“One of the messages from the players was that it was a very talented team,’’ Jackson said. “They had to have a lot of games where they forced their talent on opposing teams rather than playing with freedom to make things easy. All the wins were hard to get. They were winning with talent and not with team play, which I thought was an accurate statement.

“I think the talent’s there,’’ Jax added. “How to blend it together is a coaching decision and a personnel decision.’’

Does that sound like someone looking to gut and rebuild?

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Phil Jackson’s first postseason news conference began with the statement that “there is no news.” But Jackson, the Knicks’ new $60 million team president, has been a longtime newsmaker, an N.B.A. lightning rod. He almost cannot help it.

Without further delay, Jackson proceeded to leave little doubt that Steve Kerr was his leading candidate to replace Mike Woodson as the Knicks’ head coach next season, saying, “We meet very similar space about coaching in a lot of ways.”

To that, he added a wrinkle of a team-building strategy that could mushroom into a bombshell: Jackson will, in all likelihood, not offer Carmelo Anthony a maximum free-agent contract to re-sign with the Knicks for the next five years, should Anthony, as anticipated, opt out of the remaining year of his current deal.

Carmelo Anthony has said he would take less than he is eligible to make to stay with the Knicks. Credit Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
During the season, which ended last week with the Knicks out of the playoffs for the first time in four years, Anthony said he would be amenable to earning less to help upgrade the roster.

But Jackson indicated that the reduced rate was now his expectation. In a 24-minute discussion with reporters at the team’s practice center, he said: “You’ve got to have people making sacrifices, financially, so we hope Carmelo is true to his word and will understand what it’s going to take. And we’ll present that to him at that time.”

In making that case, Jackson cited Tim Duncan in San Antonio, who is being paid about half of what a maximum salary could be. Duncan, of course, is 37, nearing the end of his long career, while Anthony, almost 30, is in his physical prime.

Anthony’s proposed discount would no doubt be much smaller than Duncan’s, more along the lines of those for the Miami Heat’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who took less than the maximum salary to form the core that has won consecutive N.B.A. titles.

“So I think the precedent’s been set,” Jackson said. “The way things are structured now, financially speaking, it’s really hard to have one or two top stars, or max players, and put together a team with enough talent.”

Anthony is likely to have other suitors — the Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets among them — who would be able to offer only a four-year deal and possibly less than the maximum amount. But those teams would provide a faster path to the playoffs, which Anthony is missing for the first time in his 11-year career, and to legitimate title contention.

True to form, Jackson did not duck a speculative question about whether a departure by Anthony would be disastrous for the Knicks, given how many assets, including this season’s lottery draft pick, they gave up to acquire him.

“I’m all about moving forward,” Jackson said, pointedly. “Just deal with what is and move forward. If it’s in the cards, man, are we fortunate. If it’s not in the cards, man, are we fortunate. We’re going forward, anyway.”

Here is where life at Madison Square Garden could become more complicated for Jackson as he tries to install his progressive approach and triangle offense, which helped him win a record 11 coaching championships in Chicago and Los Angeles.

From exit meetings with the players last week, Jackson said he had been told that whatever success the Knicks had in winning 37 games, down from 54 the previous season, it was based “on talent, basically, not with team play.” He added, “Which I thought was an accurate statement.”

While that was clearly a commentary on the departed Woodson, it might also be interpreted as a knock on Anthony’s reliance on clear-outs and isolation play, a style Jackson abhors.

If Jackson determined that Anthony was not worth a maximum contract that would carry him to his 35th birthday and believed the Knicks to be better off clearing large amounts of cap space to attract free agents after the 2014-15 season, would James L. Dolan, the Garden’s executive chairman, go along with a decision to walk away from his signature move, which restored star power to the organization? Would he allow Jackson to tempt Anthony to look elsewhere with a reduced offer?

Jackson was promised full autonomy by Dolan in running the organization. But a little more than a month after he signed a five-year deal, there was a report Wednesday in The Daily News that Dolan was resisting some nonbasketball personnel changes that Jackson wanted to make.

