James Dolan says Phil Jackson will have autonomy. (USATSI)
New York Knicks owner James Dolan promised to stay out of the basketball operations side of the business when he hired Phil Jackson as president, and, according to a profile by the New York Times' Scott Caccciola, he is doing just that to this point.
Dolan, speaking from band practice leading up to JD & The Straight Shot's gig opening for the Eagles at Madison Square Garden -- yep, of course this is a real thing -- said that he'd told Jackson he could call him if necessary during free agency, and the call never came. Jackson said that the two didn't speak at all during the month of August.
Dolan cracked open a bank vault to lure Jackson to the Garden, and even then their courtship was protracted. Jackson said the two men talked at length about his need for autonomy.
“My whole test was seeing to what level he would allow me to do what was important,” Jackson said. “If I feel it's important to trade whatever the major stars are on this team, and I come to him and say, ‘This is a necessity, and I expect that you'll agree to it' — he concurred with it. That, for me, was the proving grounds.”
…
For now, Dolan appears to have made good on his promise to let Jackson run the show. One agent whose client was involved in off-season negotiations with the Knicks said he went to Dolan when talks with Jackson stalled — a tried-and-true tactic for agents dealing with the Knicks. The agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said he was politely rebuffed by Dolan, who reminded him that Jackson was in charge.
Relay this to any cynical Knicks fan and you'll hear that the only way we'll know if Dolan is being truthful is whether he maintains this stance if New York starts losing. In the past, Dolan has been unable to display patience or trust in his basketball staff to turn things around. He says it'll be different with Jackson, but the jury is still out.
The feature includes other interesting nuggets of information about Dolan, including that he's "spending less time with the Knicks" because of his band, which recorded a song about the death of Trayvon Martin.
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