Raymond Felton To Get Traded?

TheKnicksBlog’s Adam Zagoria is reporting that one of the first of many moves that Phil Jackson will make, is to trade veteran point guard Raymond Felton.

Knicks President Phil Jackson told point guard Raymond Felton during exit meetings last month that he will be traded during the offseason, a league source told SNY.tv.

Raymond has been told he will be moved this offseason,” the source said.

Felton, who is due $7 million and has two years remaining on his contract, is also facing gun charges. This will make this even more frustrating for Phil Jackson, who already faces an uphill battle in regards to revamping this team and keeping Carmelo Anthony.

Mike Woodson Fired

With Phil Jackson being in total control of the franchise, the New York Knicks have decided to part ways with coach Mike Woodson.

The team had so much promise going into the season and it all turned to shambles quickly.

The whole situation with whether or not Carmelo Anthony was staying or going plus the fact that there was some age on this team and a few key veterans like Jason Kidd were no longer there, also played a role in the Knicks demise.

Phil Jackson will not be coaching this team according to reports, and he’s also said it himself that his coaching days are done. Since we know that he isn’t coaching, there will be even more pressure on Phil to hire the right coach and bring in the right players to keep Carmelo Anthony on the team. Will he be able to do so is going to be question one.

Who do you bring in a coach? Steve Kerr? George Karl? Who?

What do you do to the roster? Amare isn’t going anywhere unless he retires because he still has a huge chunk of money left on a deal that many knew would be a mistake to begin with. J.R. Smith isn’t going anywhere either. Smith will have three years left on his deal and to be honest, his value is down because he is an inconsistent player. Tyson Chandler? He’s been injured a lot lately and he too has a hefty contract that teams would probably be against taking.

The only asset that this team has, is Tim Hardaway. The rookie showed some potential offensively and who can forget the show that he put on during the all-star break. Some might say that Iman Shumpert is another asset, but is he really? He struggled tremendously during the season, and it seems as if he has had no growth from his rookie season till now. Shumpert is good defensively, but in a league that is run by strong backcourts, no team wants a player that only has one skill and who is pretty much an unknown from game to game.

Phil Jackson has a tough road ahead of him, but if there is one person who can do it… It’s him

It’s Official… Phil Jackson Joins Knicks

After days of guessing when Phil Jackson will officially join the New York Knicks, it was announced Friday that both parties have finally reached an agreement.

The Knicks will hold a news conference on Tuesday to discuss their major “acquisition.”

I personally don’t think that bringing in Phil Jackson matters when it comes to the Melo situation but hey, it can’t hurt the Knicks to try.

Here is an article by Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY Sports that pretty much breaks down the move.

The man who had reserve role in the New York Knicks 1973 NBA championship team is now in charge of running the storied but recently beleaguered franchise.

Phil Jackson will join the Knicks as the leader of their front office, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because the agreement has not been made official, but the Knicks have scheduled a news conference Tuesday for a major announcement.

Jackson, one of the NBA’s most successful coaches, has no front-office experience, but wanted back in the league in some capacity and ruled out a return to the bench because of health issues.

He played 12 seasons in the NBA — 11 of them with the Knicks. He averaged 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds a game in the Knicks’ 1972-73 championship season — the last time the franchise won a title. He then had his best year the following season, averaging 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds a game.

New York and the Knicks are special to Jackson, and now he has a chance to lead the franchise back to respectability and potentially a championship.

If that happened, he would be revered in the three largest cities in the U.S.: Chicago (where he won six championships as the Bulls’ coach in the 1990s), Los Angeles (five titles as the Lakers’ coach in the 2000s) and New York.

“I would want him to view me as a coach,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said on ESPN radio after the announcement was made. “If and when that time comes, I would just love the chance to sit with him and talk basketball. He’s a basketball guy, I’m a basketball guy. This is 30 years I’ve spent in this league, so that’s what we’ll do, but until that happens, my focus is strictly on trying to get this team in the playoffs. That’s it.”

Woodson has come under fire since the Knicks, who were second in the Eastern Conference standings last season, have slipped to just outside the playoff race this season.

But the transformation from mediocrity to title contender won’t happen overnight. Jackson faces several issues, starting with All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony who can become a free agent this summer.

Even if Anthony chooses to re-sign, the Knicks will be stuck in a salary-cap predicament in 2014-15. With Anthony ($20 million-plus), Amar’e Stoudemire ($23.4 million), Tyson Chandler ($14.5 million) and Andrea Bargnani ($11.5 million) on the books, New York will be limited in free agency this summer.