Jackson did not dismiss the report, saying: “I like to know that the people who are here want to buy in and they want to be part of it and throw their entire being into what we’re trying to do. If they have a brand or stamp on them that puts them as Phil Jackson’s guy or whatever, that’s not important. It’s important that we join forces and minds and work together.”

But on basketball-related matters, Jackson said Dolan had been “very true to his word to this point.” Along those lines, he said Clarence Gaines had “come on board” as the head of the scouting department two weeks ago.

There is no urgency to hire a coach before July, when the Knicks will hold a camp for young players and participate in summer league play. Jackson said he would talk to Kerr soon, adding: “I know philosophically we have a strong connection. Whether he’s able to take a job like this, I don’t know.”

Jackson said it was “surprising how many guys” had expressed interest not only in coaching the Knicks, but in embracing the triangle offense. For the record, he is not one of them, despite the recent efforts of Jeanie Buss, his fiancée, to coax him back to the sideline.

Buss’s reasoning was simple. “Do what you know best: Lower risk,” Jackson said, meaning the alternative of having to find an avatar. “I was able to withstand her arguments. I’ve made up my mind on that — it’s not something I think physically I can do.”

Bonn1997 wrote:It depends on how you define rebuilding. You're probably viewing it as getting the youngest possible players and being awfully for a long time. (In that case, Dolan's teams are usually half-rebuilding!)
I'd just view it as moving in a new direction. If we get rid of at least one of our four high salary players, that will partly be rebuilding IMO.

I see re-tool and win now. Resign Melo, upgrade PG, get the team playing better and probably look to move Amare/Bargs/Chandler for pieces to teams desperate to clear cap space.

Everyone knows rebuild = tear down, draft and start over. Thus the "you cant rebuild in NY"

Is this news?

fishmike wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:It depends on how you define rebuilding. You're probably viewing it as getting the youngest possible players and being awfully for a long time. (In that case, Dolan's teams are usually half-rebuilding!)
I'd just view it as moving in a new direction. If we get rid of at least one of our four high salary players, that will partly be rebuilding IMO.

rebuild happens after you tear it down. Donny rebuilt. He literally purged the roster of everyone and started new, even if it mean taking less talented guys back with shorter deals to get back to a cap friendly sitatuation and play in the FA market.

I see re-tool and win now. Resign Melo, upgrade PG, get the team playing better and probably look to move Amare/Bargs/Chandler for pieces to teams desperate to clear cap space.

Everyone knows rebuild = tear down, draft and start over. Thus the "you cant rebuild in NY"

Is this news?

Rebuilding has to mean you're primarily using the draft? I would disagree. Most people also assume it means you're going to be bad for a long time. (Otherwise, no one would say you can't do it in NY.)
Maybe that's how fans commonly use the term but it's not a logical inference from any dictionary definition of the word.
I'd say the Rockets successfully rebuilt after Yao and Tracy both went down but the draft was only a small part of that rebuilding and they were never bad.

fishmike wrote:

Moonangie wrote:Well, this certainly does... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/sports/basketball/jackson-expects-anthony-to-accept-less-for-good-of-knicks.html?ref=sports

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Phil Jackson’s first postseason news conference began with the statement that “there is no news.” But Jackson, the Knicks’ new $60 million team president, has been a longtime newsmaker, an N.B.A. lightning rod. He almost cannot help it.

Without further delay, Jackson proceeded to leave little doubt that Steve Kerr was his leading candidate to replace Mike Woodson as the Knicks’ head coach next season, saying, “We meet very similar space about coaching in a lot of ways.”

To that, he added a wrinkle of a team-building strategy that could mushroom into a bombshell: Jackson will, in all likelihood, not offer Carmelo Anthony a maximum free-agent contract to re-sign with the Knicks for the next five years, should Anthony, as anticipated, opt out of the remaining year of his current deal.

Carmelo Anthony has said he would take less than he is eligible to make to stay with the Knicks. Credit Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
During the season, which ended last week with the Knicks out of the playoffs for the first time in four years, Anthony said he would be amenable to earning less to help upgrade the roster.

