A life in NBA did not qualify Phil Jackson to run Knicks | John Smallwood
Phil Jackson was successful as a NBA player and NBA coach but neither gave him the experience to run a NBA team.
About a year and a half after Knicks primary owner James Dolan coaxed Phil Jackson out of retirement with a five-year, $60 million deal to take over as president of basketball operations in 2014, the Korn Ferry Institute, which specializes in executive recruitment and leadership development programs, published an article about the difficulties of being a general manager of a professional sports franchise.
It had the headline: "Great GMs are made, not born."
One of the experts quoted in the article was Bill Polian, a fomer general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts.
"After careful thought and consideration, we mutually agreed that the Knicks will be going in a different direction," Dolan said in a statement. "Phil Jackson is one of the most celebrated and successful individuals in the history of the NBA.
"His legacy in the game of basketball is unmatched. We wish him the best and thank him for his service to the Knicks as both a player and an executive."
Considering Dolan's own shortcomings as a NBA owner, it's possible that no one could have fixed the mess the Knicks have fallen into.
Still, the hiring of Jackson was clearly a case of looking at the success he had as a player and then a coach and deciding that would translate into success at running an NBA franchise.
"Great GMs are made, not born."
Jackson's hiring was the direct opposite of that statement. Dolan just assumed Jackson would know what he was doing.
But Jackson had been out of the NBA for three seasons when the Knicks brought him on to handle the new role of building a winner in a city with a high demand for success and little patience for failure.
Jackson was simply overmatched in that job, and it didn't take long to show.
Reports quickly surfaced that Jackson was lazy and uninterested in scouting and trying to recruit talent for his program.
His first head coach, Derek Fisher, played for Jackson with the Lakers, but was hired without any coaching experience. He went 40-96 before being fired.
Fisher was hired because Jackson insisted on installing his triangle offense, which had worked when he had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant operating it, but had become antiquated in today's game.
Jackson's ego led him to try to force players — resident star Carmelo Anthony in particular — into a system they were not suited for.
That's a bad call, especially when you've also just signed Anthony to a five-year, $124 million contract, with a no trade-clause.
Jackson then poisoned the relationship by publicly belittling Anthony, who, if nothing else, was a good soldier.
This offseason, Jackson decide it was a good idea to shop Kristaps Porzingis, basically because Jackson got angry that the popular young star skipped his exit interview at the end of the season.
Many of Jackson's mistakes are things good general managers learned to avoid while working their way up the ranks, getting on-the-job training for when they were ready to lead their own front office.
The irony is that Jackson's career, both as a player and coach, came about as a result of following a path of gathering more and more expertise as he moved along.
Jackson was a second-round draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1967 out of the University of North Dakota, which was then an NCAA Division II school.
He made his mark in the NBA by being a hardworking lunch-pail player who gave energy whenever he came off the bench.
Jackson played 12 NBA seasons, while averaging more than 20 minutes per game in only two seasons.
After retiring as a player in 1980, Jackson paid his coaching dues in the Continental Basketball Association and the Baloncesto Superior Nacional, the top pro league in Puerto Rico.
After joining Doug Collins' staff with Chicago in 1987, he was promoted to Bulls head coach in 1989.
Jackson was well-prepared when his chance finally came, and he had a Hall of Fame coaching career.
Presidents of basketball operations, however, have different roles to fill from that of players and coaches.
That job requires skills that Jackson did not acquire as a coach or player, and he ultimately failed.