Knicks · Phil Jackson: LeBron James travels half the time he catches the ball (page 1)

Get off Phil Jackson’s lawn.

The 69-year-old Knicks president thinks basketball has lost its way, and he cited LeBron James when outlining the problems.

Phil Jackson, via Howard Beck of Bleacher Report:

“I watch LeBron James, for example,” he said. “He might [travel] every other time he catches the basketball if he’s off the ball. He catches the ball, moves both his feet. You see it happen all the time. There’s no structure, there’s no discipline, there’s no ‘How do we play this game’ type of attitude. And it goes all the way through the game. To the point where now guys don’t screen—they push guys off with their hands.”

He concluded: “It struck me: How can we get so far away from the real truth of what we’re trying to do? And if you give people structure, just like a jazz musician—he’s gotta learn melody, and he’s gotta learn the basic parts of music—and then he can learn how to improvise. And that’s basically what team play is all about.”

The agitation in Jackson’s voice is evident.

“The game actually has some beauty to it, and we’ve kind of taken some of that out of it to make it individualized,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot of who we are as a country, individualized stuff.”

Indeed, Jackson seems much less concerned with validating the triangle than with the state of the game itself.

“When I watch some of these playoff games, and I look at what’s being run out there, as what people call an offense, it’s really quite remarkable to see how far our game has fallen from a team game,” Jackson said. “Four guys stand around watching one guy dribble a basketball.”

Kids these days – ruining America with their individualized offenses. Or is it the other way around?

Anyway, Jackson comes across like a grumpy old man, far too obsessed with how they did it in his day rather than what actually works now.

There was no better example of an individualized offense than the playoff Cavaliers, who funneled everything though LeBron. And they scored more points per 100 possessions with LeBron on the floor (104.2) than the regular-season Knicks (97.1). Even in the Finals – with LeBron intentionally bogging down the offense to slow the game and against the Warriors’ NBA-best defense – Cleveland still scored more with LeBron on the floor (97.3) than the regular-season Knicks.

Maybe the script flips once (if?) Phil Jackson acquires better players. But Jackson’s attitude doesn’t give me much confidence. Even if he’s no longer framing his complaints around the triangle offense, he seems too obsessed about the wrong things

I’ll take effective over aesthetically pleasing.

the problem with the triangle or it's concepts is that you have everyone in the offense that can shoot and pass... and most big guys can't do either let alone do one of them...

the reason these pnr offenses work is that it puts the ball in the hands of the best ballhandler most of the time... you want your best player making the decisions...

if you can find the players... multiskilled and versatile.. it can do wonders.. but it's just so hard to find.. that's why teams with less talent look horrible in the triangle...

Geez, I wish Phil would shut up.

crzymdups wrote:Geez, I wish Phil would shut up.

idk he had to be pretty quiet last season as the knicks sucked but I like that he is talking trash now. Hopefully its a sign that he plans for the knicks to be good next season to back it up.

He is telling the truth

I seen this coming from the day he traded tyson, i kept saying this dude is living in the past, and although I agree with most of the sht he's saying, you have to come to the realization that the game isn't played that way anymore, so either get on board, or get the hell out of here.

why is everyone mad at what phil said? he's a grumpy old man because he thinks the game of basketball has taken a hit? it's the reason so many people love watching college basketball instead of the nba, the game is still officiated in college (for the most part) and when you shuffle your feet, a travel is usually called. i guess im a grumpy old man too for agreeing with phil on this.

James has seemingly be deified by fans and is already seated in the pantheon of BB gods. How dare Phil be critical.

Jackson is actually right about a lot of things, but he is also reacting to criticisms of his offensive strategy, which he sees more as a teamwork thing than anything else.

I understand that the Cavs were undermanned, but it was brutal watching them play offense, and if they had actually had a system of play they could fall back on, they might have done a little better.

