While many GMs were working the phones this week, Knicks president Phil Jackson was using a 
different, more contemporary form of communication: Twitter.
On Thursday, Donnie Nelson and Danny Ainge swung a five-player trade that sent Rajon Rondo to Dallas and draft picks to Boston. On Friday, Daryl Morey, Flip Saunders and Sam Hinkie worked a three-team deal that landed Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved in Houston and draft picks in Minnesota and Philadelphia.
But not Jackson, and not the Knicks.
Jackson doesn’t need to work the phones to make the Knicks better. Outfitted with a rookie coach trying to install an antiquated system upon a trigger-happy superstar and putting it on display at the highest cost anywhere, the Knicks are racing along at a 5-25 clip, well on their way to their 42nd straight year without a championship.
“It just doesn’t seem real,” Carmelo Anthony said.
So on Thursday, while his peers were working their phones to improve their teams, Jackson chose to engage in a couple of Twitter tussles with NBA pundits who had the nerve to throw some shade at the Zen Master.
The first war of words was prompted by a story published Wednesday by our Shlomo Sprung, whose analytic breakdown of Jackson’s first big trade – the Tyson Chandler deal – plainly showed that thus far, the Knicks have gotten the short end of the stick. The story first ran Wednesday. Chris Sheridan wrote the headline, which said Jackson got “fleeced.” And I retweeted the story Thursday, claiming Jackson got “hornswaggled.”
This is the web world we live in. Stories have to have different angles, strong headlines and multiple retweets with million-dollar words in order to separate them from the torrent of available copy on the same subject and give them something more than a message-in-a-bottle quality.
Later that night, the Knicks played the Chicago Bulls on TNT, with Charles Barkley leaving his throne in Atlanta to work the game as an analyst. Barkley called Jackson’s rebuilding approach flawed, claiming free agents won’t be intrigued by the idea of playing in New York in the triangle if the team is terrible and the ball is dominated by Anthony.
This is the TV world we live in. Analysts have to have strong opinions that separate themselves from other talking heads and create tidy soundbites of 20 and 30 seconds that can be replayed throughout a 24-hour news cycle – or until someone else says something more interesting or outlandish on the same topic.
When Jackson was coaching the Bulls and Lakers and amassing a record 11 championships, he pretty much ignored this sort of noise and let his growing record speak for itself. It now speaks volumes and is above reproach, which is a big reason he is president of the Knicks right now.
But as a GM, Jackson appears to have developed rabbit ears. He somehow felt the need to take to Twitter and reply to both SheridanHoops and Barkley – which, in the world we live in, the New York Post considered worthy of a story.
Very few of Jackson’s peers would have dignified these proclamations with a response. Sure, GMs will go on radio or TV or talk to newspapers or websites and explain their position and philosophy in general or specific terms. But virtually all of them understand that criticism comes with the territory, and time will prove them right or wrong. When it comes to the media, the job of GM is “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
But if Jackson’s sonar is picking up slights of any size, how did it not detect the missile launched across his bow earlier in the week by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, who scored a direct hit?
On his radio show, Van Pelt suggested that the Knicks quite possibly would have the same awful record if they replaced 
Jackson coach Derek Fisher – both in their first years in their respective difficult jobs, pulling down a combined $17 million per year – with a bartender and a homeless guy. Really.
And you know what? SVP wasn’t that far off. Really.
In Tuesday’s home loss to Dallas, the Knicks allowed the Mavericks to make 13 of their first 16 shots and race to a 34-15 lead, prompting Fisher to go high school and pull all five starters at the same time.
“I thought the start was not the right way to start a professional basketball game,” Fisher said. “Those guys that were in there to start the game, that was a disappointment to their teammates.”
Believe it or not, a lack of fight from the Knicks has been the exception, not the rule. They have been in 19 games where the margin was five points or less with five minutes to play and somehow have lost 16 of them. The most recent one was Saturday’s home loss to Phoenix, after which Anthony severely questioned the team’s confidence.
