LeBron James said the magic words for his buddy, Carmelo Anthony, after the Cavaliers humiliated the Knicks, sending Phil Jackson into rip-mode.
“Hopefully,’’ James said on Sunday to reporters in the Garden after his team’s 101-83 win, “they put some guys around him that can help him win.’’
Not that it will ever be the King. He’s got work to do out in Cleveland and although he said during All-Star weekend he’d love to play 82 games a season in Madison Square Garden, he never said he wanted to play 82 games a season for the Knicks.
Why would he?
LeBron has to worry about winning a title in Cleveland, his legacy and how many rings he’ll end up with when it’s all over. Right now, he’s not even close to Michael Jordan (six) or Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan (five apiece). With only two rings and now in his 30’s, he can’t mess around with a franchise that is still very much dysfunctional, despite the presence of Jackson.
LeBron used All-Star weekend to tease Knicks fans about playing in the Garden when he knows it would be career suicide to leave his hometown team a second time as a free agent. But where’s he going anyway? He’s got a team now that looks as if it could win the title in June, mainly because he’s playing like the MVP during this stretch when they’ve gone 16-2 in their last 18 games.
On Sunday, he didn’t even need to be a four-time MVP in an abbreviated 28-minute performance because the Knicks were so bad, hours after the latest debacle Jackson took to Twitter to roast his team.
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Garden boss James Dolan has never liked it when his coaches or executives have pounded on the Knicks. Not that it matters to the Zen Master, who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, least of all Dolan, because he’s won 11 titles and is above it all. That’s how he commanded his $60 million price tag in the first place.
As of now, accepting the record salary and position as team president is the best move Jackson has made.
In almost a year since taking over, he’s made a lot of rookie mistakes as a first-time basketball executive, and was reminded of those in the Garden on Sunday. Later he sent out this tweet:
“Today's game vs Cavs gave bb gods heartburn and those that know what "it" takes/means a smh.”
But while Jackson is shaking his head over his 10-win team, no one can feel very good about how he will go about getting Anthony help this summer in free agency. Two of his potential free-agent recruits are off the board. At last weeks’ trade deadline, Goran Dragic went from Phoenix to Miami and then Reggie Jackson was traded from Oklahoma City to Detroit. Both are expected to remain with their new teams via contract extensions.
There’s also a question of who wants to come to New York to play in the Triangle Offense, which is as firmly in place as his over-matched coach, Derek Fisher. Jackson has to know it’s a potential obstacle, even if he is going to have $30 million in cap space to spend on talent. Here was his old Knick teammate, Walt Frazier, late in Sunday’s debacle wondering aloud on MSG why the Knicks “are the only team utilizing the Triangle offense. No one else in the NBA has faith in it. Normally, if you win a lot with a certain thing people will copy that. But no one seems to copy the Triangle offense.’’
Coaches don’t use it and it’s not as if players will be running to the Knicks to play for Fisher in it.
“It’s a matter if the situation fits your game,’’ ex-Knick J.R. Smith told reporters on the eve of his return to the Garden. “If you’re a freelance player who likes to play up and down, it’s not going to suit your game. If you like to play in the halfcourt and move the ball and sacrifice, it is your situation.
“The toughest thing is we didn’t run enough,’’ Smith continued. “With the talent we had, there was no transition offense. It was bring the ball up, run our set and go from there. Everything is a read. So I may not be reading the same thing as the next person is reading. Before you know it, you got turnovers, missed shots and bad transition defense. The style of basketball we play suits my game — run and gun, shoot open shots. Just play. The system we use is just easier to play in.’’
Wait ‘til the rest of the league reads J.R.’s quotes. Never mind the bb gods, that’s going to give the Zen Master himself a severe case of heartburn.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 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.
