Knicks team president Phil Jackson tacitly questioned the wisdom of spending max-level money on Marc Gasol in an interview that took place in February with longtime confidant Charley Rosen, who transcribes it as part of a series on ESPN.com. Still, it seemed more of a remark about spending max money in general, and indeed, the Knicks wound up spreading their cap space around on multiple second-tier free agents. Jackson admits that he pursued Goran Dragic at the trade deadline in February, when the Knicks were one of the preferred teams on the point guard’s wish list of destinations, with the Zen Master adding that he might have spent too much time on the pursuit of Dragic, as Rosen’s piece also shows. Jackson also expressed interest in Arron Afflalo, whom the Knicks eventually signed this summer, and Enes Kanter, whom they reportedly spoke with this month. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Celtics are unlikely to use their $2.814MM room exception, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). That’s not surprising, since the C’s already have 17 fully guaranteed contracts, including Zoran Dragic, whom the team is expected to either waive or trade.
- Ryan Boatright‘s minimum salary deal with the Nets is already partially guaranteed for $75K this season, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link). A previous report indicated that guarantee wouldn’t kick in until August 1st. Boatright will lock in $200K if he sticks on the roster for the regular season, NetsDaily adds. However, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows Boatright only with a $75K guarantee until November 15th, when that guarantee would increase to $125K.
- The Knicks are letting go of interim D-League head coach Craig Hodges, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Hodges had reportedly been expected to remain as a D-League assistant.
In reference to his comments on Dragic, that was probably the best part of the interview. “I mean, Dragic is every team’s current choice for a nuclear option — a guard who can penetrate and either score or kick. Guys like Chris Paul and James Harden. But, anyway, that’s not really the way I want us to play.”
Lol
The Knicks make me hate basketball