NBA: Will Phil Jackson Save the New York Knicks?

Amidst rumors about his job security and an inability to control the team, New York Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni resigned from his position this afternoon following a six-game losing streak that all but destroyed any goodwill built up during the height of "Linsanity". 

While the move ends speculation about his future, the bigger question is what this means for the Knicks, this season and beyond.

Former Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Woodson will serve as the interim coach through the end of the season, but given his contentious departure from that role, largely due to similar player unrest issues, it’s hard to envision him keeping the job beyond the end of this year.

Much of the talk this past week has suggested that D’Antoni’s laid back style of coaching was not ideal for a team made up of strong egos, and there are very few experienced coaches that have the temperament to maximize the talent on this roster.  

There were even rumors as late as this afternoon claiming that Carmelo Anthony had demanded a trade due to a perceived lack of support from the head coach and Knicks general manager Ernie Grunfeld, a claim that he emphatically denied.  

I’m not sure if the New York brass has put any serious thought into who the long-term replacement for D’Antoni will be—although I’m certain that New York fans have—and the answer can only be one man.

Phil Jackson. 

The former Lakers and Bulls head coach may have managed to babysit Kobe and Shaq through three title runs, but that’s child’s play compared to the pressure he’d face to work his magic on the Knicks. This would easily be the greatest challenge of his career, and it’s not evident that it’s one worth accepting.

Jackson is already arguably the greatest coach in NBA history, and he is certainly the most accomplished. His 11 championships between stints in Chicago and Los Angeles are unprecedented. But with all the lessons the Zen Master dolled out over the years, he’d do well to learn one of his own by paying close attention to the hubris that tarnished the legacy of his greatest pupil: Michael Jordan.

At least for the foreseeable future, Jordan will be considered the greatest player to ever step on a basketball court, but his refusal to end his playing career with the memory of that famous jump shot over Byron Russell in the ’98 NBA Finals has left a bit of a blemish on an otherwise flawless playing career. 

Add in his ill-fated comeback attempt with the Wizards, to his disastrous tenures as a team executive in Washington, and as majority owner of the league’s worst franchise (the Charlotte Bobcats) and, as crazy as it sounds, there is a generation of NBA fans whose most vivid memories of Jordan are as a colossal failure. 

Jackson’s glory days aren’t nearly as far in the rear-view mirror as Jordan’s, but then again, New York fans have long memories.

D’Antoni has long been thought to be a flawed coach due to his lack of attention to defense and his soft handling of players. Despite those shortcomings, the man is an offensive genius, and a well liked and respected guy, and he deserved much better treatment than what he got during his 3 1/2 years as the Knicks coach, especially since we agreed to consider the first two years a wash.

You’d think that Jackson’s track record would earn him a lot more respect and leeway with the front office, but let’s not forget that his last two stints did not end on great terms with team management, so Phil knows better than most how thankless the job can be, even at the top of the profession. 

Given his health issues and age, it’s doubtful that Jackson would seriously consider taking the job if offered, but how many times have we said that about Larry Brown?

I personally have no doubts that given the talent that the Knicks have on their roster, Jackson would not need multiple seasons to right the ship, but the triangle office isn’t exactly the easiest system to execute well, so if the players struggled to adjust to D’Antoni’s free flowing system, what does that say about their chances of success in a more nuanced playing style?

I’d love to not hear about this story again for the next six months, but unfortunately I call the New York metro area home, so let the speculation and talk show madness ensue. 

And if anyone cares, the Knicks beat the Trailblazers by 42 points in the first game of the post-D’Antoni era.