Sir Charles in Charge
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Phil Jackson Gets Far Too Much Blame In New York

By Hans Themistode

Mar 27, 2017; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) prior to taking on the Detroit Piston at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2017; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) prior to taking on the Detroit Piston at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Phil Jackson gets far too much blame for the disaster that the New York Knicks have transformed into over the last few years

Thirteen NBA championships, two as a player and 11 as a coach. Over 1,100 wins which places him in the top five in total victories of all-time and a win percentage of 70.4, which by the way is the highest in NBA history. Phil Jackson’s basketball mind is never to be questioned. His work as the president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks on the other hand has left many of us scratching our heads.

Many of his moves have been questionable to say the least. Giving a 32-year-old, past his prime, Joakim Noah $72 million over four years was a terrible move. At the time of the signing it didn’t seem like that bad of a move, however.

After all, Noah was a former defensive player of the year, two-time all-star and all-NBA first team player. Although Noah had a terrible year by his standards the year prior with the Chicago Bulls, Phil was banking on a change of scenery helping Noah recapture his old form but, unfortunately for the Knicks, he just hasn’t been able to as he’s posted his second fewest points per game this year, his lowest blocks per game of his career and just hasn’t given the Knicks his normal defensive presence.

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Other than Noah, Phil has made quite a few splashy moves this past offseason by acquiring former MVP guard Derrick Rose from the Chicago Bulls and solid, although inconsistent, point guard Brandon Jennings.

He also filled out the roster with solid pick ups of Courtney Lee and rookies Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas. With the addition of these players to go along with star Carmelo Anthony and rising star Kristaps Porzingis, everything seemed to be in place to help end the New York Knicks playoff drought.

In hindsight things just haven’t worked out.

The Knicks failed to make the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. This is Phil’s third year on the job and many people, including his former Bulls player Scottie Pippen, thinks it’s time for Phil to go.

Phil hasn’t put enough around Carmelo Anthony. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard this over the course of the year. Although Phil hasn’t assembled a championship level team around Anthony, he has surrounded him with players that are more than capable of making a playoff run.

Derrick Rose isn’t the MVP he once was. He’s not even an all-star caliber player anymore as well but he’s still a very good player. He averaged 18 points and four assists this season which was a massive upgrade from the point guard play they received the year prior from Jose Calderon.

Courtney Lee was solid this year providing his typical 3-and-D type of play. Kristaps Porzingis made significant strides this year and is undoubtedly one of the bright young stars in the league. Although Brandon Jennings could make you cringe at times, he played hard and actually led the team in assists coming off the bench.

The pieces and opportunities were there but this team vastly underachieved this year and there is plenty of blame to go around. Phil deserves his share no doubt about it but so do these players, especially Carmelo Anthony.

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    • At the beginning of the season, Anthony scoffed at his ranking in SLAM magazine who rated him the 15th best player in the NBA, seemingly because he believes he should have been ranked much higher. Every player ranked above him on that list is either locked into the playoffs or in the hunt for one of the final seeds. Anthony’s Knicks, however, came up woefully short this year as they are already eliminated from postseason contention.

    Teams such as the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder are fighting for position with rosters that pale in comparison to the one Anthony is currently working with in New York. Need I remind everyone that Allen Iverson carried his Philadelphia teams year-after-year to the playoffs without much help – including the 2001 NBA finals where his second best player was arguably Eric Snow. Yes I said Eric Snow. Let that sink in for a moment. In 2007 Lebron James carried the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals as well while he had teammates such as Drew Gooden and Eric Snow.

    Yes I said Eric Snow again.

    So once again, let that sink in. During the 2006 season, Kobe Bryant dragged his Lakers to the playoffs and gave the Phoenix Suns everything they could handle in the first round.

    Don’t look at Phil Jackson and put the blame on him. His insistence on implementing the triangle and his pension for taking subtle jabs at Carmelo didn’t help. Anthony doesn’t have the best players out there. This team by far isn’t contending for a championship, but a playoff berth? In a year where teams are fighting for the final two spots with losing records shouldn’t be to much to ask from Carmelo and his New York Knicks.

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    No matter what Phil has done, he has surrounded Carmelo with more than enough talent to fight for a playoff spot. The players just simply did not get it done.

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