Sports Daily: Fixing the Knicks Edition

[RaychelSnr]

The New York Knicks organization didn't hire Phil Jackson to be an iconic name slapped on a struggling franchise -- they brought him in for his insight towards building a championship contender.

If the first big move by Jackson says anything, Mike Woodson isn't the man to lead the Knicks as head coach anymore.

On the surface it may appear that the new Knicks president is pointing the blame squarely on Woodson and his staff, but chances are this is only the beginning. Once Jackson has the coach he wants -- and there's no reason to think he can't hand-pick someone for the coveted job -- players may start to see their jersey color and city of residence change.

Sound Off: What changes need to take place for the New York Knicks to be a winning basketball team?

Sports Headlines for April 21, 2014

• David Moyes to be sacked as Manchester United manager.
• The 30th highest paid professional athlete in sports hasn't played in two years.
• Gomez ejected after bench-clearing brawl in Pirates-Brewers game.
• Blake Griffin dumps water on a Golden State fan after fouling out. [Animated Gif]
• Ever get the feeling you're being watched? [Image]

[m1ke_nyc]

First I gotta say, when they said the entire staff got canned I was like "EVEN HERB WILLIAMS ?" The issue with the Knicks and with even building this current roster was there was no vision for what the team should be. They just kinda randomly signed players with talent, but those guys couldnt play with eachother. Melo needs the ball in his hands, Amare needs the ball in his hands, J.R. needs the ball in his hands. Your 3 primary scorers are isolation players. That wont work, not enough touches to go around. Chandler is good but your better off with a poor mans version of him and save the cap space. The only players I know I wanna see on this team for the future is Melo, Shumpert, Hardaway Jr. Step one is establishing a vision for this team. Phil sees a team running the triangle.

[El Comodin24]

I'm thinking long-term here, let Melo walk, draft Shabazz Napier (who loves playing in the Garden), sign Lance Stevenson (who is a NY native), & go after Kevin Love next summer (who wants to play in a big market). I think these moves in addition to letting bad contracts like Amare Stoudemire go will help the Knicks in years to come. Players like Stevenson and Napier will garner interest from NY fans due to the fact that they are local products.

[jamesdawon]

Pray for Melo and Amare to opt out and let them walk. If they don't they and Tyson Chandler are there for 1 more year. Do not re-sign any of them. Get bad to get good. Build through the draft.

[stlcardsfan44]

It's going to be difficult for the Knicks to build via the draft. They traded away all there picks. I believe all they have is a 1st in 2015 and a first in 2017. They have no draft picks this year so no chance they get Napier.

[Jeffx]

It's not just the roster....the culture of the entire Knicks organization and the way they do business needs to be changed. It starts with James Dolan, an impatient, meddling, erratic and downright horrible owner. If he keeps his promise to stay out of the way and let Phil run things, the future may be bright. But knowing Dolan's history, eventually he'll screw it up and do to Phil what he did to Donnie Walsh. Dude can't help himself.

Look at the way the Spurs are run compared to the Knicks - it's like night and day. Knicks have been dysfunctional since Dolan took over.

[ehh]

It's not about "you have to pursue Free Agent X and Coach Y" right now. At this point it's about gutting the franchise and starting over and doing things the right way on the court and off of it.

Based on all the rumors it sounds like the CAA influence over MSG is/was real. So much so that Dolan didn't know how to end it by himself, thus the Phil move. This is as much about basketball operations as it is regaining control over his own damn franchise. He let CAA in the door, trusted them, listened to them and foolishly he let them gain too much control. It wasn't about basketball, it was about getting CAA clients in the door, getting them maximum exposure and preferential treatment (multiple "sources" within the organization, from players to coaches to FO people, said the same thing - that CAA clients got treated differently).

So back to the original question, how you fix the Knicks is by getting rid of CAA, keeping Dolan at arm's length and letting basketball people make basketball decisions.

Phil doesn't have to be a front office genius, he needs to build a culture similar to other successful franchises around the league. The blueprint is available, this isn't rocket science or needing to recreate the wheel.

Phil may not build a title team during his short stint here but he'll build a respectable organization that does things the correct and logical way.

[da ThRONe]

I think the Knicks set themselves back not trading Melo this season. There's no quick fix unless they can find Amare' a new knee.

The Knicks have to hope Anthony, Stoudemire, and Bargnani all opt out of their deals. Then they need to find a trade partner for Chandler. If the NYK want to be a quality team in the future they have to be awful next year to secure a top pick and snatch two of the top 2015 FA's.