You also saw the famous "defer to star" ball that we've seen with Anthony on the Knicks. Shumpert was almost afraid of the ball at certain times, and even JR lost his swagger.

The Iggy decision and GS's refusal to double James on a systematic basis, showed you the worst parts of ISO ball. James was good enough to win some battles during the series, but the Cavs had no answer for winning the war, and James has to take some of the blame for a team that did not have a consistent response to what GS was doing to them on D.

James was the best player on the court for much of the time, and he has already told us he is the best player in the world, but that did not keep the better team from winning, just like last year, when the best team also also defeated the team with the best individuals.

No difference than Jordan getting away with palming.

Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

The question is about what fans want to see.
And they want to see hero ball, stars going at each other, and-one and such.
So NBA is provided the entertainment majority of fans want.
It is not in power of Phil to change it.
When the old school NBA greats like him, Pop , and couple of others will retire every body will just run and gun.
If someone does not like it don't watch.

Bonn1997 wrote:Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

we weren't the second worst team without also marching out a horrendous defense- so please give Phil the full credit he deserves!

I don't know about Lebron but I know JR usually travels when he coes of a screen on a catch and shoot 3pta and even JVG was calling it out during the finals.

franco12 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

we weren't the second worst team without also marching out a horrendous defense- so please give Phil the full credit he deserves!

Not sure what Phil has to do with the mess he inherited with the Knicks?
No one can undo the damage created in 15 years in one year or even in 3-4 years.
Especially with the root of the issue (Dolan) still in full force.
This organization deserves the misery.
And fans who are still on the Dolan/Isiah bandwagon deserve this misery 3-fold.

arkrud wrote:

franco12 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

we weren't the second worst team without also marching out a horrendous defense- so please give Phil the full credit he deserves!

Not sure what Phil has to do with the mess he inherited with the Knicks?
No one can undo the damage created in 15 years in one year or even in 3-4 years.
Especially with the root of the issue (Dolan) still in full force.
This organization deserves the misery.
And fans who are still on the Dolan/Isiah bandwagon deserve this misery 3-fold.

we had a little over 20 million to spend when we signed amare, how have we been a mess for 15 yrs, it's more like 1 yr

franco12 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

we weren't the second worst team without also marching out a horrendous defense- so please give Phil the full credit he deserves!

LOL - I mentioned that because Phil is constantly criticizing other teams' offenses.

Knicks1969 wrote:He is telling the truth

agree completely.

He is +1,000% correct on the traveling -- it is a disgrace.

We have HS kids that can catch the ball, establish a pivot foot and make a move but we have +80% of our NBA stars walking all over the place.

Guy's catch a simple pass and take 3 or 4 steps before establishing a pivot foot. Guys get into the lane, do a pump fake and take the pivot foot completely off the floor to create a new move -- it's just sad.

Phil is correct -- slowly becoming street ball and +80% of the mooks watching the sport don't even see it.

knicks1248 wrote:

arkrud wrote:

franco12 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Yet, Phil put together the team with worst offense in the league last year.

we weren't the second worst team without also marching out a horrendous defense- so please give Phil the full credit he deserves!

Not sure what Phil has to do with the mess he inherited with the Knicks?
No one can undo the damage created in 15 years in one year or even in 3-4 years.
Especially with the root of the issue (Dolan) still in full force.
This organization deserves the misery.
And fans who are still on the Dolan/Isiah bandwagon deserve this misery 3-fold.

we had a little over 20 million to spend when we signed amare, how have we been a mess for 15 yrs, it's more like 1 yr

The organization was a mess way before Amare, during Amare's time here, and so far afterward.

arkrud wrote:The question is about what fans want to see.
And they want to see hero ball, stars going at each other, and-one and such.
So NBA is provided the entertainment majority of fans want.
It is not in power of Phil to change it.
When the old school NBA greats like him, Pop , and couple of others will retire every body will just run and gun.
If someone does not like it don't watch.

Are you 12?