BEAS HELPS BURY C’s!!
Knicks’ Mills wanted Phil to drop triangle
STEVE MILLS worked under Phil Jackson and was endorsed by the Zen Master as his successor.
But Mills, in an interview with the Associated Press, said he wasn’t onboard with the direction last season and pleaded for change. Mills claimed he even lobbied to change Jackson’s beloved offensive system.
“Everyone was frustrated. One of our players was obviously frustrated. Our fans were frustrated, we were frustrated, and so it led us to think we have to do something different and I felt strongly about it,” Mills said. “I addressed it with Phil and our coaching staff and our entire staff, that in my view we weren’t a team that really stood for anything in particular and that needed to change.
“If it meant changing the triangle, it if meant changing our day-to-day stuff, we had to become more definable by something. When someone sees the Knicks, when someone’s going to play against the Knicks, what are you going to experience when you play that team?”
Jackson was fired in June and has been silent, probably due to a gag order that accompanies the $24 million payout. Mills quickly ascended to team president. He has a longstanding relationship with Knicks owner James Dolan and convinced the owner he was ready to run the franchise.
In his first moves as team president, Mills used almost all of the team’s cap space on Tim Hardaway Jr. and Ron Baker. He then hired GM Scott Perry, who orchestrated the deal sending Carmelo Anthony to OKC for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a second-round pick.
Beyond the roster moves, Mills has pushed an environment at the Garden that is more mediafriendly and less dysfunctional. Part of the issue last season was the drama created by Jackson had to be explained by everybody but Jackson, since he rarely made himself available to the media.
At the time, Mills declined to speak to the media on multiple occasions. He indicated to AP that he regrets that decision.
“I think sometimes we put the players in a tough situation,” he said. “We clearly put Jeff in a very difficult situation last year,” Mills said, referring to coach Jeff Hornacek. “It’s not fair to him that every question about what’s going on within the organization he has to deal with.” So now what? “I knew there were a lot of things that needed to change here and we’re in the process of doing that,” Mills said.