In addition to addressing several Knicks–related topics last week, team president Phil Jackson also touched on the league’s age limit issue, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com writes.
“When you have 19- and 20 year-old players that are coming in the league, which is what the majority of the draft picks coming into the league right now, it’s really hard to project what that player is going to be in three years, in the first contract situation,” he said. “I think everybody would like to see [an age limit rule] happen, everybody but the agents that are out there making the money. The players’ union is yet to really make a stance in that direction. But they need to do that. I think that’s an important part of it. Once in a while you get a player like a LeBron [James] or a [Kevin] Durant, but that’s few and far between. There are a lot of kids that don’t make it that have to go back and struggle.”
Here’s more on the Zen Master’s team and other items from the Atlantic Division..
- Knicks coach Derek Fisher says the team might shut Jose Calderon down for the season, despite the point guard’s ardent wishes to return to action, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Calderon, who is dealing with a left Achilles tendon strain, will miss his tenth straight game when the Knicks finish their five-game road trip against the Suns. The Knicks have the guard under contract through the 2016/17 season.
- Phil Pressey has rewarded the Celtics‘ faith in him, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes. The guard would have been easy to part with given his $816K salary, but he’s still one of the 10 players that remain from the team’s 15-man roster on opening night. The C’s have been so high on Pressey that they’ve parted ways with heftier contracts like that of Vitor Faverani ($2.1MM) and Will Bynum ($2.9MM) in order to keep him in the fold. Now, he’s stepping up big in the absence of deadline acquisition Isaiah Thomas.
- Dakota Schmidt of Ridiculous Upside explained how the 76ers struck gold with Robert Covington. Even though the 76ers’ offense has been dreadful on the whole, the D-League standout has had a positive impact on their scoring.