Oakley’s latest plays appear to be taken out of Jimmy’s PR playbook

Charles Oakley’s media “strategy” is coming directly out of James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan’s playbook. If we didn’t know better, it would not be a reach to suggest the Garden boss is Oakley’s de facto media consultant.

Follow the loose lips: The night Oakley was tossed from the Gulag, Dolan issued a press release that ended suggesting Oakley has a problem and needs help. A couple of days later, Dolan appeared on the radio and was more specific, albeit totally unhinged, saying the former Knick enforcer has anger management and alcohol issues.

After Dolan and Oakley met with commissioner Adam Silver (Michael Jordan was conferenced in) on Monday it appeared the situation was resolved. That’s when Oakley, following Dolan’s media blueprint, decided it is never too late to mess up a good thing.

Oakley returned to the radio demanding a public apology from Dolan. Then Thursday, Oakley was back running his mouth again accusing Dolan of being a racist by comparing him to former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banished from the league for the bigoted swill that exited his mouth.

Strip all the bull and take it down to zero. What’s left is Dolan and Oakley, two men with different backgrounds brought together by their unique ability to act like jerks — or worse — now carrying out their feud through character assassination played out on tabloid back pages.

Despite Oakley’s inability to close his mouth, the fact remains it is Dolan who immediately escalated the situation. And it is Dolan who has all the financial resources, PR operatives, and comped media stooges at his disposal. The combination could crush Oakley. While Oakley has surrogate mouths, like Dwyane Wade, who have supported him, it is Dolan & Company who have experience in these matters. Yet, there have been some media types who are actually attempting to paint Dolan as a sympathetic figure.

They must forget that in many ways, the Oakley controversy is just a microcosm of Dolan’s MSG tenure, which has turned the Mecca into the Drecka. Oakley’s ejection by Gulag security brought back memories of another black man, Don Chaney, being escorted out of the building by Garden security personnel after Guitar Jimmy relieved him of his coaching duties.

When Anucha Browne Sanders sued MSG for sexual harassment, Dolan said he would rather fight than settle out of court. He used some of the media to go on the offensive and smear ABS. Sounds familiar, right? The case went to civil court and ABS was awarded $11.6 million following a trial that revealed sordid details of “life,” and sexual harassment inside Dolan’s Hot House, er, Garden.

Lately, Dolan has been very quiet. Why should he speak when some of the media is doing his work for him by turning against Oakley. Dolan also got a bounce after Forbes reported the Knicks are currently worth $3 billion, tops in the NBA. This led some Gasbags to excuse all the losing, dysfunction and controversy saying: “Dolan must be doing plenty right if his franchise is worth $3 billion.”

What Forbes’ valuation shows is the “sophisticated” Knicks fans are dopes, paying through the nose to watch a perennial loser, a team with an amateur team president, without a plan, who is paid $12 million per. Corporate sponsors are even more sketchy, paying to attach their products to a losing organization.

Yes, this is an alleged $3 billion franchise with a $3 mentality that by the end of the season, ONCE AGAIN, will be selling the same suckers “hope” for a bright 2017-18 season.

Who knows, maybe all this dysfunction is actually the reason behind the increased value of the Knicks franchise. After all, that’s all the Knicks can sell lately. If that’s the case, Dolan should thank Oakley.

The OakMan might actually want to hold a press conference. And ask for a share of the profits.

PAPACY OR IDIOCY?

As the countdown to his exit from WFAN continues, Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa is killing what’s left of his legacy.

The Friday Dolan went on ESPN-98.7’s “The Michael Kay Show,” Francesa was doing a remote from a Connecticut-based casino. He said the remote location was the reason Dolan didn’t come on. Yet, a few days later, when a caller accused the Pontiff of being Dolan’s Cabana Boy, Francesa scolded him, saying if that were the case Dolan, looking for a soft place to land, would have appeared on his show. Francesa must have misremembered what he said about Dolan during his casinobased program.

Yet the most powerful evidence the Pontiff is cracking up was provided by his decision to engage WABC’s Sidiot Rosenberg, who once worked at FAN, in a back-andforth on a number of historical issues of major proportions, including whether Sidiot was ever considered as a replacement for Chris (Mad Dog) Russo when he bailed on the Pope many moons ago.

When he was at the top of his game, secure in the fact he is a ratings machine, Francesa would’ve laughed Sidiot off as an irrelevant ham-and-egger. Instead, the Pope told listeners he didn’t want to talk about Rosenberg but spent 10 minutes yakking about him.

Game.

ENCORE, BILL & DICKIE V

It took years, but ESPN finally found a mouth that runs faster than Dick Vitale’s.

Bill Walton was that man. Wednesday he and Dickie V, who have run through walls for the Bristol Clown Community College Faculty in the past, agreed to team up, along with Mr. David Pasch on the play-by-play, to work Pacers-Cavs.

Walton didn’t borrow Laremy Tunsil’s gas-mask bong (or other accoutrements) before hitting the air, did he? Big Red was in a freestyle, stream of consciousness mode leaving Vitale to play the role of counter puncher.

It worked, big-time. The broadcast was soooooo entertaining because two cats with unique personalities were paired together to make us laugh and provide unvarnished insights.

Encore, please. Maybe some genius at CBS or Turner will pair Vitale and Walton during the NCAA hoops tourney. Even Charles Barkley would stay awake listening.

MEGA FIGHT

The appeal of a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight, a glorified exhibition, is seeing one of these villains get their mouth shut. And since there is plenty of money to be made it likely will happen. Industry sources say UFC, which has McGregor under contract, will probably use its TV unit to produce and distribute the pay-per-view. Why would Mayweather, who once had a contract with CBS/ Showtime, approve a UFC TV deal? “The UFC can do the production cheaper,” a boxing TV source said. “About 10% cheaper (than other PPV outlets).”