He was supposed to bring glory back to the Garden, unfortunately, nothing really changed with the arrival of Phil Jackson. Jackson made some questionable moves including the signings of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, however, much to fans’ surprise he drafted a really good player in Kristaps Porzingis. Â Unfortunately all of the confusion about the team’s future only seemed to irate their superstar Carmelo Anthony. Â Anthony never publicly made any negative statements about Jackson, but the tension between the two was obvious.
During the season, Jackson told the media that Anthony was not in the team’s plan for next season. He told reporters back in April, “We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time. Â And I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that will be better off somewhere else and using his talent somewhere where he can win or chase that championship. Right now we need players that are really active, can play every single play defensively and offensively. That’s really important for us.”
As if saying that publicly was not embarrassing enough, at the end of the season it seemed Porzingis was also unhappy with Jackson. Reportedly, he skipped the team’s exit interviews. Â Things only got worse when reports started swirling that Jackson was listening to trade offers on the young center. Â It was clear, even to Knicks’ owner James Dolan, that it was best for both sides to end this relationship. The move is a bit surprising as Dolan pledged his support to Jackson just a few months ago, saying he would never fire him.
Dolan did not immediately announce who would take over Jackson’s role, but Toronto’s president Masai Ujiri name has been floated around as a possible replacement.  Whoever it is will get a chance to work with the team’s latest draft pick Frank Ntilikina and head coach Jeff Hornacek.  The team will no longer be forced to try and run the “triangle offense” that probably haunts Anthony and Porzingis in their sleep.