They are 5-25. Need we we remind you that they started 2-1?
“I can just see it out there on the court, that we don’t believe in ourselves to be able to go down the stretch and win basketball games,” he said.
Confidence – or a lack thereof – somewhat goes to the formation of a roster, which is on the GM. It somewhat goes to the installation and development of a system, which is on the coach. (And in this case, the GM as well.) And it somewhat goes to professionalism on a daily basis, which is on the players.
Can you really say that if this $90 million roster was left to its own devices – or as Van Pelt put it, a mixologist picking the players and a guy playing the trumpet in the subway running the practices and calling the plays – that the Knicks wouldn’t 
have won more than five of their first 30 games? Because every previous GM-coach combination in franchise history has gotten off to a better start.
Look, it’s quite possible that four years from now, the Knicks will have benefited from Jackson’s smarts and patience and Fisher’s maturation and become contenders again. They may have surrounded Anthony with Jahlil Okafor and Kevin Durant and Goran Dragic and ascended to the top of the East with the triangle in full effect. They may have made Madison Square Garden the mecca of basketball again.
And that’s when Jackson can respond to the shots across his bow with his Twitter bombs, because he will have proved the pundits wrong. But right now, he needs to follow the lead of his peers, who are too busy trying to improve their teams with the exploration of trades, scouting, analytics and player development to respond via social media to worthy criticism.
Because like his team, right now that’s a game he can’t win.
TRIVIA: Rajon Rondo was traded while leading the league in assists. Who was the last player to lead the NBA in one of the five primary stats while being traded during the season? Answer below.
Don’t waste your breath, fellas – SH.com has been in bed with the NY Post and the Daily News since they started. The “better basketball site for intelligent readers” tagline is simply a ruse.
I do not consider myself a Phil Jackson apologist, but a reasonable Knicks fan representative of the vast majority of Knick fans.
With that said, I am getting tired of so called intelligent basketball journalists writing these “all too easy” articles about the state of the Knicks. The writer of this article seems to imply that Phil Jackson was not doing his job because he made a few comments on Twitter, while other teams happened to make trades. This uses the same nonsensical logic that people use when they criticize the President for golfing or taking a vacation.
The writer, while insinuating Jackson has not been active in discussing trades (you know, because he was spending so much time writing three posts on Twitter) does not even lay out any trade ideas of his own for this season that could improve the team in the short and long term. That would actually require some serious thought and might be something that basketball fans would appreciate reading rather than this story, that’s main point seems to be that Jackson is not working hard enough to improve the Knicks because he took 10 minutes to post his thoughts on Twitter.
There seems to be a real disconnect between the media’s perception of this season vs. that of the fans. The fact that the Knicks have put themselves in the position to get a top 3 pick in this year’s draft, whether intentional or not, should be viewed as good fortune and a major catalyst to the rebuilding process. The vast majority of Knicks fans are fine with the current state of the Knicks, understanding the Knicks rebuilding process takes a big step next summer and the summer after that (even if they do not sign Gasol, Durant, Love, etc.).
I do not think the media has grasped this and are still trying to convince Knick fans that we should have some indignation towards Knicks management right now. Stop it already and try writing some intelligent articles for once. New York Knicks fans happen to be very loyal and patient with their team and are giving Jackson the time necessary to clean up the team he inherited. It is the media that can’t seem to wait for next summer and is filling the space between now and then with mediocre articles like this one.
Well said. Couldn’t agree more.
So, only the pundits are allowed to voice their opinion right now?
The Knicks are clearly tanking the season, that was obvious from the way Jackson gave a scouting report on the Knicks prior to the season beginning, it was obvious from the way Melo threw the roster under the bus prior to the season.
So I have no beef with you telling Jackson the product is shameful, the product has been shameful since the Ewing trade basically, or more directly since Dolan became the owner, but to get your little panties in a bunch because he engages you on twitter? Grow a pair.
