NEW YORK — One by one, Phil Jackson summoned his new charges to his office last April, and one by one, he asked this bedraggled assortment of professional basketball players to assess themselves.
Jackson had held the title of Knicks president for just five weeks before the 2013-14 season reached its merciful end, and so many questions lingered.
Who should stay? Who should go? Are there any worthy pieces here? Beyond Carmelo Anthony, is there a single vital cog?
As the Knicks passed through their exit interviews, Jackson quizzed them all: Who is our second-best player? Who consistently brings it, night after night? Who can we rely on?
What Jackson got in return, according to sources, was the equivalent of a team-wide shrug. There was no consensus among the players, no clear No. 2 in the Knicks locker room.
Not Tyson Chandler, the former Defensive Player of the Year, whose spirit had slumped.Not Amar'e Stoudemire, the onetime franchise savior, whose body had failed him.
Not J.R. Smith, the mercurial sixth man.Not Iman Shumpert, the bouncy young wing.Blank stares, shrugs, pursed lips. A chorus of ambivalence. Nothing to see here, nothing to salvage.
An agenda for tearing the roster down to the studs—or, really, to a single stud, Anthony—took shape sometime thereafter.
Jackson has utilized many tools in his storied career—books, incense, drums, yoga, Zen meditation—but fixing the Knicks required a blunter instrument: a wrecking ball.
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2321599-in-one-overdue-trade-phil-jackson-sets-knicks-on-course-correction-long-needed
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