The New York Knicks are out of the playoffs but they are not out of the rumor mill.
While nothing on the court seems newsworthy, the front office is probably the most scrutinized in all of basketball.
Phil Jackson, the coaching luminary tasked with turning the team around reportedly wants out of the team, presumably to return to the West coast in Los Angeles. This was the claim made by Michael Grange of Sportsnet.
"A little nosing around NBA circles adds some important elements of subtext," claimed Grange. "One is that Jackson badly wants out of New York, preferring to return back to Los Angeles to be near his fiancée, Lakers scion Jeanie Buss. Jackson is believed to have an out in his Knicks deal that could free him up to do just that at the end of next season unless things between him and Dolan become untenable before that. It's believed that as soon as Jeanie's brother Jim Buss - blamed for the Lakers current free fall - is somehow removed from the scene, Jackson will be back as soon as he can engineer it."
Recently, Jackson has been under heavy criticism for his insistence in implementing the triangle and for only considering coaches that served under him. That would not have been a bad thing except that his best protégé declined his offer and instead built a juggernaut with the Golden State Warriors. The rest of Jackson's crew has not done so well despite-Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis come to mind.
Rambis is reportedly Jackson's choice to take on the job, taking away his "interim" status and this is what irks New York Knicks' fans. The perception is that there are a lot of better options if only Jackson would not stand firm on the triangle.
Perhaps the biggest name that the fans want to see is a proven disciplinarian and a winner who could drive his team to the playoffs despite being nagged by injuries all season long-Tom Thibodeau, who used to coach the Chicago Bulls.
The implosion of the Bulls in their first season without Thibs strengthens the argument for him all the more. As Frank Isola of the NY Daily News opined, Jackson must set his ego aside.
Suggesting that Jackson should attend the last game of his ward, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, Isola had this scenario.
"Phil needs to put his ego and the triangle aside for a moment and really investigate what it would mean to have the best available coach running the Knicks next season. Bryant will tell you how much Thibodeau meant in his development. He'll also remind you of the defense Thibodeau designed to stop Bryant and the Lakers back in 2008 when the Celtics won the NBA title."
As Isola points out, hiring the best coach available would be his legacy if he does exercise his opt-out clause and move to LA. Re-signing their superstar and drafting the player of their future and recruiting Thibs, triangle be damned, would show that Jackson has done everything humanly possible to pull the Knicks out of the rut.