson was dead-set on removing the interim tag on Rambis and making him the coach of the future, the Knicks named former Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek the head coach on May 19.

Hornacek embraced small-ball in Phoenix and surprised the NBA universe by leading a Suns team that was expected to be one of the worst teams in the league to a 48-34 record.

The Suns failed to replicate that success over the next two seasons, largely due to injuries and issues with players and the front office.

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While we won’t know if the hiring of Hornacek is a success until he puts a product on the floor, Hornacek was one of the best coaching candidates available at the time of his hiring and seems to be an improvement over either Fisher or Rambis.

The Knicks’ success next season will likely hinge on what they do in free agency this year to surround Anthony and Porzingis with.

They’ll have anywhere from $11.1 million and $31.3 million in cap space according to Eric Pincus of BasketballInsiders.com, depending on what Afflalo and Williams choose to do with their player options.

It could be argued that thus far, Phil Jackson hasn’t truly missed on a major move. Even the Fisher hiring can be defended and if you’re not a fan of Fisher, Jackson didn’t waste time in cutting ties with him.

It just seems that in the court of public opinion, Jackson is in over his head or doing a poor job.

Perhaps it’s due to unfair expectations, the New York media cycle, or Jackson’s disdain for the media that has contributed to this thought process.

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No matter what the case is, it’s hard for me as a logically-driven person to think that Jackson’s done a poor job in the front office despite what seems to be the popular opinion.