Minus major deals, the core players will be the same next season as this season, and the Knicks aren’t even in playoff position in the sad Eastern Conference. These are roster problems that won’t be solved easily.

There are other issues, too, starting with how deep Jackson wants to dive into this project. How hands on will he be? With travel not high on his list, will he go to Europe, college arenas and scouting combines to evaluate players? There is a significant amount of dirty work that goes into running a pro basketball team. Jackson is also tasked with building a front-office staff and possibly hiring a coach, if he decides to let Woodson go.

Also, how will Jackson mitigate owner James Dolan’s meddling and odd Madison Square Garden rules, such as limited time spent talking to news reporters.

It’s a challenge, the kind Jackson embraces.

Jackson made his name in coaching. He is regarded as one of the best basketball coaches in history. He has the highest regular-season (.704) and postseason (.688) winning percentages and has won more titles (11) than any other coach.

Jackson led the Bulls to three consecutive titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993 and 1996, 1997 and 1998. He coached the Lakers to three straight titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and two more in 2009 and 2010.

He also lost in the Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Even with all that success, he was named coach of the year just once — in 1995-96, when his Bulls set the still-standing mark for best regular-season record at 72-10, then went 15-3 in the playoffs.

Though he didn’t invent the triangle offense, he pioneered the use of it on a widespread basis, and while teams have used versions of it, no team has been able to run that offense as effectively as any of Jackson’s teams.

Of course, few coaches have had the caliber of players that Jackson did, starting with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Bulls and Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol with the Lakers.

Phil Jackson To The New York Knicks?

There have been reports coming from everywhere that the New York Knicks are pursing Phil Jackson and that he is either interested or not interested. Well according to Chris Broussard, it appears as if Phil will take the job.

All indications are that Phil Jackson will accept the New York Knicks’ offer to join the club’s front office, according to a league source.

“The Knicks have a sense of what’s going to happen,” the source said. “And as of right now, it looks like Phil’s taking the job. There’s always the possibility of something falling apart at the last minute, but the Knicks’ sense is that he’s joining them.” The sides are still working out the details, including what Jackson’s title will be, how much time he will spend in New York and when in the next few months he will start his job.

Jackson’s answer is expected to become official within the next day or so. The Knicks have not scheduled an announcement.

The longtime former coach will not be a mere consultant for the Knicks, as he was recently for the Detroit Pistons. Whatever his title, the source said, Jackson will be an integral part of the club’s basketball operations, although he will definitely not coach the team.

While Knicks owner James Dolan will pay Jackson handsomely to make basketball decisions, Dolan is still expected to maintain a voice in terms of decision-making, the source said. Bringing Jackson aboard could move the Knicks away from their ties to Creative Artists Agency, the player- and coach-representation firm that many league insiders, including some Knicks players, believe has an inordinate amount of influence within the franchise.

Assistant general manager Allan Houston, coach Mike Woodson, player personnel director Mark Warkentien and star forward Carmelo Anthony are all CAA clients.

One Knicks player recently told ESPN.com that the CAA ties were a problem in the locker room.

“You see how guys from CAA are treated differently,” the player said. “How they get away with saying certain things to coaches. How coaches talk to them differently than they talk to the other guys. It’s a problem.”

If the report is true that Phil is going to join the Knicks, I really don’t see how this impacts Carmelo Anthony’s free agency. Sure, the Knicks would be getting a great coach who has coached the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq, but he wouldn’t be coaching the actual team. He would just be somewhere in the front office.

Another thing is that whether or not Phil actually joins the team, the team isn’t going to change that much. Amare, Chandler, Felton (assuming he doesn’t go to jail), Shumpert whose been up and down this season, and J.R. Smith who is also inconsistent, are all going to be there. The Knicks don’t even have their first round pick because they gave it away in the deal to get Melo.

Why in the world would Melo stay for another year and struggle, when he could go to a team like the Chicago Bulls who will amnesty Carlos Boozer, will get Derrick Rose back, and actually have a great coach, and pieces that fit. Carmelo could go to the Lakers. The Lakers will be getting back an even hungrier and much more determined Kobe, and not to mention the possible first overall pick which could be Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, or joel Embiid who some are comparing to Hakeem Olajuwon. I didn’t even mention the fact that the Lakers will have a ton of cap space to add pieces, and a brand new coach.

It’s a nice attempt by the Knicks to keep Melo, but in the end, who knows if it will work.