Jax admits Jae blunder
“I think the biggest mistake I made was actually this…”
Phil Jackson’s public comments — as well as the written retrospectives he delivers through proxy Charley Rosen — often are shrouded in a thick layer of foggy psychological mumbo jumbo.
But there’s nothing vague or indirect about the Knicks president’s stunningly honest confession in a belated season-in-review piece published Friday on Today’s Fastbreak: Jackson said his chief regret is messing up the Tyson Chandler trade in June 2014 by turning down a chance to acquire swingman Jae Crowder from the Mavericks.
Jackson said the final component of the seven-player deal — the Knicks also traded Raymond Felton, and received Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Samuel Dalembert and Wayne Ellington — was left up to him.
Though the behind-thescenes mechanics are a bit fuzzy in Jackson’s account — the Celtics are looped in, somehow, through draft rights — he said he opted to take a second-round pick from the Mavs (which turned into Cleanthony Early) in lieu of Crowder.
Crowder, now 26, had muddled through two seasons in Dallas, but has emerged as a borderline All-Star under the tutelage of Brad Stevens in Boston. The dreadlocked Marquette product averaged 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals last season.
“I liked Crowder, but I thought he wouldn’t get much of a chance to play behind Carmelo [Anthony],” Jackson said in Rosen’s piece. “I should have taken Crowder.”
As the $60 million man summed it up: “Anyway, for all of us, making mistakes are part of the learning process.”
Jackson concluded by setting a goal of repeating the 15-win improvement from 2014-15 to last season. If they pull that off, with Jeff Hornacek guiding a revamped roster that includes Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee on top of the existing core of Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks would finish 47-35, and surely would make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.