If you’re like me, you’ve been wondering what Phil Jackson‘s plans are to improve the New York Knicks in the future. He entered the 2015 offseason with a lot of money to spend, but wasn’t able to get any of the top-tier free agents to take it, so Jackson ended up giving it to role players — including Derrick Williams, Kyle O’Quinn, Arron Afflalo and Robin Lopez.
While the Knicks did show promise early in the year, things have fallen apart recently, which led to the recent firing of head coach Derek Fisher. Jackson has since announced that Kurt Rambis will be the interim head coach, but the Hall of Fame coach apparently has other ideas up his sleeve.
According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Jackson is attempting to hire an All-Star coaching staff in order to entice Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook to join the Knicks in the summer of 2017.
“The Knicks have a real chance to sell Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook in 2017—New York and (forward Kristaps) Porzingis have his attention, yes—and (team president Phil) Jackson ought to start constructing an elite coaching staff to begin that process with Westbrook and with free agents beyond him.”
This is interesting considering the Knicks were rumored to have interest in Kevin Durant this coming offseason, but that talk has died down a bit as it seems he prefers other options.
Adding Westbrook would certainly be a brilliant move for the Knicks, but it seems awfully dangerous to sell out for one guy. If he were to choose to stay with the Thunder, or even pick another team, Jackson would be up the river without a paddle.
