New York Knicks: Time to cut ties with the Phil Jackson regime

Purge the coaching staff

Jeff Hornacek coached the Phoenix Suns two and a half years with only one winning season to his name. Yet, the New York Knicks decided to hire Hornacek four months after his fire burnt out in the desert. In other words, Phil Jackson hired an inexperienced coach that he could bully into running his beloved triangle.

Prior to hiring Hornacek, Phil had a well-placed henchman on his Knicks sideline. Kurt Rambis is a longtime NBA player and coach who has been in the Phil Jackson inner circle for years. Despite his experience, Rambis is disliked by most players and somehow remains on the coaching staff even though Phil is gone. Adrian Wojnarowski, then of The Vertical, wrote in April of the Knicks players’ deep dislike for Rambis:

"“After his first season as Knicks coach, Hornacek is still trying to incorporate a system that is foreign to him, armed with a Jackson-installed assistant coach, Kurt Rambis, who is beyond unpopular with the players, league sources said. When players want coaching and teaching, they get yelling, sources said. Most wonder about Rambis’ allegiances, because after all, he’s Jackson’s guy, not Hornacek’s.”"

Unfortunately, “Jackson’s guy” is still roaming the sidelines even though Phil is gone. If Steve Mills and/or Jeff Hornacek don’t have the guts to get rid of Rambis, all three of them should be fired.

Hornacek deserves a year free of Phil Jackson to run his team how he wants. However, if he is too gutless to part with Rambis, the Knicks would be better off without either of them.

The previous Knicks season can be looked at and parsed in many different ways. No matter how you look at last year, it was a disaster on and off the court. The tabloid titans known as the Knickerbockers need a new image.