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NBA Rumors: New York Knicks, Phil Jackson To Part Ways After Season?

By Ernie Howell
Published on: 07:59 PST, Apr 10, 2016

NBA rumors are swirling that the New York Knicks and their team president Phil Jackson part ways at the end of the season, according to multiple reports.

Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange offered straight-forward speculation about Phil Jackson returning to the West Coast after the New York Knicks complete this season. The NBA rumors Grange wrote about could help Phil Jackson return to the Los Angeles Lakers, where his love interest currently runs the team.

“Jackson badly wants out of New York, preferring to return back to Los Angeles to be near his fiancée, Lakers scion Jeanie Buss. Jackson is believed to have an out in his Knicks deal that could free him up to do just that at the end of next season unless things between him and Dolan become untenable before that. It’s believed that as soon as Jeanie’s brother Jim Buss — blamed for the Lakers current free fall — is somehow removed from the scene, Jackson will be back as soon as he can engineer it.”

While Grange suggests Phil would be the one wanting out of New York, other NBA rumors are focusing on the Knicks being the party interested in calling it quits. New York — currently 32-48 with two games remaining on the season — is well out of reach of a playoff spot for the second year in a row under Phil Jackson. Only the cross-town rival Brooklyn Nets and the dysfunctional Philadelphia 76ers have worse records than the Knicks currently possess.

Despite the lackluster results, media outlets are reporting that Phil Jackson wants to bring current interim coach Kurt Rambis back next season. Deadspin described the decision as the Knicks’ tongue-in-cheek attempt to “bring plague and pestilence to New York” again next season.

The NBA rumors about Kurt Rambis’ return is one of the reasons many columnists, including the New York Daily News‘ Mike Lupica, are calling for Knicks’ owner James Dolan to intervene on the fans’ behalf. The same publication is reporting that Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri is a potential replacement for Phil Jackson if he or the New York Knicks decide to end their relationship.

The New York Times suggested that the same plea the now former Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Sam Hinkie made to his team’s fans could come in handy for Phil Jackson. When he joined the team in 2013, Hinkie publicly made his attempt at ineptitude known as he talked about how Philadelphia would use the high draft picks obtained after their horrible seasons on future superstars.

The problem that plagued Hinkie, and now Phil Jackson, is that fans aren’t patient as the win-now psyche exists for most NBA fans. Sam hinted at that problem in his 13-page resignation letter, describing how Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks might currently see their situation.

“The N.B.A. can be a league of desperation, those that are in it and those that can avoid it. So many find themselves caught in the zugzwang, the point in the game where all possible moves make you worse off. Your positioning is now the opposite of that.”

Would the New York Knicks be worse or better off without Phil leading the team? The second year of the Jackson era has seen a 15-win improvement from the cellar-dwelling, an encouraging sign if Phil Jackson does remain with the team.

New York has games with the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers remaining on their NBA schedule. If the Raptors decide to rest starters with their No. 2 Eastern Conference seed locked for the playoffs, the Knicks could win one or both of their final two games against teams with winning records.

Do you think think the NBA rumors surrounding the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson could come to fruition? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

[Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images]

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