here's some snips.
Q: When Knicks fans watch a Phil Jackson team, a Derek Fisher team play basketball, what do you want them to say about that team?
A: Unselfish. … They move the basketball. … They recognize situations on the court. … They’re intelligent, or have good group-think. … Defensively, they help each other out. And they’re scrappers.
Q: Is Kobe Bryant the model for Carmelo Anthony?
A: No. No one can approach that. I don’t expect anybody to be able to model their behavior after that, although Kobe modeled his behavior a lot about Michael Jordan, but he went beyond Michael in his attitude towards training, and I know Mike would probably question me saying that, but he did.
Q: Your first choice as head coach was Steve Kerr, but the Warriors offered more money. Did Knicks owner James Dolan support your pursuit of Kerr, and why do you think your second choice, Derek Fisher, was worth more money than your first choice?
A: That part is incorrect. However, having had a relationship with Steve that’s beyond just basketball and coach and player, we had discussions over the course of the year. A lot of ’em about running a system in the NBA. Is it possible that you can run this triangle system in the NBA? And I said, “I see no reason why not.” And I said, “A lot of it depends upon personnel and a lot of it depends upon mental attitude of players.” One of the discussion points that came up was as to what type of team you’re thinking about that could be very effective in the triangle, and he said, “Golden State Warriors.” And I said, “Oh that’s interesting, Mark Jackson’s there.” … And he said, “Yeah, I know.” But he said, “If that job was available, that would be kind of the perfect job for a triangle.” Well, once that job became available — I knew that he had a daughter at Cal, great volleyball player — and it really wasn’t more about that than about anything else. And so, even though he committed to me, I knew that the day that they fired Mark that that was where he was gonna be pursued. [Former Jets general manager Mike] Tannenbaum facilitated that, and that was OK with me, because I want [Kerr] to be happy in what he does. And I think probably Derek’s the right choice for this job, so I have no qualms, no problem with it at all, and I’m thankful that Jim wanted to bend. But I think I had to make a statement about what I wanted to pay a coach.
Q: How do you plan to try to get through to J.R. Smith to put an end to all his immature on- and off-the-court antics?
A: I don’t know if that’s possible or not. He might be one of those guys that’s a little bit like Dennis Rodman that has an outlier kind of side to him. But I’m gonna get to know him as we go along, and we’ll find a way to either make him a very useful player on our organization, or whatever.
Q: Where would bringing a championship back to New York rank among your achievements?
A: Wow, every one of those titles is such a precious thing. Even in the process of talking about these things that take a year to manifest themselves in a title, there is the journey, and the journey is what counts. So when you start this journey, it’s about the process. And the titles and the championships, they’re ephemeral in many ways. You win it, you feel great, and you’re on top, and there’s a wonderful euphoria that follows it. But it goes away. And then you have to start in July, rebuilding another championship. It’s something you understand it’s our goal, but it’s our goal starting July 1st — actually, when we draft. So it’s all this journey that begins including the summers, the injuries, the training camp, the rehabs — all these things these players are doing — and I hope that when we sat in our exit meetings last April, late April, that I could portray that to these players that are coming back.
My takeaways....
1)Phil isnt as high on this roster as people want to believe. It's not a finished product, dont treat it as such.
2)Bsically called JR Smith a lost cause, but he'll at least try to make him useful. I find the Rodamn comparison interesting...Rodman had antics but his performance never wavered. Phil isnt concerned as much about JR immaturity just the fact he's an inconsistent player. He's keeping it strictly on the court.
3)We all know melo is of no comparison to Kobe, but Phil has let the secret out....Melo isnt even close.
4)Phil has won so many titles, that he's more focused on the process that gets you there, and thats where his true happiness comes from now.
It seems though, and i truly dont literally take Phil's words as his true feelings, but he's throwin out some serious motivation for these guys...if they are smart enough to grasp.
http://nypost.com/2014/09/24/steve-serby...
