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The 10 most embarrassing moments from Phil Jackson’s time with the Knicks

Listing every Knicks failure under Phil Jackson is a difficult task. 

Dan Gartland

The 10 most embarrassing moments from Phil Jackson’s time with the Knicks
The 10 most embarrassing moments from Phil Jackson’s time with the Knicks /

Plenty of NBA teams lose lots of games but no one does it quite like the Knicks. Phil Jackson’s three-plus seasons in New York were full of losses—171, if we want to be specific—but it’s the off-court nonsense that stands out more than anything. Here are the 10 moments that tortured Knicks fans the most. 

“Goink.”

Phil got himself in plenty of trouble on Twitter (more on that later) but this was one of his first tweets that indicated he might have lost his fastball. How did three-point oriented teams fare in the 2015 playoffs? You tell me. 

Sleeping beauty

This is when we should have realized Jackson was on the way out. 

The “posse” incident

Phil didn’t only fight publicly with his own players, he also got into with the league’s most famous player when he started a surprisingly large controversy by referring to LeBron James’s business partners as his “posse.” James took issue with Jackson’s use of the word as did his manager Maverick Carter.

James said he lost respect for Jackson after the comments and said he had no interest in talking to Phil about it. 

Kenyon Martin rips Joakim Noah: ‘Boy can't hit his ass with both hands’

A truly terrible comparison

Incredibly, comparing Stephen Curry to a guy who shot 35.4% from three isn’t the dumbest thing Jackson has done on Twitter. 

Phil throws Melo under the bus

This is the dumbest thing Jackson has done on Twitter: an unnecessary shot at his team’s star player. 

This takes a little bit of explaining but basically Jackson is agreeing with a column by Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding about Carmelo Anthony and his perceived lack of desire to win. Too bad Phil gave him a no-trade clause. 

Phil considers new part-time job

At point after firing Derek Fisher, Jackson was reportedly thinking about hiring himself to coach the team in their games at the Garden. 

Kristaps Porzingis goes for a bike ride

One of the last strikes for Phil was when Porzingis decided to skip his end-of-season exit meeting with Jackson. Even better, Porzingis made it clear he was still in town by posting photos from a bike ride around Central Park. 

Melo throws Phil under the bus

In fairness to Jackson, his players also took shots at him on social media. But at least they had the good sense to be subtle. Carmelo posted a couple of cryptic Instagram photos after Jackson criticized him in December. The next day, he abandoned the subtlety and decided to just come out and say he was talking about Phil.

Phil Jackson's Refusal To Evolve Forced The Knicks' Hand

Phil tries to run Melo out of town

Jackson spent his last several months on the job desperately trying to rid himself of Carmelo Anthony. He tried to trade him to the Clippers at the deadline. Right after the season ended, he said Melo “would be better off somewhere else.” He reiterated a month later that he thought it would be best if Melo accepted a trade to a contender. Too bad Carmelo had that pesky no-trade clause. 

Trying to trade Kristaps Porzingis

​Attempting to get rid of Carmelo Anthony, a 32-year-old getting paid a lot of money, makes at least a little bit of sense. Entertaining the idea of trading Kristaps Porzingis, a 21-year-old physical freak who appears to be on the cusp of superstardom, is just idiotic. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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