Photo Credit: Nell Redmond/Associated Press
Remember when everyone thought the hiring of Phil Jackson would immediately bring an NBA title back to New York? Â Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t bring anyone named Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant with him and it appears a title is not going to happen this year for the New York Knicks.
As the head of basketball operations, Jackson has made a lot of changes including hiring Derek Fisher as the Knicks head coach and trading JR Smith and Iman Shumpert midseason to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Â Nothing has worked so far and the Knicks are currently 5-36 and recently ended a 16 game losing streak.
Jackson admitted that the triangle that he made famous is not working.  “So far, my experiment has fallen flat on its face,” Jackson said while speaking about New York’s first half.  He continued by telling the New York Times,  “You do need great players to win the championship.  But having to always chase the best talent in free agency eventually becomes a mindset of, well, the best talent wins as opposed to who plays the best team basketball — which is what San Antonio showed last season.”
The Knicks may not be going anywhere this season, but they will have a top draft picks and some cap space to spend money in the offseason. Also, if Fisher stays as head coach, which it seems he will, he will have learned from his mistakes this season and will be a better coach next season.
