Dennis Rodman offers himself up for the Knicks coaching gig
Former Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman was probably tweeting with tongue in cheek on Monday when he sent this invitation out to former coach and current New York Knick president Phil Jackson:
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Rodman has never coached at any level, forever telling reporters that he had no interest in the profession during his playing days. His post-retirement career, since 2000, would seem to confirm as much, as the Hall of Famer seem more interested in working the paid-party circuit than getting back into a basketball gym.
Jackson fired another one of his former players, Derek Fisher, on Monday. The Knicks have lost nine of 10 and Jackson was not happy in the way Fisher’s offense was performing. Longtime Jackson friend and sideline seatmate Kurt Rambis, whom Jackson replaced as Lakers coach in 1999, will take over on an interim basis.
The question regarding Rambis’ future as a head man is a pressing one. His Minnesota Timberwolves teams were badly mismanaged, but his playing time choices were a massive part of that mismanagement. As Adrian Wojnarowski pointed out earlier on Tuesday, Phil Jackson doesn’t really have much of a coaching tree to fall back on, as protégés Rambis, Brian Shaw and Jim Cleamons have all faltered mightily during their short stints as head coaches.
It is fair to wonder just how great an impact Rambis will have, but one can be assured the Knicks will be getting into more and more triangle offense sets on that end of the court. Fisher’s insistence on going away from Jackson’s beloved offense had to be a source of consternation, as the Knicks would go long stretches without diving into the spacing that did so much for Jackson’s Chicago and Los Angeles teams.
Jackson’s longtime confidante, Charley Rosen, says to prepare for the throwback:
Also misguided was Fisher’s stubborn insistence on having the Knicks uptempo their pace. This, even though the team lacked an experienced point guard who could be off and running and be effective. In addition, he oftentimes failed to heed specific suggestions, corrections and instructions made by the greatest coach in the history of the NBA.
If the execution of the Triangle did improve over the course of several games in mid-January, lately the half-court offense has become increasingly passive. Too much dribbling, too many harmless passes, too many loose screens and casual cuts, too many screen/rolls. Too much thinking instead of reacting — something that’s unforgivable this far into the season.
Ian Levy at Sporting News, however, thought that Fisher was doing just fine in his time with the 2015-16 Knicks, though, and considering the team’s overarching start to the season it’s hard to disagree with him:
By the numbers we have a team that has dramatically outperformed statistical preseason projections, driven by the majority of their rotation players exceeding their own individual projections. They have also won exactly how many games we would expect them to win, given their average point differential. Even with their recent slide included, the evidence then implies that the Knicks have been far better than they appeared on paper, not worse.
So why the canning? Phil kind of tried to explain himself via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
Jackson’s not wrong, in citing Tex Winter’s seven principles of a sound offense, but it remains to be seen just how Fisher was betraying them.
Rosen points to Fisher’s exhibition season altercation with Matt Barnes, which Jackson called “embarrassing” on Monday, as the tipping factor before diving into discussions about the triangle. This makes sense when you consider the fact that Jackson’s last few teams in Los Angeles strayed farther and farther away from the triangle, even while working with two All-Star level 7-footers.
All of this leaves you considering the idea, as Dan Devine and Woj already have, that Phil Jackson may have backed himself into a corner with this one. Many great coaches don’t turn a professional corner until their second or third try, so there’s always a chance Rambis, Shaw or even Jim Cleamons could get it right this time under Jackson’s leadership.
Those are hardly inspiring names, though, and Phil Jackson has only himself to blame for as much.
At least he’s got Dennis Rodman to fall back on.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
