Report: New York Knicks decide to let go of Phil Jackson

The New York Knicks have reportedly decided to let go of Phil Jackson after three utterly bizarre seasons as the team’s president of basketball operations.

Phil Jackson’s tenure (reign of terror) as president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks has finally come to an end. Early this morning Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reported that franchise owner James Dolan decided to sever ties with Jackson after a few particularly turbulent weeks this past month. Disagreement about the future of Carmelo Anthony and Jackson’s willingness to listen to trade offers for Kristaps Porzingis appear to have pushed owner James Dolan to finally fire the much maligned president.

Shelburne noted in her article that many within the Knicks organization had been pressuring Dolan to fire Phil throughout the season. Players and management alike had grown disillusioned with Jackson’s rigid commitment to the triangle offense. Phil’s often inflammatory comments to the media only increased frustration within the Knicks organization. In just the past few months for example, Jackson has publicly taken shots at both Anthony and Porzingis.

While most Knicks fans will (rightly) rejoice at the news of Phil’s departure, they should keep two things in mind as the summer unfolds. First, in perhaps the most classic Knicks fashion possible, Dolan fired Phil just months after picking up his contract option!! Dolan could’ve gotten rid of Phil in April, but he effectively chose to lock in two more years of guaranteed cash for Jackson and then fire him. Second and perhaps most depressingly, Dolan is still the guy making the hiring decisions for the Knicks. New York fans aren’t out of the woods yet.

All hope is not lost, of course. Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical has indicated that Dolan wants Toronto GM Masai Ujiri to replace Jackson. If the Knicks could actually pull off that hire, it would be a fantastic move. Ujiri is a stellar GM with a track record of leading teams to success. He also fleeced the Knicks in the famous Bargnani trade, which seems like a lifetime ago given the constant wave of wackiness that the Knicks produce on a daily basis.

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In any case, the departure of Jackson marks the end of a rough era for the Knicks. When they hired Jackson back in March 2014, many hoped he would lead the franchise back to prominence after a decade and a half of incompetence. Matters did not work out as planned. Jackson’s love for the outdated triangle offense and his unwillingness to adapt to the changing landscape of the NBA are perhaps the most mind numbing facets of this whole saga; one of the greatest basketball minds ever has seemingly done irreparable damage to his once pristine legacy.