Phil Jackson thinks the Knicks are a mess and the NBA doesn’t pass anymore

Some people are still waiting on a Phil Jackson coaching return to help save Knicks basketball. In a recent interview for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Jackson shared his thoughts as to why coaching the team that drafted him isn’t something he’s interested in and why it’s hard for him to watch NBA games.

“Watching the NBA is not that easy for me. There’s very little passing offense that goes into the NBA anymore. Everything is off the dribble and screen/roll, screen/roll. I find myself watching [NHL] playoffs over the NBA playoffs. There are less commercials, more action, and more fun.”

In fact, that was one of the reasons Jackson was glad he didn’t hear from the New York Knicks, a team he played for nearly five decades ago. The Knicks, who renewed the contract of head coach Mike Woodson rather than trying to lure Jackson to the Big Apple, aren’t the type of team that Jackson wanted to come back to. “There’s too much work that has to be done with that team,” Jackson explained. “They don’t fit together well.”

One of the things you can appreciate about Phil Jackson is his blunt honesty. The pieces of the Knicks not fitting together was obvious with the Lin/Stoudemire vs. Melo/Shumpert tandems takin turns as part of the starting unit. Woodson had success when he took over with the latter but how do you justify paying Stat that much to come of the bench. Both he and Melo need the ball in their hands to be successful. I say one of them has to be moved by December unless Coach Woodson is in the lab now developing some super scheme.

Jackson also likes to play mind games with the front offices and players on his team via the media. Was New York really ready for that and Tebow too?

Shout out to Mai who always reads and specifically asked for my POV on this topic!