The Knicks are 4-6 to start the season, and team President Phil Jackson "fully endorses the notion that if his platform doesn't pan out, he will assume responsibility," according to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN.com. Jackson: "I'm going to follow the plan and if it doesn't work out, it will be evident." Asked about Heat President Pat Riley losing LeBron James after the '14 season and if he could have imagined losing a player of that caliber, Jackson said, "It had to hurt when they lost LeBron. That was definitely a slap in the face. But there were a lot of little things that came out of that." He said, "When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland and he wanted to spend the night. They don't do overnights. Teams just don't. So now (coach Erik) Spoelstra has to text Riley and say, 'What do I do in this situation?' And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, 'You are on the plane, you are with this team.'" Jackson added, "You can't hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland. I always thought Pat had this really nice vibe with his guys. But something happened there where it broke down. I do know LeBron likes special treatment. He needs things his way." Jackson was also asked about Knicks F Carmelo Anthony and his role in speaking out against social injustice. Jackson said, "I do like his activism, his willingness to be an activist. I communicate with him on how to couch activism. My feeling is it can be abrasive if it's not done the right way, but it has to be somewhat abrasive if it's going to be activism. In some ways, it has become vogue to be an activist -- that's true" (ESPN.com, 11/14).
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? SNY's Jon Hein said of Jackson, "I don't question his dedication at all, but there is no way Phil Jackson is staying in town if this team continues on the pace that it's at." SNY's Sal Licata said two factors in Jackson remaining with the Knicks are "ego" and "money." Licata said, "Win or lose, I think Phil Jackson is here to stay because he's going to want to prove that he knows how to get this turned around and he's going to want the money" ("Loud Mouths," SNY, 11/14).
POOR CHOICE OF WORDS: In N.Y., Frank Isola notes LRMR Management Founder Maverick Carter, James' childhood friend and long-time manager, "did not appreciate Jackson referring to LeBron’s friends as his 'posse.'" Carter responded via Twitter, writing: "All the hard work, effort and achievement and @PhilJackson11 still calls us a 'posse' every step you take they remind you, you ghetto." Isola: "I have to believe he regrets using the word 'posse' in the racially charged climate we're now living in. ... Better yet, why even offer an opinion on the behind the scenes break-up of LeBron, the Heat and Pat Riley" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/15). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Devine wrote some "might view Carter’s response as a reach." Devine: "But the phrasing definitely hit my ear weird when I read it this morning." It makes sense that Carter "might take offense to 'posse' as an intimation that he and the other members of James’ inner circle are hangers-on rather than businessmen in their own right" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/14). Carter said, "It’s the word ‘posse’ and the characterization I take offense to. If he would have said LeBron and his agent, LeBron and his business partners or LeBron and his friends, that’s one thing. Yet because you’re young and black, he can use that word. We’re grown men" (ESPN.com, 11/14).
RESPONSE COMING? In Miami, Manny Navarro writes it will be "interesting to see when and how Riley fires back at Jackson, who has had his own issue[s] as the Knicks team president" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/15). In N.Y., Kevin Kernan writes every once in a while Jackson "emerges and offers his Zen Master stuff to a reporter he likes." It is "always fascinating reading, but it also [is] a bad look for a club president who has had zero overall success so far." Kernan: "There is a time when you need to just shut up until you put up" (N.Y. POST, 11/15). The N.Y. DAILY NEWS' Isola notes Jackson has "always been a master at verbally picking apart the competition," and it can be "somewhat amusing." But it is "one thing to do it when you’re winning titles as a Hall of Fame head coach and quite another thing when you’re taking it on the chin year after year as a novice front office guy." Jackson should take a "long look at his incredibly disappointing tenure in New York with the same microscope" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/15).
