Phil Jackson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Metta World Peace Seeking Return To Knicks

March 27th, 2014 at 10:03am CST by Chuck Myron

Metta World Peace asked for and received a buyout from the Knicks last month, but he’s said he wouldn’t have done that if he knew Phil Jackson, who coached him with the Lakers, was going to become New York’s president of basketball operations. A source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post that World Peace yearns to return to the Knicks and would love to re-sign with the team. The Knicks have an open roster spot, though Berman makes it seem as though a reunion with World Peace is more likely in the offseason. World Peace met with Jackson during New York’s game with the Lakers on Tuesday, and it was tantamount to a job interview, Berman says.

Jackson is high on the former Ron Artest, and he’s praised the defensive-minded forward’s practice habits, Berman writes, while pointing out that the Zen Master was more critical of World Peace in his latest book. The Marc Cornstein client will be seeking a minimum-salary deal this summer, according to Berman. World Peace gets $250K from the Knicks as part of his buyout arrangement, Berman notes, though it’s not quite clear if that’s all he’s receiving or if the Knicks are paying his full salary for 2013/14, too. His contract with the team originally called for him to make $1.59MM this season with a player option worth more than $1.66MM for next year.

World Peace has said he requested his buyout when coach Mike Woodson apparently asked him not to attempt to become a locker room leader. There’s a strong chance Woodson will be let go in the offseason, so perhaps his replacement will find World Peace a better fit. The 34-year-old World Peace, who suffers from arthritis in his knees, said in December that he wanted to play through 2018/19, but he scaled that back to 2015/16 in recent comments to the Post.

Lakers Notes: Kaman, Buss Family, Jackson

March 26th, 2014 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers set a franchise record for their largest margin of defeat earlier this season, but Tuesday they put up the first 51-point quarter in team history during a rout of the Knicks. All of it still adds up to a lottery appearance, and Tuesday’s win only makes the job of landing a top-five pick tougher. Here’s more on the purple-and-gold:

Chris Kaman made it clear early in the season that he’s not pleased with his role on the Lakers, and the team’s efforts to trade him at the deadline came up short. He made a rare appearance in the starting lineup Tuesday, but he’s still frustrated and isn’t on speaking terms with coach Mike D’Antoni, as Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times details. The 11th-year center, a free agent at season’s end, told reporters that he regrets not “doing due diligence” to investigate the team before signing this past summer.
A majority of the Buss family was at one point reportedly in favor of Phil Jackson returning to the Lakers, but the family didn’t strongly support him for a role that would have placed him above GM Mitch Kupchak, notes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter links). The family was, at best, split on that idea, Shelburne says.
The specter of Jackson is a frequent media talking point, but Lakers players have put the issue out of their minds, as Jodie Meeks told reporters, including fellow ESPNLosAngeles.com scribe Dave McMenamin.

Lakers Rumors: Jeanie Buss, Jackson, Kobe

March 25th, 2014 at 3:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The draft is the major story for most of the teams surrouding the Lakers in our Reverse Standings, but the drama is always multifaceted in L.A. Here’s the latest:

Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss is the team’s governor and ultimate decision-maker, and commissioner Adam Silver recently told her that she should be more assertive in exerting her authority over the team, according to Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding. That’s somewhat surprising, given that the league has also acknowledged concerns about a conflict of interest between Buss and her fiance, Knicks president Phil Jackson.
Four of the six Buss siblings, each of whom owns a share of the Lakers, were in favor of bringing Jackson back to the organization, but Jim and Johnny Buss were not, Ding adds in the same piece. It’s unclear at what point the four siblings wanted Jackson to return.
Privately, the Lakers, Jeanie Buss included, are relieved that Jackson is off to New York and that he no longer casts a shadow over the organization, Ding observes.
Jackson never seemed to understand how much of an intimidating presence he is to the Buss family, helping forestall any reunion between Jackson and the Lakers, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
There was talk among the Buss family of bringing Jackson back to the Lakers in an informal role, but the team never approached Jackson with the idea, Shelburne reports in the same piece.
Steve Nash “doesn’t disagree” that Kobe Bryant and Mike D’Antoni aren’t a good fit with each other, as the point guard told ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd on Monday (transcription via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News). Nash nonetheless added that he doesn’t think Bryant and D’Antoni have had enough of a chance to decide how they feel about each other.
Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com, in an Insider-only piece, weighs the rebuilding jobs facing the Lakers and the Knicks, concluding that New York’s road is easier, given Jackson’s presence and superior existing talent.

Knicks Notes: Jackson, Dolan, Anthony

March 23rd, 2014 at 7:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Worried that Phil Jackson and Knicks owner Jim Dolan won’t get along? Former Knicks GM and coach Isiah Thomas says he has no such concerns, writes Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. ”He and Jim will have a great relationship because they come from a place of compassion. They come from a place of trying to do right by their fellow human being,” Thomas told SiriusXM’s Jared Greenberg and Rick Fox. “You know, I think both of them see life in a particular way. I think they both are insatiable about winning and trying to win and I think they want to win in a particular way. Phil is disciplined enough and dogmatic enough in his thoughts that he wants to win his way and do it in a way that encompasses all.”

