The New York Knicks outlasted the Los Angeles Lakers 90-87 Sunday night, winning three of their last five games. Through it all, the franchise will likely miss the playoffs for the third straight year as they currently sit at a 28-40 record. Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson has been under a lot of scrutiny since coming on as the Knicks president in 2014, with their record under his tenure being 45-105.
After Sunday’s matchup, Kobe Bryant was asked about Jackson’s time as head of the Knicks organization and he offered some advice to New York fans.
People in New York just need to trust the fact that he knows more about basketball than any of them put together. In my opinion, he’s the greatest coach in any profession. Ever.
As a coach you obviously have more control over the outcome, to a certain extent. What he does now is really understanding the personnel. But that’s no different than what he did as a coach. As a coach, he would have broke down the players, understood the players. That’s the same thing he has to do as a GM.
With $18 million in cap space available in the impending free agency, Jackson believes there a several moves that can be made in order to change the dynamic of the Knicks.
We definitely [have] ideas about how to help this team. I don’t think there are secrets or mysteries. We have agents calling us up all the time trying to sell their players to us, so I think we’re going to do just fine in free agency.
