Knicks finally end Phil Jackson era

James Dolan has screwed up everything he’s touched for a long time with the New York Knicks, but he does need credit for one thing: he had a plan with Phil Jackson and stuck with it until he just couldn’t stick with it anymore. Jackson’s time in New York can only be called a travesty. Nothing was good about it, but at least in the beginning, the move to hire him as President of Operation made sense. Few people were against the hire because of Jackson’s knowledge of the game, and even after early stumbles Dolan stuck to his plan and didn’t make any significant changes. Instability is usually worse than ineffective management. Dolan didn’t make a drastic move to fire him when some people were calling for his head after bad years one and two.

But this offseason Dolan has no choice. After butting heads with Carmelo Anthony and botched trade talked for Kristaps Porzingis, which only further created a strain on the team, Dolan decided that three years of terrible management under Jackson was enough. The marriage is over, despite a costly buyout that had to be paid.

The Knicks were 80-166 n three seasons, losing at least 50 games in each of them. Jackson’s mind for the game of basketball did not translate to an executive’s role because his ego was too big even for New York.

Jackson refused to adapt. He brought Derek Fisher in as his coach for a season and a half because he wanted the Knicks to run his famous triangle offense. That offense did not work for the Knicks and does not work in the modern NBA, but Jackson refused to let go of it. When he brought it Jeff Hornacek in as the team’s new coach, he did not want him to run the fast-paced offense that he was used to coaching before, Jackson still wanted the Knicks to use the triangle, which Hornacek never played in and never taught before.

Combined with the public clashes with the Knicks two biggest stars, Anthony and Porzingis, Dolan had no choice but to get rid of Jackson finally. He did not realize the difference between being a coach and being an executive. Jackson wasn’t in the locker room building personal relationships with the players. He instead of was watching games from the stands and treating his position like a part time job.

While Dolan is easy to blame or owning the worst-run organization in the NBA, Jackson made things worse with how he handled the job he had and was responsible for his downfall.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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