http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19148... New York Knicks owner James Dolan made a public commitment to honor Phil Jackson's five-year contract as team president in February. He has since followed through on that pledge.
Sources familiar with the situation told ESPN that the Knicks and Jackson quietly picked up their option on the remaining two years of his contract this spring.
Jackson and the Knicks each had an option to walk away from each other at the end of this season. It was built into the contract after Year 3 because Jackson had no interest in working through a lockout. The NBA and its players' union made sure to avoid that this fall, when they agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement.
There was some speculation that either Jackson or the Knicks would want to end the relationship as the option trigger approached, but sources told ESPN that the final two years of Jackson's contract were picked up "a while ago."
Dolan said he planned to honor his five-year contract with Jackson "all the way to the end" during a Feb. 10 radio interview on The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York 98.7 FM.
The Knicks completed a disappointing 31-51 season Wednesday with a 114-113 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. They have missed the playoffs for four straight seasons and have lost at least 50 games in the past three, all under Jackson. In total, New York is 80-166 In Jackson's three full seasons as team president.
Jackson and the Knicks hope to rebuild the roster this summer via the draft and free agency. The club will select no lower than ninth in the first round of June's draft. New York also projects to have more than $20 million in cap space to spend on free agents.
In addition to the draft and free agency, Jackson will have to decide how to approach Carmelo Anthony's future with the club.
The Knicks talked to several teams about trades involving Anthony prior to the deadline, and Anthony acknowledged Wednesday that the club may look to trade him again in the offseason.
Ok now get rid of Melo and get some value for him
At least this means more lottery picks!
Next season we go to playoffs
year after that we win east
year after we win title
I am ok with this we should tank at least one more season.
Not even trying to be sarcastic, If we can get a high pick next year and hit on the pick this year we could have a young core for at least 5-10 years and that would by default make Phil one of the best GM the knicks have had since Grunfeld left in the 99.
Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
Whether or not it's intentional...
CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season.
A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
some of the Most depressing news of the decade
knicks1248 wrote:some of the Most depressing news of the decade
That's cause you have not "Met John Gabriel!"
fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
Bonn1997 wrote:fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
He don't say that, we do!!!
But one more time, look at year one in great detail and you see just how bad our roster was.
ONe first round in three years. You can fire Phil all you want, that won't change.
Patience.
Can we stop pretending that there is any other option for this franchise? We gave it a go with Melo at the center of the team and couldn't make it work!!! We all saw how Free Agency worked out and there really wasn't much movement of impact players. We had no shot at KD.
At this point the best part of Phil's regime has been finding young talent. This is the only logical next step! There are never any guarantees of success but this is the BEST chance we have. To build thru the draft and try to do better signing younger FA's. Continue to develop the young talent we have.
Nalod wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
He don't say that, we do!!!
But one more time, look at year one in great detail and you see just how bad our roster was.
ONe first round in three years. You can fire Phil all you want, that won't change.
Patience.
I'd rather replace him with someone who can keep up with the advances in the metrics (without ignoring he traditional eyeball test). If he's just being replaced by someone else Dolan picks, I don't know if that will help. You're right that people here say that, not Phil, though.
I'm not really sure how far he can get the team if Phil drafts very well but messes up 90% of his FA signings and trades. Eventually these lottery picks are gonna be on max and supermax contracts or he's going to have to trade them. The state of the team he inherited doesn't justify spending $80 mil of a $94 mil cap on Rose, Melo, Noah, Thomas, and Lee.
nixluva wrote:Can we stop pretending that there is any other option for this franchise? We gave it a go with Melo at the center of the team and couldn't make it work!!! We all saw how Free Agency worked out and there really wasn't much movement of impact players. We had no shot at KD. At this point the best part of Phil's regime has been finding young talent. This is the only logical next step! There are never any guarantees of success but this is the BEST chance we have. To build thru the draft and try to do better signing younger FA's. Continue to develop the young talent we have.
If we can stop pretending that each tank was intentional. The KNicks wouldn't be saddled with NOah's deal if the intent was to tank. Phil has been trying to win every year. Is it concerning at all that he is this bad at judging talent and roster construction? This year's pick could not be traded anyway. I am very hopeful that some combination of Ndour, Baker, Kuz, Plumlee can be future rotation players for the KNicks. But I am not confident that the team will win with Phil in his position. I hope he doesn't make a mistake in free agency and I worry about what he takes back in trades.
Bonn1997 wrote:Nalod wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
He don't say that, we do!!!
But one more time, look at year one in great detail and you see just how bad our roster was.
ONe first round in three years. You can fire Phil all you want, that won't change.
Patience.
I'd rather replace him with someone who can keep up with the advances in the metrics (without ignoring he traditional eyeball test). If he's just being replaced by someone else Dolan picks, I don't know if that will help. You're right that people here say that, not Phil, though.
I'm not really sure how far he can get the team if Phil drafts very well but messes up 90% of his FA signings and trades. Eventually these lottery picks are gonna be on max and supermax contracts or he's going to have to trade them. The state of the team he inherited doesn't justify spending $80 mil of a $94 mil cap on Rose, Melo, Noah, Thomas, and Lee.
I'm not that concerned with the whole Metrics thing. Phil may not rely on it but just about all of his team does. They do the heavy lifting on scouting prospects. Phil admits he doesn't do it and trusts the people who are long time Pros at it.
As for Phil's signings and contract negotiations, I think his choices will be easier now since he isn't likely to be going after any elite level FA's at this stage. The biggest FA is likely a Jrue Holiday type or lower.