The Knicks were fleeced in the Tyson trade, or the Knicks wanted to upgrade their center via the draft and decided to tank?
Jackson is not going to admit in public that they are tanking, but the reality is the only team they’re competing with right now is Philly.
You’re right up there with Stephen A right now talking about getting the last word with a player on the court. News flash: we don’t respect you pundits. SMH.
Knicks tanking this early in the season? Only the Sixers can make that claim and even THEY recently won 3 games.
Certainly Derek Fisher isn’t tanking.
Phil Jackson probably didn’t expect more than a #5-#8 seed going into season. Jackson and Fisher look s_it-faced right now. They want wins. Maybe later in season they tank, but not right now. And losing hurts the chances of Knicks getting a quality player to come in free agency.
Regardless of whether or not the intent to tank was made before the season, Knick fans never expected a championship team this year. Better they be awful and take advantage of one of the few first round picks they have had in the past few years, than be mediocre and unable to improve significantly thru the draft.
Also, last I checked free agents usually made decisions based on the money vs. quality of the team they were joining. The impact of this year’s record on this summer’s free agents is overstated. The majority of this year’s team will not be on the roster come summer, whether it be via free agency, trade or waivers.
When you think about it, a max/quality player can really only leave for a “bad” situation because good teams have good players that eat up a lot of the cap and the only teams that usually have space are either extremely young bad or have just gutted their roster bad. This is why Chicago lost out to New York this summer on Melo. If Gasol is leaving Memphis, it will have to be for a worse situation that is offering the max vs. Memphis offering him less than max.
If Knicks want to give a Max contract to Greg Monroe, be my guest. However, with Pistons “stretching” the contract of Josh Smith and waiving him, look for Detroit to try to keep Monroe, as they can offer him 5 years to 4 years from Knicks.
I don’t see top free agents like Marc Gasol choosing Knicks for money. He too can get more by staying in Memphis. And if Gasol does leave Memphis, I see Lakers getting his services over Knicks.
Rondo appears to be staying in Dallas. Who’s left, who Knicks would like to overpay for? Not Love.
The Knicks roster is much better than their record. The coaching staff and PJax are not going to be embarrassed by having their team win less than 15 more games down the stretch. Maybe they get a #3 to #5 pick, but I can’t see them getting #1 or #2.
Never said the Knicks need to use their money on max players or offer second tier stars max money. The money can be used to sign quality veterans with high basketball IQ (i.e. Afflalo) to fill some of their many needs. The media (besides Howard Beck) believe the only options out there for improvement are signing Marc Gasol this summer and Kevin Durant next summer, but I am sure there are plans B, C, D and E for how to spend that cap money.
Nobody on this team is improving enough to the point that the Knicks do not have one of the worst records in the NBA. Fisher and Jackson cannot turn on some switch to stop the losing (nor at this point, should they want to). If this team was as talented as you think they are, they would be winning more games. Melo is hurting, Stoudemire is past his prime, JR Smith continues to infuriate and nobody else can score.
Their odds for a top three pick if they have the fourth worst record are 40% and only 30% with the fifth worst record (vs. 56% odds they currently have with the second worst record). At this point, they have nothing to gain by winning and a potential franchise player for the next decade (which they have not had since Ewing) if they keep losing.
Not sure why you prefer short term mediocrity over the chance to build a long term contender.
Jackson should have known what he was getting into, when he took the job (The Money) as did Melo when he re-signed (for the Money). And I suspect a good reason for Phil not wanting to coach the Knicks, is that by being President, it doesn’t tarnish his coaching record.
It soon will be time to take bets on how long Jackson remains as President of the Knicks (quit or be fired)?
He doesn’t want to coach because he’s had two hip replacements, multiple back surgeries and knee surgeries. In his last couple of years in LA he used a Segway to get up and down the court in practice, and had to use a high chair because he literally couldn’t sit down because of his hip injuries.
Dolan won’t fire him. Dolan doesn’t fire anyone who isn’t a woman of colour.