Eastern Notes: Young, Jackson, Thompson

March 23rd, 2014 at 12:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie have publicly expressed their desires to make Thaddeus Young feel as comfortable in his current situation as he can be, writes Christopher A. Vito of the Delaware County Daily Times. As the team overhauls its roster in preparation for this summer’s draft and the free-agency period, Young is the last remaining high-profile veteran on the roster. Young said, “They’ve been making a conscious effort to continue talking to me, keep trying to keep me on board as far as what’s going on with construction and rebuilding effort.” Young is posting career-best numbers of 17.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 2.1 APG, but he knows that his situation is less than desirable, writes Vito. “This is definitely a situation that, really, nobody wants to take on. Hey, sometimes this is how the cards are dealt to you and this is the situation that was dealt to me,” Young said.

More from around the Eastern Conference:

According to Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, the best way for Phil Jackson to change the culture of the Knicks is to step in and coach the team himself. Lupica thinks that if Jackson has the energy to work in the front office, then he has the energy to coach. The article also uses the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich as an example. Lupica notes that Popovich’s first important move as the team’s executive vice-president and GM was to hire himself as coach. Years later he made R.C. Buford the general manager and the two of them have been a formidable team for a long time, opines Lupica.
In addition to working out a contract extension with Kyrie Irving and possibly pursuing LeBron James, another big offseason decision the Cavaliers will have to make is in regards to Tristan Thompson, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Thompson, like Irving, can be extended this summer. He is under the Cavs’ control for next season at $5.4MM, and any extension he signs would kick in for the 2015/16 season. By then Thompson could be in line to command upwards of $12MM a year and the team will need to decide if he’s worth the investment, writes Lloyd.
Tim Bontemps of The New York Post examines the possibility and cap ramifications of the Nets re-signing Shaun Livingston this summer.

Atlantic Notes: Young, Babb, Johnson, Knicks

March 22nd, 2014 at 2:14pm CST by Charlie Adams

While Thaddeus Young is focused on finishing the Sixers dismal season on a high note, he admits to Christopher A. Vito of The Delaware County Daily Times that his player option for the 2015/16 season has crossed his mind. “It’s a lot of money to leave on the table. At the end of the day, I’m not a guy that spends a lot of money,” Young said Friday. “Obviously, I want to be winning on a championship team. At the end of the day, like I said, it’s a card that could be played.” Young added that coach Brett Brown and GM Sam Hinkie have done their best to include the power forward on board with the rebuilding process. Here’s more from the Atlantic:

Celtics coach Brad Stevens says that the recently signed duo of Chris Babb and Chris Johnson were brought in to add character to the locker room and enhance practices with their good attitudes, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Babb and Johnson both hooked onto Boston with multi-year deals after each seeing a pair of 10-day contracts.
Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines the likelihood that the Celtics re-sign Jerryd Bayless for next season. Bayless will need to work on his defense if he wants to be in Boston long-term, says Forsberg.
Steve Mills’ new role in the Knicks organization will likely turn out to be only ceremonial, writes Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. Team president Phil Jackson will look to bring in a different GM to handle day-to-day operations for the club, and Lawrence lists Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons, Ronnie Lester, and Mike Dunleavy as possible candidates for the job.
Crafting his front office team is only one of the tasks Jackson will face in the early stages of his new role for the Knicks. Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders discusses the other challenges the Zen Master will deal with in the early stages of his tenure in New York.
Harvery Araton of the New York Times thinks that the Knicks’ move to bring in Jackson has overshadowed the impressive recovery that the Nets have been able to make over the second half of the season. Brooklyn sits just one game back from third place in the East after an underwhelming start to the 2013/14 campaign.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Lakers Notes: D’Antoni, Jackson, Henry

March 20th, 2014 at 10:07am CST by Chuck Myron

A recent report suggested that Kobe Bryant wants Mike D’Antoni out as Lakers coach, but Bryant didn’t quite put it that way in a radio interview Wednesday. He still said he’s not sure if D’Antoni deserves to return as coach next season, and another Lakers figure is similarly reticent to make that sort of statement, as we note in a look at the latest on the purple-and-gold:

Mitch Kupchak stopped short of saying that D’Antoni should remain coach of the Lakers, but the GM nonetheless backed the sideline boss in an interview with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I don’t want to get into that with those kind of questions,” Kupchak said. “He’s done a great job and dealt with a year last year when he was here part-time and a ridiculous amount of injuries this year.”
Kupchak told Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he never spoke at length with Phil Jackson during the Zen Master’s negotiations to join the Knicks, and Kupchak characterized the New York job as “too good to be true and too good to pass up” for Jackson. Earlier today, we heard that the Lakers initially thought Jackson would merely be taking a consulting gig with the Knicks.
Xavier Henry, a free agent at season’s end, is playing through pain to solidify his value as an NBA player after his early-season breakthrough, as McMenamin details in separate piece.