CrushAlot wrote:nixluva wrote:Can we stop pretending that there is any other option for this franchise? We gave it a go with Melo at the center of the team and couldn't make it work!!! We all saw how Free Agency worked out and there really wasn't much movement of impact players. We had no shot at KD. At this point the best part of Phil's regime has been finding young talent. This is the only logical next step! There are never any guarantees of success but this is the BEST chance we have. To build thru the draft and try to do better signing younger FA's. Continue to develop the young talent we have.
If we can stop pretending that each tank was intentional. The KNicks wouldn't be saddled with NOah's deal if the intent was to tank. Phil has been trying to win every year. Is it concerning at all that he is this bad at judging talent and roster construction? This year's pick could not be traded anyway. I am very hopeful that some combination of Ndour, Baker, Kuz, Plumlee can be future rotation players for the KNicks. But I am not confident that the team will win with Phil in his position. I hope he doesn't make a mistake in free agency and I worry about what he takes back in trades.
You keep saying this but no one is really saying that Phil tanked intentionally! He didn't completely sell out on Win Now either! He was trying to do BOTH. That's what most have been saying and Phil also stated from the start that this was his plan. To try to win but still focus on a Future Component and not sell off the future just to win.
You can't honestly look at the roster and not see that he's done what he said he was going to try to do. We did try to win but there is a significant youth component as well. It's going to be easy to move more in the direction of a youth movement from here if they can trade Melo.
Bonn1997 wrote:fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
phil is not here to win, that so obvious...There's isn't President in the 4 major sports that has had 4 losing season and still have a job...
nixluva wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:Nalod wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:fishmike wrote:CrushAlot wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:At least this means more lottery picks!
yeah but it is really hard to root for loses. I hate lost seasons.
thats the whole point. If we execute on this draft its not a lost season. Any more than having KP to show for was a lost season. A lost season is losing 50+ with guys like Eddy Curry and knowing you have no draft pick and are going into the next season with the same roster.
How long does that outlook continue for? Eventually Phil's teams have to start winning, no? He can't just proudly say his legacy was that he brought a dozen lottery picks to the team.
He don't say that, we do!!!
But one more time, look at year one in great detail and you see just how bad our roster was.
ONe first round in three years. You can fire Phil all you want, that won't change.
Patience.
I'd rather replace him with someone who can keep up with the advances in the metrics (without ignoring he traditional eyeball test). If he's just being replaced by someone else Dolan picks, I don't know if that will help. You're right that people here say that, not Phil, though.
I'm not really sure how far he can get the team if Phil drafts very well but messes up 90% of his FA signings and trades. Eventually these lottery picks are gonna be on max and supermax contracts or he's going to have to trade them. The state of the team he inherited doesn't justify spending $80 mil of a $94 mil cap on Rose, Melo, Noah, Thomas, and Lee.
I'm not that concerned with the whole Metrics thing. Phil may not rely on it but just about all of his team does. They do the heavy lifting on scouting prospects. Phil admits he doesn't do it and trusts the people who are long time Pros at it.
As for Phil's signings and contract negotiations, I think his choices will be easier now since he isn't likely to be going after any elite level FA's at this stage. The biggest FA is likely a Jrue Holiday type or lower.
When has any elite FA wanted anything to do with phil? we have had sign bottom of the LIST FA every yr..
Losing aside, Phil has not delivered on the culture-change that he promised at the beginning. His lack of communication with the media, fans, players, and agents is completely unacceptable. But from a basketball perspective, i'm not really sure what else he could have done. He wasn't going to convince top free agents to sign in NY no matter what. Guys like Durant and Aldridge only want to play for championship-ready teams. It's been proven. Not even Boston could land an elite free agent (Horford is great but i don't view him as elite.) And Phil couldn't commit to a full rebuild because he has had 1 1st round pick in 3 years. So what other options were there really? Had he come into a situation with all draft picks, he would have likely let Melo go and rebuild, based on what we have seen. No doubt he values draft picks above everything else here. And the ones he has had, he has made the most of. Now we are in a situation where we no longer owe picks and can actually do a true rebuild. And there's young talent in place. So he is owed the last 2 years of this contract to use his draft picks and build a good, young team, and we will see what it looks like at the end of this.
I don't think any teams wants to tank. At some point you have to just give into it.
Year one I think team was not tanking but it did when it was painfully obvious the team was awful.
Year Two was not a tank cuz we did not have a pick. No panic moves, no starphuch leverage and instead treading water was a sign things are different in MSG.
Year Three, I think Phil constructed an on paper playoff caliber team without giving up a draft pick. Where past failures usually had us not owning a pick, this team has it and will pick up a nice player.
....and we developed players.
I know, "Oh woe is me the knick fan starved for success", but this is what it is. IT sucks. I preach patience. I preach faith in the zen master despite his mistakes. I preach the faith of him vs. an invisible mystical person.
Both concepts. Its easy to think "Yes, but if we bring in a proven entity then we will succeed as the past credible job when duplicated has to work here! Phil has never succeeded in an executive position thus he is unproven."
Not a bad thought and I get the attraction. Few things: Gotta have assets and draft picks for any talent to work. Second, Steve Mills is the GM now and I think will be going forward. If not, we promote from within. TO clean house is only effective if you have assets in which to use. If you have those assets, and they were procured due to the current admin, then you have a plan.
We might not understand the plan.
