The chaotic first day of NBA free agency has proven that teams are willing to spend more money than ever with the enormous impending salary cap increase in the 2016-17 season. Kyle Singler received a contract of five years worth $25 million today from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Singler’s career averages of 8.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.1 APG are all mediocre; as is his 42 percent FG percentage. If a player of this caliber is getting a $25 million contract, is there a chance that any team will act rationally in all of this? If any one can stay the course amidst all of this it is the Zen Master.

The Legendary Phil Jackson was introduced as President of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks on March 18, 2015. With his $60 million contract came typical enormous New York expectations that have only gotten steeper despite his historically awful rookie season as an executive. The Knicks finished 17-65 and got the fourth pick in the draft choosing Latvian project Kristaps Porzingis. The pick showed guts and commitment. Porzingis is two years away from being a serious contributor to any team and Jackson stuck to his goal of rebuilding the Knicks through his patented triangle offense. The triangle is based entirely on spacing, constant movement, reading the defense to be able to make the right pass. Basically, players are always moving and the flow is determined by the defense. The team needs to be on the same page and even the bigs need to be able to pass. Especially the bigs. Phil thinks Porzingis will be perfect in it. He is sticking to his vision for his team. That vision revolves around the triangle.

Marc Gasol was always a pipe dream. Jackson is smart enough to know that. LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan too. Greg Monroe makes the most sense for Jackson of anyone in this pool of talent. He is a legitimate low post scoring threat with both hands and he is an excellent passer. Not to mention he shares an agent with Michael Jordan, someone Jackson is pretty familiar with. Monroe will command max money, roughly $15 million per year, which should leave the Knicks with about $11 or $12 million left to spend on one or two more pieces. To the Knicks and Jackson, Monroe will be worth it. The remaining money should be enough to land Arron Afflalo.

The Knicks were dead last in PPG last year with 91.9, 27th in opponent’s FG% and 15th in 3-point FG%. Afflalo addresses all of those desperate needs. He shoots 39 percent from 3-point range for his career, while being a great perimeter defender, and in his years with the Orlando Magic, he showed he can step up and be a legitimate scoring threat when needed. He would be a welcome veteran addition to a team in desperate need of a leader. Most importantly, his game meshes well with Monroe’s as a spot up shooter and he won’t get in Carmelo Anthony’s way because he doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective. It all seems to add up perfectly. All that’s left is for Phil to close the deal.

This is why he was brought to New York. Not to run the day-to-day operations of an ordinary professional basketball executive, because he is not an ordinary man. He was brought to New York to close free agents. Time to make your money, Zen Master.