Knicks, Phil Jackson part ways after dismal 3-year run in NY
NEW YORK — Phil Jackson wanted to trade Carmelo Anthony and wouldn’t rule out dealing Kristaps Porzingis.
Turns out, Jackson is the one leaving.
Jackson is out as New York Knicks president after he oversaw one of the worst eras in team history, with the team saying in a statement Wednesday that they had “mutually agreed to part company.”
Days after Jackson reiterated his desire to move Anthony and said he would listen to deals for Porzingis, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan reversed course and cut ties with Jackson with two years remaining on his contract.
“After careful thought and consideration, we mutually agreed that the Knicks will be going in a different direction,” Dolan said.
“Phil Jackson is one of the most celebrated and successful individuals in the history of the NBA. His legacy in the game of basketball is unmatched.”
But his work as a firsttime executive was awful. The winner of an NBA-record 11 championships as coach, Jackson couldn’t engineer one playoff berth while
Phil Jackson oversaw one of the worst eras in the history of the New York Knicks with the team going 80-166.
running the Knicks. The team was 80-166 in his three full seasons, including a franchise-worst 17-65 in 2014-15.
His departure was quickly welcomed by Knicks fans such as film director Spike Lee, who posted a picture of himself on Instagram in a celebratory pose after it was first reported by The Vertical.
The move comes less than a week after Jackson led the Knicks through the NBA draft and on the eve of free agency that opens Saturday.
Dolan said he would not be involved in the operation of the team, adding that general manager Steve Mills would run the day-to-day business in the short term and that former Toronto executive File / The Associated Press
Tim Leiweke would advise him and help develop a plan going forward.
Jackson was a Hall of Fame coach with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, delivering titles with some of the game’s biggest stars like Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He also played for the Knicks when they won NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.
He was welcomed back to the organization with a $60 million contract to huge fanfare in March 2014, but it soon became clear the transition would be a poor one.
His first coaching hire, Derek Fisher, lasted just 1½ seasons, and Jackson’s trades and free agency moves also failed to improve the club along the way.
INDIANAPOLIS — Lilly King toned down the trash talk for one night.
She’s still got three more weeks to come up with some new lines to throw at her Russian rival.
The brash Olympic gold medalist set up a potential world championship rematch with Yulia Efimova by winning the 200-meter breaststroke Wednesday night at the U.S. National Championships. King’s winning time of 2 minutes, 21.83 seconds, was a personal best and the second-fastest race in the world this year — behind, yes, Efimova, who finished in 2:19.83 two weeks ago.
“I love racing, I’m just focused on me right now,” King said with a big grin when asked about facing Efimova again. “I love racing fast people. I love racing.”
During last summer’s Olympics, King turned heads in the usually genteel swimming world by calling Efimova a drug cheat. Efimova had been banned twice previously for doping.
But Indiana University’s star swimmer backed up her bold talk by claiming gold in the 100 breast and forcing Efimova to settle for silver. The anticipated rematch in the 200 breast never materialized because King didn’t qualify for the finals.
The two haven’t squared off in a pool since then, though, King refused to back down from her previous comments while being repeatedly questioned about it over the past 11 months. It’s also clear King isn’t content with just getting one more shot to beat up on Efimova in Budapest, Hungary, next month.
She also wants to avenge her 12th-place Olympic finish in the 200, too.
“It’s embarrassing not being able to represent your country in the final, especially when you’re an American,” she said. “That’s what we come to do.”
Getting back hasn’t been easy.
Six times since December, King swam the 200 in the 2:24 range. The breakthrough finally came in a familiar pool, where King swam in high school and college and when she actually saw the time on the scoreboard, a fiercelooking King slapped the water and pumped her fist before hugging second-place finisher Bethany Galat.
King will get another shot to make the team in her signature event, the 100 breast, on Friday.
She wasn’t the only Olympian living up to the hype on the second night of nationals.
Stanford’s Katie Ledecky won for the second time in two nights, this time with a 1:54.84 in the 200 freestyle. Olympic teammate Leah Smith finished second, again, almost two seconds behind her old nemesis.
Winners of each event qualify for the world team. The runner-ups are likely to be chosen but must wait for the selection process to be completed before officially finding out their fate. Ledecky won the 800 free on Tuesday, a win that also means she’s qualified in the 1,500.
Admittedly, Ledecky isn’t even at her best.
She acknowledged Tuesday that she hasn’t tapered for this meet and said Wednesday she felt sluggish in the morning warmups. For America’s best women’s swimmer, it didn’t matter.
“I was really happy with that (time), it felt good,” said Ledecky, who won’t race Thursday. sure