But Jackson indicated that the reduced rate was now his expectation. In a 24-minute discussion with reporters at the team’s practice center, he said: “You’ve got to have people making sacrifices, financially, so we hope Carmelo is true to his word and will understand what it’s going to take. And we’ll present that to him at that time.”

In making that case, Jackson cited Tim Duncan in San Antonio, who is being paid about half of what a maximum salary could be. Duncan, of course, is 37, nearing the end of his long career, while Anthony, almost 30, is in his physical prime.

Anthony’s proposed discount would no doubt be much smaller than Duncan’s, more along the lines of those for the Miami Heat’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who took less than the maximum salary to form the core that has won consecutive N.B.A. titles.

“So I think the precedent’s been set,” Jackson said. “The way things are structured now, financially speaking, it’s really hard to have one or two top stars, or max players, and put together a team with enough talent.”

Anthony is likely to have other suitors — the Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets among them — who would be able to offer only a four-year deal and possibly less than the maximum amount. But those teams would provide a faster path to the playoffs, which Anthony is missing for the first time in his 11-year career, and to legitimate title contention.

True to form, Jackson did not duck a speculative question about whether a departure by Anthony would be disastrous for the Knicks, given how many assets, including this season’s lottery draft pick, they gave up to acquire him.

“I’m all about moving forward,” Jackson said, pointedly. “Just deal with what is and move forward. If it’s in the cards, man, are we fortunate. If it’s not in the cards, man, are we fortunate. We’re going forward, anyway.”

Here is where life at Madison Square Garden could become more complicated for Jackson as he tries to install his progressive approach and triangle offense, which helped him win a record 11 coaching championships in Chicago and Los Angeles.

From exit meetings with the players last week, Jackson said he had been told that whatever success the Knicks had in winning 37 games, down from 54 the previous season, it was based “on talent, basically, not with team play.” He added, “Which I thought was an accurate statement.”

While that was clearly a commentary on the departed Woodson, it might also be interpreted as a knock on Anthony’s reliance on clear-outs and isolation play, a style Jackson abhors.

If Jackson determined that Anthony was not worth a maximum contract that would carry him to his 35th birthday and believed the Knicks to be better off clearing large amounts of cap space to attract free agents after the 2014-15 season, would James L. Dolan, the Garden’s executive chairman, go along with a decision to walk away from his signature move, which restored star power to the organization? Would he allow Jackson to tempt Anthony to look elsewhere with a reduced offer?

Jackson was promised full autonomy by Dolan in running the organization. But a little more than a month after he signed a five-year deal, there was a report Wednesday in The Daily News that Dolan was resisting some nonbasketball personnel changes that Jackson wanted to make.

Jackson did not dismiss the report, saying: “I like to know that the people who are here want to buy in and they want to be part of it and throw their entire being into what we’re trying to do. If they have a brand or stamp on them that puts them as Phil Jackson’s guy or whatever, that’s not important. It’s important that we join forces and minds and work together.”

But on basketball-related matters, Jackson said Dolan had been “very true to his word to this point.” Along those lines, he said Clarence Gaines had “come on board” as the head of the scouting department two weeks ago.

There is no urgency to hire a coach before July, when the Knicks will hold a camp for young players and participate in summer league play. Jackson said he would talk to Kerr soon, adding: “I know philosophically we have a strong connection. Whether he’s able to take a job like this, I don’t know.”

Jackson said it was “surprising how many guys” had expressed interest not only in coaching the Knicks, but in embracing the triangle offense. For the record, he is not one of them, despite the recent efforts of Jeanie Buss, his fiancée, to coax him back to the sideline.

Buss’s reasoning was simple. “Do what you know best: Lower risk,” Jackson said, meaning the alternative of having to find an avatar. “I was able to withstand her arguments. I’ve made up my mind on that — it’s not something I think physically I can do.”

I dont see a single thing that suggests he's rebuilding. What did I miss? All I see is if guys arent dedicated to what we are trying to do then see ya. How does that = rebuilding?

It doesn't necessarily mean "rebuilding through the draft". But changing the culture, moving to a ball movement triangle offense, expecting players to "buy in" to a philosophy, and moving out players who don't/won't/can't comply = rebuilding in deeper and more important way.

