Don’t expect miracles right away from Phil Jackson as he takes over the New York Knicks. Unless, of course, you consider making the playoffs this season befitting of miracle status. Because as much as Jackson talked about the future and the past, it was the present where he spoke most definitively. There were at least four occasions on which he discussed the upcoming playoffs, and only once did he hedge and acknowledge the Knicks might not make it. So when Jackson steps into
Thanks to all those who voted in our poll last week asking whether Kevin Durant or LeBron James is the stronger MVP candidate. The final results were astonishingly close, with Durant taking over Tuesday night as he was scoring 42 points against Houston and winning the poll with 47.10 percent of the vote to James’ 46.33. Is this a preview of what the actual voting will be like? It probably was, and the challenge for the NBA front office in late April and
If Phil Jackson takes over the New York Knicks, he’ll have a tough job on his hands. He’ll have to rebuild in free agency in 2015, because the Knicks have traded away their 2014 and 2016 first-round picks and their second-round picks in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Plus Raymond Felton will still be under contract in 2015-16, as will JR Smith. Oh, and first he’ll have to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay. Plenty of talk on that, plus other subjects including Frank Isola
We now have ESPN.com reporting that all the pieces are in place for Phil Jackson to take over the front office for the New York Knicks, which means there is a 50 percent chance it will happen. But let’s go ahead and suppose the Worldwide Leader got one right – even though the highly respected Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is urging caution, saying things aren’t anywhere near done. Charley Rosen hinted at the same thing on this site 2 days
Phil Jackson can run the New York Knicks if he wants to. That is the word on the street this morning, although he will NOT become their next head coach. For insight into the reasons why, check out this column from Charley Rosen. But if he accepts the job, he is going to have his work cutout for him. Although the Knicks have won three straight games and are still in contention for a playoff spot in the East, they still
It’s a two-man race. We all can agree on that, right? But who is the more worthy candidate: LeBron James? Or Kevin Durant? This week, we let y’all have your say as we post a poll within this post. You can even vote for somebody else if you so choose, but the majority of folks will vote for the player who leads the league in scoring or the player who went off for 61 points on Monday night. Once you cast your ballot,
I went on the radio in Phoenix this morning and played party-pooper, because I don’t think qualifying for the playoffs is such a grand goal. It is a nice goal, don’t get me wrong, especially for an overachieving team like the Suns. But the ultimate goal is to win a championship, and if the Phoenix Suns could have acquired Pau Gasol from the Los Angeles Lakers for the insurance-covered contract of Emeka Okafor, along with a first-round draft pick, they should
If you are looking for someone to bail on the Thunder because of their recent three-game losing streak, you are looking in the wrong place. The temptation around the country is to couple the return of Russell Westbrook and the three-game loss streak, and to draw a correlation between the two. And the other temptation when it comes to the Thunder is to bash Kendrick Perkins, the least-productive starting center, in terms of offense, in the entire Western Conference. Well, sorry to be