The Ghost of Phil Jackson lives on with Knicks' recent moves

The Ghost of Phil Jackson lives on with Knicks' recent moves

Even though Phil Jackson was finally relieved of his job, the Knicks are still making some bad decisions. Most notably, their decisions to bring back former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. on a four-year contract worth $71 million and let David Griffin slip from their vacant GM position are easily two of the worst moves they have made so far in the off-season.

Even though Phil Jackson was finally relieved of his job, the Knicks are still making some bad decisions. Most notably, their decisions to bring back former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. on a four-year contract worth $71 million and let David Griffin slip from their vacant GM position are easily two of the worst moves they have made so far in the off-season.

Despite former President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson's departure, the Knicks still seem to find a way to make horrible decisions. They are still in limbo about what to do concerning Carmelo Anthony, they recently brought back former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. on an outrageous contract and they recently let former Cleveland Cavaliers GM, David Griffin, slip away. Everyone has known that the Knicks have been trying to get rid of Carmelo, most notably during Phil Jackson's tenure with the Knicks, but signing Tim Hardawy Jr. to a 4 year 71 million dollar contract is beyond absurd. In fact, his former team, the Atlanta Hawks, were only willing to offer him a 4 year 48 million dollar deal, 23 million less than what the Knicks offered. The deal also reportedly shocked many throughout the Knicks organization and deservedly so. Despite Hardaway having a career year with the Hawks, with averages of 14.5 PPG on a solid 45 FG%, 2.8 RPG, 2.3 APG and 0.7 SPG, he hasn't proven that he deserves more money than say Andre Iguodala who recently signed a 3 year 48 million dollar deal with the Golden State Warriors. This is a guy who has proven himself by winning an NBA Finals MVP and finishing top 3 in Sixth Man of the Year voting last season, whereas Hardaway has done nothing you couldn't get out of an average player. Simple math shows that Hardaway will be making nearly 2 million more a season and doesn't have anything to show that he deserves it. This deal has also reportedly pushed the Knicks more towards getting Carmelo out of NY and that could force yet another bad move if the Knicks feel cornered and just want to get him out of there and as we all know, the Knicks reign supreme when it comes to bad decision making, as evidenced by this deal.

It makes one wonder, how can the Knicks top this awful signing? it arguably comes from the fact that the Knicks recently let David Griffin slip through their fingers for their vacant GM position. Although easily the biggest factor for Cleveland's success was LeBron deciding to return home, Griffin put together deals that were pennies on the dollar that was so instrumental to Cleveland heading to the finals three years in a row. One of those deals came from when the Knicks traded JR Smith and Iman Shumpert in a three-team deal with OKC, where the Knicks ended up with Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk, Lance Thomas and a 2019 second round pick. That was a great move by Griffin that ultimately paid off for Cleveland. Then there's bringing in Kevin Love and other key veterans to help Cleveland win their first title in 52 years. On top of all that, despite the fact that he was on his way out of Cleveland, it was reported that he was "elbow deep" in trying to make a deal for Jimmy Butler, who still on the Chicago Bulls at the time.

It was even reported that he left his strategy behind for the next GM to continue his plan. This guy is easily one of the hardest working GM's out there and rightfully deserves whatever he asked for. He even received praise from the king himself after his departure and it was noted that LeBron was an avid supporter of Griffin throughout his tenure with Cleveland.

The Knicks have a lot of fixing to do and so far they are not doing a very good job. It seems like the ghost of Phil Jackson lives on in New York for the time being.

Despite former President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson's departure, the Knicks still seem to find a way to make horrible decisions. They are still in limbo about what to do concerning Carmelo Anthony, they recently brought back former Knick Tim Hardaway Jr. on an outrageous contract and they recently let former Cleveland Cavaliers GM, David Griffin, slip away. Everyone has known that the Knicks have been trying to get rid of Carmelo, most notably during Phil Jackson's tenure with the Knicks, but signing Tim Hardawy Jr. to a 4 year 71 million dollar contract is beyond absurd. In fact, his former team, the Atlanta Hawks, were only willing to offer him a 4 year 48 million dollar deal, 23 million less than what the Knicks offered. The deal also reportedly shocked many throughout the Knicks organization and deservedly so. Despite Hardaway having a career year with the Hawks, with averages of 14.5 PPG on a solid 45 FG%, 2.8 RPG, 2.3 APG and 0.7 SPG, he hasn't proven that he deserves more money than say Andre Iguodala who recently signed a 3 year 48 million dollar deal with the Golden State Warriors. This is a guy who has proven himself by winning an NBA Finals MVP and finishing top 3 in Sixth Man of the Year voting last season, whereas Hardaway has done nothing you couldn't get out of an average player. Simple math shows that Hardaway will be making nearly 2 million more a season and doesn't have anything to show that he deserves it. This deal has also reportedly pushed the Knicks more towards getting Carmelo out of NY and that could force yet another bad move if the Knicks feel cornered and just want to get him out of there and as we all know, the Knicks reign supreme when it comes to bad decision making, as evidenced by this deal.

It makes one wonder, how can the Knicks top this awful signing? it arguably comes from the fact that the Knicks recently let David Griffin slip through their fingers for their vacant GM position. Although easily the biggest factor for Cleveland's success was LeBron deciding to return home, Griffin put together deals that were pennies on the dollar that was so instrumental to Cleveland heading to the finals three years in a row. One of those deals came from when the Knicks traded JR Smith and Iman Shumpert in a three-team deal with OKC, where the Knicks ended up with Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk, Lance Thomas and a 2019 second round pick. That was a great move by Griffin that ultimately paid off for Cleveland. Then there's bringing in Kevin Love and other key veterans to help Cleveland win their first title in 52 years. On top of all that, despite the fact that he was on his way out of Cleveland, it was reported that he was "elbow deep" in trying to make a deal for Jimmy Butler, who still on the Chicago Bulls at the time.

It was even reported that he left his strategy behind for the next GM to continue his plan. This guy is easily one of the hardest working GM's out there and rightfully deserves whatever he asked for. He even received praise from the king himself after his departure and it was noted that LeBron was an avid supporter of Griffin throughout his tenure with Cleveland.

The Knicks have a lot of fixing to do and so far they are not doing a very good job. It seems like the ghost of Phil Jackson lives on in New York for the time being.

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