Isola’s Latest: Jackson, Lakers, Dolan

March 20th, 2014 at 8:40am CST by Chuck Myron

Phil Jackson‘s hiring as Knicks president has been one of the most well-documented stories in the NBA this season, but Frank Isola of the New York Daily News has managed to reveal a few fresh angles to the news. We’ll share the highlights of his latest piece here:

The Lakers believed Jackson was going to take a salary of $2MM a year to join the Knicks as a consultant when New York first began talks with Jackson in December. Instead, he’ll make $12MM a year as team president, though he’ll still spend time in Southern California as well as New York.
Dolan, in spite of his promise to remove himself from basketball decision-making for the Knicks, still considers himself a “basketball guy” and wants to be remembered for bringing Jackson and Carmelo Anthony together.
Two of Mike Woodson, Andrea Bargnani and J.R. Smith won’t be with the Knicks next season, and none will be around for 2015/16, Isola writes. It would be no shock if Woodson is in his final days with the Knicks, but Bargnani’s deal runs through next year, and Smith’s goes until the summer of 2016, so it appears that Isola is suggesting the team will trade Bargnani and Smith.
Woodson, Bargnani and Smith are all Creative Artists Agency clients, but the emergence of Eagles manager Irving Azoff as a trusted confidant of James Dolan has helped diminish CAA’s once-widespread influence at Madison Square Garden.

Phil Jackson Notes: Melo, Woodson, Ewing, Pop

March 19th, 2014 at 11:07pm CST by Alex Lee

In case you haven’t had enough of the Phil Jackson to New York story, we have more as reactions continue to pour in. Jackson joined the Boomer and Carton show on WFAN New York this morning to explain why he took the job with the Knicks. Here is what he had to say, courtesy of Royce Young at CBS Sports: “I like the city, I like the basketball team, I don’t like all the way they’ve been playing lately, but they’re showing signs of playing like a team again. I think it’s a great time in the NBA to use the flexibility and availability that’s been given to teams in this new CBA between the owners and players … equity is supposed to be the big thing, caps on spending and things like that. But I do think it favors a place like New York.”

Here’s a look at more news and notes stemming from James Dolan’s big hire:

Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com conducts a detailed examination aimed at determining whether or not Carmelo Anthony can fit within Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. According to Elhassan, Melo could thrive just like his predecessors if the system is run correctly.
The man to run it, at least for the time being, would presumably be Knicks head coach Mike Woodson, who said on Wednesday that he was capable of teaching it with Jackson’s guidance, reports ESPN New York’s Ohm Youngmisuk. Woodson also seemed unconcerned that Dolan offered Jackson his job. Youngmisuk also includes some words from Anthony, who seemed encouraged that Jackson plans to build around him.
Knicks legend Patrick Ewing approves of the Jackson addition, telling Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News he’s happy to have “one of our own” taking over the franchise. Ewing, of course, went up against Jackson and his Bulls for years in the Eastern Conference.
Count Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich among those expecting big things from Jackson in New York, according to Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding on Twitter. Asked Wednesday for his thoughts, Pop had the following to say: “Fantastic. It’s wonderful for everybody concerned. Definitely great for the league.” With regard to Jackson adjusting to a management role, Pop said: “He’ll figure it out. He’ll get it going.” (Twitter links)

Western Notes: Lakers, Suns, Lowry, Jordan

March 19th, 2014 at 9:57pm CST by Alex Lee

The NBA has parameters in place to ensure the relationship between Lakers president Jeanie Buss and now-Knicks president Phil Jackson doesn’t become an issue, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. NBA spokesman Mike Bass told Shelburne the following: “The Knicks’ hiring of Phil Jackson is subject to the league’s conflict of interest rules. To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, we have addressed the issue with the Knicks and Lakers to ensure that the relationship between Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson will not affect how the teams operate.”

We heard yesterday that Buss recently met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on this very topic. Shelburne followed up on Twitter, adding that Buss and Silver had similar conversations last year when Jackson considered working for Toronto or a new Seattle franchise. In short, because Buss’ role with the Lakers is on the business side, the league approves, Shelburne says, an explanation that agrees with what we heard from Buss earlier today.

Let’s take a look at what else is going on out west:

In an interview with Zach Lowe of Grantland, Goran Dragic conceded that he was baffled this offseason when he heard the Suns acquired Eric Bledsoe, but his agent and Suns’ management swiftly assured him that the team envisioned an all-point guard backcourt not unlike the early ’90s Phoenix duo of Kevin Johnson and (current head coach) Jeff Hornacek.
Two seasons after shipping him to Toronto, Daryl Morey unsuccessfully attempted to bring Kyle Lowry back to the Rockets at the trade deadline, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The Villanova product, who also nearly ended up in New York, is playing his way into a big-time contract this summer, when Lowry becomes a free agent. We heard earlier tonight that he could be a fit in Dallas.
A lot of the credit for DeAndre Jordan‘s progression with the Clippers should go to Doc Rivers, writes Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated. Rivers, in his first year with the Clips, did his homework on the talented but underacheiving center prior to arriving in Los Angeles, and the results have been more than encouraging.