From the start, Phil Jackson put everybody on the Knicks on notice that if they weren’t buying into his Triangle offense, they’d be getting one-way tickets out of town.
That was a warning shot primarily to J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, neither of whom embraced Jackson’s vision of how the game of basketball needs to be played. Starting in pre-season, Smith had major problems with Derek Fisher and Shumpert wasn’t very keen on this new read-first, attack-second offense that has only delivered titles when icons of the game like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played in it.
As Jackson said a month ago, without naming names, “Hopefully, they’re getting to be more compliant. There’s some resistance to discipline and order and culture change and things like that.’’
No, Smith and Shumpert didn’t get with the program.
So it was no surprise that those two key members of a Knicks team that won 54 games and went to the second round of the playoffs two seasons ago were jettisoned in a big salary dump on Monday night.
As of right now, Jackson now has around $33 million in cap space, and that can buy a lot of free agents who might be able to turn the Knicks from the laughingstock franchise they are now into a legit NBA team. But it doesn’t guarantee anything, including the Executive of the Year Award for Jackson.
It’s quite possible that no stars or players of real consequence will take the Knicks’ money this summer because free agents are going to be asking themselves one big question, above all others:
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Do I want to go to New York to play with a ball-hog who has had virtually no playoff success?
That would be Carmelo Anthony, who saw his good buddy Smith, a favorite of Garden CEO Jim Dolan, and Shumpert dealt to Cleveland.
You think LeBron James bargained for this when he went to Cleveland last summer?
Meanwhile, Dion Waiters made out way better than anyone else in the three-team deal when he was moved by the Cavs to Oklahoma City. There he will find Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the kind of winning culture that Jackson has yet to establish in the Garden since his much-ballyhooed arrival 10 months ago.
“As our journey moves through this season, we will search for the type of players that fit the style we hope to exhibit to our fans,’’ Jackson said in a statement, after obtaining three bench players (Lance Thomas, Alex Kirk and Lou Amundson) who are expected to be waived.
Then Jackson’s statement read, “Our desire to improve our ability to compete.’’
Now, the Knicks are competing for only one thing: A chance to get the No. 1 pick in the draft, going against a Philly club that is always in full-blown tank mode, and the other NBA bottom-feeders. It’s all about losing for a shot at Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, or, Emmanual Mudiay, a kid everyone is calling as the Next Great Point Guard.
If you think the losing has been bad so far, now the Tanking Phase of Jackson’s rebuilding efforts will go into full throttle. Expect Anthony and his damaged knee to be shut down at some point to aid in the losing.
But let’s not forget: This also signals a seismic shift for the Zen Master, who gave Anthony max-money last summer and projected the Knicks as a playoff team this season.
Oops.
There’s no other way to say it: Year One of the Jackson Era has been an unmitigated disaster, starting with Fisher, a first-time coach who has been in way over his head and has failed to make players “compliant,’’ to use Jackson’s term. Jackson’s previous major trade, banishing Tyson Chandler to Dallas and getting Samuel Dalembert and Jose Calderon from the Mavs, was a steal for Dallas.
Dalembert, a non-factor in the first 36 games, was waived on Monday night to bring more future cap space, while Calderon, advertised as the ideal playmaker in the Triangle, has been a bust.
The idea to bring back Anthony has also backfired, for both parties. There’s nothing worse than starting a rebuilding program with a player who is making $124 million over five seasons. Especially a 30-year old star who is breaking down, as Anthony continues to miss games with an unspecified knee injury.
When he did play, he was a central part of the biggest problem Jackson saw with his team: It had a “loser’s mentality.’’ More than anyone else, ‘Melo has to regret his decision to re-up, since he could have gone to Chicago or Houston, where he’d be playing for title contenders.
But when he played this season, Anthony didn’t make one iota of difference in terms of the team’s record. So with the losing reaching historic proportions _ at 5-32, the Knicks own NBA’s worst record _ it was time for Jackson to blow it up.
What’s left standing is an injured Anthony with a bloated contract, millions in cap space with no guarantees, and a whole lot of rubble and ruin.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 21 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence.
