By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
What
about the recent media frenzy about Phil Jackson coaching the Knicks? How many times have you recently heard “maybe
Phil will come down to coach the Knicks if they are playing poorly”
(impossible); “Phil’s the best man for the job” (not really – not with this
roster anyway); “don’t rule out the possibility of Phil taking over the
coaching if need be” (let’s be real).
HERE’S
WHY JACKSON WON’T COACH THE KNICKS
The
reality is, with 11 championship rings as a coach (and, yes, two more as a
player during the Knick glory days), Phil Jackson only won with stars and
superstars. First, Michael and Scottie
(for six), then Shaq and Kobe (for three) and finally with Kobe (as the best
player in the game) and then star Pau Gasol (remember the walking double-double
and great passer that he was back then, not the player he is now) (for the
final two championships, with incredible help from hard to match up with Lamar
Odom, as well as great contributions from Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum (at times)
and, in the eleventh (2009-10) championship, Ron Artest).
Jackson
wouldn’t even think of coaching a team with (maybe) one superstar (Carmelo)
and, frankly, not that much else.
Why
would he? It could only hurt his
legacy. If he fails as a “team
executive,” no big deal because he’s never done it before. If he fails as a coach of a not-very-talented
team, well, then what Red Auerbach said for years and what others still say now
would be proven to be true; that is, that Jackson could never win a
championship without the best one or even two players in the game.
That’s
not a legacy that Phil Jackson would want to put on the line.
WHAT
CAN PHIL JACKSON REALLY DO?
Well,
Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, etc. aren’t walking through that door anytime
soon. In fact, the Knicks are pretty
much hamstrung through next season. If
Amar’e Stoudemire (an absurd $23.4 million) and Andrea Bargnani (an absurd
$11.5 million) pick up their respective player options for next year (how could
they not, since nobody will give them anything near those numbers if they opt
out) and Carmelo decides to come back (for more money or not), the Knicks will
be over the projected salary cap for next season.
To
make it worse, they have no draft picks in the upcoming, two-round NBA draft.
So,
what can Phil Jackson really do? The
answer: very little. As he has stated,
the Knicks can so some under-the-radar searching for somewhat helpful players
who can improve the team. But that’s not
going to win a championship. Stars and
superstars win championships.
Jackson
arguably had the two best, or at least two of the five best, players in the
game for his first nine championships (Michael and Scottie for six, Shaq and
Kobe for three). For his last two, he
had the best player in the game (and a great two-way player at that in Kobe)
and a rare combination of star (Pau Gasol), clutch (Derek Fisher) and unusual
match-up (Lamar Odom, a superb sixth man) players.
How
can he duplicate that, not for 2014-15 (can’t happen) but for 2015-16 (because
that’s what you’re really looking at)?
KEEP
CARMELO?
Despite
his many bashers, Carmelo had a great season, playing hard, playing hurt and
playing with virtually no help the entire season (yes, he got some late-season
help but it was too little, too late).
While it says here that Carmelo can’t be the number one guy in a
two-superstar championship run, the Knicks should still try and keep him.
Because,
if they don’t, aside from next year being a disaster, the Knicks will be two
superstars away from a championship run, not one.
IF
CARMELO WANTS TO WIN, WHY WOULD HE STAY?
Great
question. Carmelo is already on record
as saying, essentially, that he wants to stay but he also wants to win. That’s an inherent conflict for 2014-15. By virtue of no cap room, very few good
players and no draft picks, Jackson will have to sell Carmelo on waiting (at
least) one more year for a championship run (even that’s unlikely, it says
here).
If
Carmelo really wants to win a championship, can he afford to, in essence, give
up on 2014-15? That’s a tough
choice. Plus, after giving (at least) a
vote of confidence to Mike Woodson, Carmelo now has to deal with the fact that
Jackson fired Woodson, a good man and a good NBA coach, and the rest of his
coaching staff. Will Carmelo have any
say in the new coach and will he want to go back to square zero with a guy like
Steve Kerr, a rookie head coach at any level (if Jackson decides to go that
route)?
Plus,
will Carmelo thrive or die in the triangle?
These
are all very difficult questions.
WOULD
PHIL JACKSON EVER REALLY COACH THE KNICKS?
While
the theme of this article is that he never will (no matter what these alleged
“experts” are saying now, there is only one possible chance for Jackson to
coach the Knicks. If Jackson could
somehow draw superstars to the Knicks, especially guys with championship
pedigrees, then he might return to the sidelines.
If,
for example (and, no, don’t expect this to happen), Lebron, Wade and Bosh got
bored in Miami and decided to opt out and come to New York (I know, I know, a
virtual impossibility), then you might see Jackson on the sidelines. But even the “Big Three,” after this season,
may be on the downside, especially due to Wade’s health. While this writer picked Miami to win it all
over OKC before the season (and will stick with that pick now), the entire
season for Miami has been about getting Wade healthy for the playoffs.
While
it dawned on many early on that Kevin Durant was this year’s MVP (Lebron lovers
often confuse MOP (outstanding) with MVP (valuable)), the real key to Miami’s
success will be the health of Wade through the “second” season.
And,
frankly, that’s a question mark.
So,
unless Phil Jackson can make the Knicks a “loaded” team, a team that’s ready to
win it all, he won’t even think of coaching the Knicks.
And
it says here that, in the next (at least) two seasons, that’s not going to
happen.
And,
yes, this is being written by a life-long New York Knicks fan, who, hopefully,
will be proven wrong.
@
COPYRIGHT 2014 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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