Perspective. An executive that lead the NCAA in scoring. Broke his back in his third season as a pro, had to reinvent himself and still played another 10 years. Redefined himself by being his own man, accepted mentorship from Red Holzman and went into coaching. Was assistant, then believing in himself went to CBA to coach. Got back to the NBA under Collins then was given the job by Jerry Krause (without NBA head coach experience)to install the triangle and convert a high volume egomaniac sociopath scorer and in two seasons had him believing. You think Jordan was GOAT then? Jordan had to believe. ANd when he did, he was Goat. Six titles in 8 year run and only two players the same thru out. Won 55 games with just pippen when Jordan played baseball.
Lakers, same thing, got young insubordinate super talented spoiled self entitled Kobe to believe. 5 titles with two different rosters basically. All the while the knowledge of players, coach's and seeing when players get it and don't. All those players, some got it, many were exiled. Smug and would throw some players under the bus. Few coach's write books that sell well. in the long run he worked it out with Kobe and won 2 more rings. That's not smug, that's being flexible and open minded. Not all his teams "got it" btw. Read Phils books, some of his teams lost belief in the triangle and while succeeded to make the playoffs or even the finals, they did not win a chip.
Hire an executive that has excelled at every facet of an organization and ask him to install that culture. No, he has not been a president, nor has his ascent been without setbacks. Information with experience is knowledge. If Riley or Pop walked in two years ago do you think everything they would have done would have been perfect? Riley and especially Pop are arrogant and smug about what they know and what they have done.
I expect as much as someone as accomplished as Phil even if he has not been a team president. I expect him to make mistakes. Daily News will have you believe you pay a guy 12mil he should be perfect and given that we don't make that kind of scratch and have our own problems why not "Blame" Phil for our entertainment frustrations. Daily News is a joke and they are playing you. Im not saying "don't believe all you read", but most of you have read enough to think for yourselves and not be influenced by that crap.
Phil is the muthaphucher I want. Reality is the roster needs time to get improved. Phil can't get that pick back we don' have this year. Pop can walk in the door and that pick is not not here. Rile can swag his way in and that pick is still north of the border. Phil or anyone else had to tear this thing down to the studs, and convince Melo (an asset) to stay. Maybe we trade him, maybe not. Its a business and seats have to be sold. Reality my man, reality. He is good for 20 a nite, is trying hard, and he is a trading asset if he wants out. He is not going to be our Goat.
My expectations last season was that the new players would need time to get the Triangle down. Fish didn't do that, he got them off to a good start deviating from what his boss wanted. I don't know why, but he did. instead of improving thru the year the team regressed. That alone is a good reason to fire him. Impatient fans as influenced by the 4 grade reading level presented by the Daily news will convince you they, or you know better. Why? You don't have tangable proof of the future and thus you must react and blame TODAY! Maybe you never built a business or went thru tought times enroute to great success. But Phil has. Question is will he stay long enough to stick it out or will Dolan revert back to his previous norm and starphuch to keep fans calm. Since the Daily news knows you can't conceptualize a complicated philosophical change and how a change in long term thinking can produce over longer periods of time we tend to revert to extrapolate the past into the future. I read the "Oh, woa is me, Dolan sucks balls and we'll never win!!!" "Phil is getting MY MONEY and what has he done? Thus, what is different?"
Oh, by the way, Grant will be a better guard if Jose stays another year. Jose is not the problem, he was our best guard. Most want him gone thinking 7mm gets you a better one. good concept but not always works out that way. If you any of you were mentored early in your career by someone you respected you'd understand. Jose is totally on board to mentor his replacement. Jose turn overs were great, and he was healthy all year. ON a good team he is a back up. ON a good team he is a role player. On an imbalanced roster build from the front line back we fell short. without sacrificing the future he could not get more back court help than Affalo. Affalo is a good guy off the bench. Problem is nobody is in front of him. Yadda yadda.
I was shocked Phil took this job given how bare our cupboard of assets were. It would have been easier to take a gig with players in place, like Kerr did with GSW. Most teams don't change GM's when the roster is stacked. You do it when you need to make a philosophical change, or in the case of the knicks, actually have a philosophy! YOu do this when your failing. We have been failing.
Usually they change coach's like GSW did removing Mark Jax with Kerr when a roster develops beyond the coach.
Phil has had some setbacks, it happens. IN fact, its to be expected. The best leaders understand and anticipate this. Its why they don't freak out. Daily news wants you to freak out and get angry and get into the useless blame game. Its why they do "Letter grades" because the average Joe can quantify that.
Some blame Phil for hiring Fish. Easier to lay blame with the benefit of hindsight. What I strongly applaud him for is making a hard decision to fire him and move forward. Phil owns that hire and it made him look bad. Rather than try to fix it, he saw something he did not expect to see in Fish. Dude divorced his wife, gets his personal life messy and exposed, and when given rope to perform he did, even though he defied his boss. When the success was gone, PHil fired his ass. He fired him for a lot of reasons but I see it that Phil wants the team defined by its system of play because that's what great teams do, and while we don't have the talent for greatness, you move in that direction while elevating what you have. I applaud that. Its a concept that is worthy of patience.
I want the guy who has been thru all those years as a player, assistant, CBA, Bulls, and Lakers all the while becoming the greatest coach in the history of the game and some of you don't think he has the ingredients to succeed?
4/20/2016 4:05 PM