That's all I meant. Phil = change.

Moonangie wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Moonangie wrote:Well, this certainly does... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/sports/basketball/jackson-expects-anthony-to-accept-less-for-good-of-knicks.html?ref=sports

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Phil Jackson’s first postseason news conference began with the statement that “there is no news.” But Jackson, the Knicks’ new $60 million team president, has been a longtime newsmaker, an N.B.A. lightning rod. He almost cannot help it.

Without further delay, Jackson proceeded to leave little doubt that Steve Kerr was his leading candidate to replace Mike Woodson as the Knicks’ head coach next season, saying, “We meet very similar space about coaching in a lot of ways.”

To that, he added a wrinkle of a team-building strategy that could mushroom into a bombshell: Jackson will, in all likelihood, not offer Carmelo Anthony a maximum free-agent contract to re-sign with the Knicks for the next five years, should Anthony, as anticipated, opt out of the remaining year of his current deal.

Carmelo Anthony has said he would take less than he is eligible to make to stay with the Knicks. Credit Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
During the season, which ended last week with the Knicks out of the playoffs for the first time in four years, Anthony said he would be amenable to earning less to help upgrade the roster.

But Jackson indicated that the reduced rate was now his expectation. In a 24-minute discussion with reporters at the team’s practice center, he said: “You’ve got to have people making sacrifices, financially, so we hope Carmelo is true to his word and will understand what it’s going to take. And we’ll present that to him at that time.”

In making that case, Jackson cited Tim Duncan in San Antonio, who is being paid about half of what a maximum salary could be. Duncan, of course, is 37, nearing the end of his long career, while Anthony, almost 30, is in his physical prime.

Anthony’s proposed discount would no doubt be much smaller than Duncan’s, more along the lines of those for the Miami Heat’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who took less than the maximum salary to form the core that has won consecutive N.B.A. titles.

“So I think the precedent’s been set,” Jackson said. “The way things are structured now, financially speaking, it’s really hard to have one or two top stars, or max players, and put together a team with enough talent.”

Anthony is likely to have other suitors — the Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets among them — who would be able to offer only a four-year deal and possibly less than the maximum amount. But those teams would provide a faster path to the playoffs, which Anthony is missing for the first time in his 11-year career, and to legitimate title contention.

True to form, Jackson did not duck a speculative question about whether a departure by Anthony would be disastrous for the Knicks, given how many assets, including this season’s lottery draft pick, they gave up to acquire him.

“I’m all about moving forward,” Jackson said, pointedly. “Just deal with what is and move forward. If it’s in the cards, man, are we fortunate. If it’s not in the cards, man, are we fortunate. We’re going forward, anyway.”

Here is where life at Madison Square Garden could become more complicated for Jackson as he tries to install his progressive approach and triangle offense, which helped him win a record 11 coaching championships in Chicago and Los Angeles.

From exit meetings with the players last week, Jackson said he had been told that whatever success the Knicks had in winning 37 games, down from 54 the previous season, it was based “on talent, basically, not with team play.” He added, “Which I thought was an accurate statement.”

While that was clearly a commentary on the departed Woodson, it might also be interpreted as a knock on Anthony’s reliance on clear-outs and isolation play, a style Jackson abhors.

If Jackson determined that Anthony was not worth a maximum contract that would carry him to his 35th birthday and believed the Knicks to be better off clearing large amounts of cap space to attract free agents after the 2014-15 season, would James L. Dolan, the Garden’s executive chairman, go along with a decision to walk away from his signature move, which restored star power to the organization? Would he allow Jackson to tempt Anthony to look elsewhere with a reduced offer?

Jackson was promised full autonomy by Dolan in running the organization. But a little more than a month after he signed a five-year deal, there was a report Wednesday in The Daily News that Dolan was resisting some nonbasketball personnel changes that Jackson wanted to make.

Jackson did not dismiss the report, saying: “I like to know that the people who are here want to buy in and they want to be part of it and throw their entire being into what we’re trying to do. If they have a brand or stamp on them that puts them as Phil Jackson’s guy or whatever, that’s not important. It’s important that we join forces and minds and work together.”

