Phil Jackson was officially introduced as president of the New York Knicks on Tuesday during a press conference held at Chase Square just outside of the newly renovated Madison Square Garden.
Jackson was introduced by the enigmatic James Dolan, who both offered a great deal of insight and explanation into how this power relationship materialized, from which we learned began a few months ago.
Jackson will begin his tenure with the Knicks with more than just a five year contract — which is expected to average around a staggering $12 million per year. He will also have full control of basketball operations, which was willfully (and surprisingly) ceded by owner James Dolan. Here’s a little more from Marc Berman of the New York Post:
Dolan said he “willingly and gratefully’’ will take a step back and let the Zen Master do his thing. Jackson has won 11 coaching titles and two as a Knicks power forward.
“The two gentlemen to my left are the experts in basketball,’’ Dolan said. “I by no means am an expert in basketball. My expertise lies in managing companies. I think I’m a little out of my element.
“I found myself in a position where I needed to be more part of the decision-making. It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted to do. As chairman of the company, I felt obligated. I feel happy now to have a team of Phil and Steve to do that. My whole job now is about supporting them in winning a championship. That’s a lot easier than what I’ve had to do in the past.’’
So we’ve now covered title and salary. But what about the Zen Master’s living situation? This was yet another highly debated topic leading up to Tuesday’s announcement.
“I’ll be moving back and forth,’’ Jackson said. “There’s a lot of moves I have to make to get in New York City. There’s some medical things I have continued to have in LA. I have four children who live in California and eight grandchildren, six in California. There’s still ties there. [But] this is where I’ll establish myself.’’
Now that we’ve gotten the fine print out of the way, let’s take a look at the reaction from around the NBA. Here’s some insight from Ken Berger of CBS Sports:
Jackson could’ve stood up on the stage and regaled us all day with stories about Jerry Reinsdorf and Jerry Buss and getting picked up at the airport one day long ago in Red Holzman’s Impala. None of that would’ve changed how badly the Knicks have gone astray from their roots over the past dozen years or so — how truly dysfunctional and lost they are as a professional sports franchise.
Nothing Jackson or Dolan said on Tuesday changes any of that. None of Jackson’s championships or motivational quips or big words could change the fact that he’s in charge of this mess now. Fixing it will prove to be the most vexing challenge of his decorated career.
If he’s really in charge — Dolan promised so and Jackson said he wouldn’t be here if he weren’t — then that is both the blessing and the curse. Basically, if Jackson thought it was difficult to get Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to coexist long enough to win three championships, wait until he gets a load of this place.
Jackson will have plenty to overcome, this much is certain. But how will he operate with James Dolan and Steve Mills in prominent roles by his side?
“Jim came to me with this opportunity of: Pick the position you’d like to take,” Jackson said. “I said: ‘If I want to make this change, and I think I can make the change, I have to jump in with both feet. Move to New York and do this job the right way.’ ”
Jackson said he sought assurances from Dolan that he would have autonomy to run the team, free from interference.
“We had this discussion in January,” Jackson said, “because Jim knew I wasn’t going to come” without the freedom to make his own decisions.
Dolan said he was “willingly and gratefully” ceding those responsibilities.
“First off, these two gentlemen to my left are the experts in basketball,” said Dolan, who was referring to Jackson and Steve Mills, the former president, who will retain his role as general manager. “I am by no means an expert in basketball.”
Dolan added: “I think I’m a little out of my element when it comes to the team. I found myself in a position where I needed to be more a part of the decision-making for a while. It wasn’t something that I wanted to do. But as chairman of the company, it was something I felt obligated to do.”
So it sounds like everything is all well and good today in New York. The Knicks have won six in a row and have a new face of the franchise to sell to their loyal fans. They have an exorbitant amount of salary coming off the books after next season, so when will Jackson start sculpting the future of his new franchise?
After this season ends, though, the onus will be on Jackson to begin laying the groundwork for the franchise reboot. Dolan said Tuesday he will stay out of Jackson and Mills’ way as they go about their business. (And if that’s not good enough news, Knicks fans, Dolan also said the team won’t raise ticket prices next year: “Instead, we’ll have a great year next year at the same price, and hopefully, everybody will find that that product is more valuable. And, probably after that, we’ll raise ticket prices.”)
Creating that team, of course, figures to be Jackson’s greatest challenge. The Knicks already have nearly $92 million in salary on the books for next year before factoring in a free-agent re-up raise for Anthony, will be without first-round draft picks this coming summer (as a result of the original Melo deal) and in 2016 (via the Andrea Bargnani trade) and will also give away four second-round picks between now and 2017.
With precious little cap flexibility next season and limited access to the kinds of acquisition-aiding exceptions built into the league’s collective bargaining agreement due to their status as a luxury-tax payer, there aren’t very many ways for Jackson to add transformational talent to the Knicks roster. This, perhaps, is why he’s thinking small.”
“We’re going to have to go out and work the bushes for players this next year, and we’re going to have to work them in the coming years as we go forward and we do get draft picks and have a chance to build this team,” he said. “Those are the things I think are really important — to attract, and to also ferret out, players that want to play the type of ball that we want to exhibit here in Madison Square Garden […] There are players that are on benches, that are on teams, that are going to be available — maybe not on high-priced contracts — that’ll come in and help and assist in building a team.”
More on the future of the Knicks, including Jackson’s thoughts on Carmelo Anthony from ESPN New York’s Ian Begley:
Jackson takes over a team that has performed well below Dolan’s expectations this season. New York is 13 games under .500 and in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, though the team has won six in a row.
Jackson will face several tough decisions in his first offseason as president, the biggest of which is what to do with free agent-to-be Carmelo Anthony.
The team’s new president backed the All-Star forward Tuesday.
“There’s no doubt about Carmelo being one of the top scorers in the league, maybe the best individual isolation player in the game,” Jackson said. “I have no problems with committing to saying Carmelo is in the future plans.”
Many believed this impromptu declaration screamed “money grab” for Jackson and “headline” for the Knicks. While this certainly is a headline — one of the bigger ones this season — I don’t necessarily see it playing out that way. Don’t take it from me, though. Here’s a peak into what our own Chris Sheridan had to say about Jackson’s return to New York:
One of my biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s news conference at Madison Square Garden was that Mike Woodson’s chance of having a job in New York next season rests on the question of whether the Knicks can make up that deficit over the season’s final 15 games. The Knicks split the season series with the Hawks 2-2, and Atlanta has a superior conference record at this point: 20-19 vs. the Knicks’ 19-23. So in all probability the Knicks will need to finish a game ahead of the Hawks in the standings in order to capture the No. 8 seed.
Of their 15 remaining games, quite a few are winnable — even the ones on their upcoming West Coast swing against the Lakers, Kings, Suns, Warriors and Jazz. But by the time that trip ends, it’ll be April — and the April schedule is a toughie with a pair of games against Brooklyn, a pair against Toronto and one each against Miami and Chicago.
So Jackson has a five-year contract for the long-term. But he also has something resembling a five-week plan for the immediate future.
Onto more from around the NBA