Hey Phil Jackson, you’ve been in charge of the New York Knicks since 2014, through four coaches so far. You’ve still got your eleven rings, we trust you. So, Zen Basketball Chief, you took on a tough job for sure. Even impatient New Yorkers know it, and they’ve been pretty chill while waiting. But now you’re loaded right? Porzingis is the best second-year player in the league no matter who they gave Rookie of the Year to, Carmelo has a new gold medal and is ready to fly. You bought grit and big hoops IQ in Joakim Noah. Derrick Rose? Wow, the Knicks have Derrick Rose. Even Rose’s backup point guard Brandon Jennings is really a starter on most teams. So this it, right? C’mon. What are your expectations for this team, sir? Let us dream a little.
But Zen don’t play that. Expectations? Jackson said a press conference: “Trying to keep them realistic. There’s eight, nine new players on this team… They seem to like to play together — that doesn’t mean they’ve been coached… Doesn’t mean they have the coach’s emphasis about how they have to play. Comes down to defense, how to play together… Who gets the ball at the end of games… that’s gonna take some time.” Jackson did give some notion of what realistic means. “Realistically we know we’re going to be competitive because we have some very competitive players.”
