As the team prepares to hire a new head coach this summer, the New York Knicks should allow Phil Jackson or Carmelo Anthony to have the final say
A few years ago, many thought that the dark days of the New York Knicks were numbered. Phil Jackson was hired as the team’s President of Basketball Operations and surely he would be able to turn the tide in the Big Apple.
Two years later, and not much has changed. The Knicks have been historically bad in the two years that Jackson has been in charge in New York and has yet to make any significant moves – in free agency or via trade.
Sure, he drafted Kristaps Porzingis, but that really could’ve gone either way.
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Now that it’s time to select a new head coach, after the first one that Jackson chose flamed out, he shouldn’t be heading the search. As we discussed previously, he’s pushing towards removing the interim tag and making Kurt Rambis the team’s full-time head coach, along with feeding him a multi-year contract.
That would be a mistake. Also, are we supposed to ignore the big opt out that Jackson has in his contract after next season? There’s a legitimate chance that Jackson could abandon ship, leaving the Knicks with Rambis as his lasting impact.
Thing is, as bad as allowing Jackson to have the final say in who the Knicks choose as the team’s next head coach, allowing Carmelo Anthony to pick one would be equally as bad.
Even though he’s on record saying that he’d like to have input on the search.
"[via ESPN]Carmelo Anthony would like to have some input on the Knicks’ upcoming personnel decisions, including the club’s next head-coaching hire. “I think you have to,” he said Wednesday night. “I think you have to have some type of input, whether it’s input or dialogue, whatever word that you want to use. I think you have to have that. I think at this point it needs to be some type of connection, some type of communication. Especially if we want to right this ship, there definitely needs to be some type of communication.” Anthony added that he had yet to speak to team president Phil Jackson or other members of the team’s front office about plans to fill the coaching vacancy."
Melo is just as likely to leave New York as Jackson is. In actuality, the case could be made that Jackson is closer to leaving the Knicks than Melo is. Melo has a real connection to New York. Jackson…not so much. Plus, we all know that he’s eventually going to find his way back to Los Angeles.
It’s only a matter of time.
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Which leaves the New York Knicks in a very tough spot. But it is kind of fitting that the two people that carry all the power in New York right now are also two people that could no longer be part of the organization a year from now.