But on basketball-related matters, Jackson said Dolan had been “very true to his word to this point.” Along those lines, he said Clarence Gaines had “come on board” as the head of the scouting department two weeks ago.

There is no urgency to hire a coach before July, when the Knicks will hold a camp for young players and participate in summer league play. Jackson said he would talk to Kerr soon, adding: “I know philosophically we have a strong connection. Whether he’s able to take a job like this, I don’t know.”

Jackson said it was “surprising how many guys” had expressed interest not only in coaching the Knicks, but in embracing the triangle offense. For the record, he is not one of them, despite the recent efforts of Jeanie Buss, his fiancée, to coax him back to the sideline.

Buss’s reasoning was simple. “Do what you know best: Lower risk,” Jackson said, meaning the alternative of having to find an avatar. “I was able to withstand her arguments. I’ve made up my mind on that — it’s not something I think physically I can do.”

I dont see a single thing that suggests he's rebuilding. What did I miss? All I see is if guys arent dedicated to what we are trying to do then see ya. How does that = rebuilding?

It doesn't necessarily mean "rebuilding through the draft". But changing the culture, moving to a ball movement triangle offense, expecting players to "buy in" to a philosophy, and moving out players who don't/won't/can't comply = rebuilding in deeper and more important way.

That's all I meant. Phil = change.

when has carmelo ever "bought into" anything with his "whole being" except getting his points and getting his money? i say he's gone. "if it's not in the cards then we are fortunate." there will be no "wooing" of carmelo primadonna anthony. i mean think about it for a second: who was responsible for bringing melo here other than dolan? and is jackson in charge now with full autonomy?

i wonder where carmelo will be setting up shop to have all these gm's come, hat in hand, to woo him?

My PJax What To Do To Save The Knicks List:
1) Sign Oh!Damm!
2) Talk to Metta.
3) Fire the Walking Dead Coaching Staff.
4) Ask these loser players what they think (while looking actually interested).
5) Send Steve Kerr a HelloKitty card with pics of Jeannie inside.
6) Look at the floor when asked about Jimmie.
7) Look everyone in the eye when asked about Melo.
8) Make sure everyone knows I'm a better coach than Pop ever was (or could be).

azamatbagatov wrote:

fishmike wrote:http://nypost.com/2014/04/23/players-trashed-woodson-in-exit-interviews-jackson/

“One of the messages from the players was that it was a very talented team,’’ Jackson said. “They had to have a lot of games where they forced their talent on opposing teams rather than playing with freedom to make things easy. All the wins were hard to get. They were winning with talent and not with team play, which I thought was an accurate statement.

“I think the talent’s there,’’ Jax added. “How to blend it together is a coaching decision and a personnel decision.’’

Does that sound like someone looking to gut and rebuild?

Not sure that has anything to do with rebuilding or not. Why would the team president/GM not go out and talk up the talent on his team, especially if he may be looking to move some of that personnel in trades?

If he is out publically saying how horrible the players are; he is bringing down their trade value

It's about chemistry, it's about players knowing their roles, it's about team ball & basketball plays.

i believe that all the above can be achieved and learned in year 1 of our new president

azamatbagatov wrote:

fishmike wrote:http://nypost.com/2014/04/23/players-trashed-woodson-in-exit-interviews-jackson/

“One of the messages from the players was that it was a very talented team,’’ Jackson said. “They had to have a lot of games where they forced their talent on opposing teams rather than playing with freedom to make things easy. All the wins were hard to get. They were winning with talent and not with team play, which I thought was an accurate statement.

“I think the talent’s there,’’ Jax added. “How to blend it together is a coaching decision and a personnel decision.’’

Does that sound like someone looking to gut and rebuild?

Not sure that has anything to do with rebuilding or not. Why would the team president/GM not go out and talk up the talent on his team, especially if he may be looking to move some of that personnel in trades?

If he is out publically saying how horrible the players are; he is bringing down their trade value

exactly.... trashing the talent is not going to help your cause when it comes time to move them....