The New York Knicks have not developed into the powerhouse Phil Jackson anticipated when he took over as team president two years ago, but he recently admitted that’s partially his fault.
In a Friday column penned by Charley Rosen for Today’s Fastbreak, Jackson says his biggest blunder since arriving in The Big Apple was passing up the opportunity to acquire Jae Crowder from the Dallas Mavericks in 2014.
“I think the biggest mistake I made was actually this…One of the first deals I engineered when I came back to New York was to trade Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas for Shane Larkin, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert, plus a second-round pick that the Mavs owed to the Celtics,” Jackson said as told by Rosen. “In talking with Boston, I was given the option of taking that pick or else taking Jae Crowder. I liked Crowder but I thought he wouldn’t get much of a chance to play behind Carmelo, so I took the pick which turned out to be Cleanthony Early.”
Crowder, who ultimately landed with the Boston Celtics as part of a Rajon Rondo trade, had a breakout year in 2015, starting 73 games and averaging 14.2 points per night en route to an unlikely playoff berth.
Meanwhile, Cleanthony Early, who is the sole remaining holdover from that 2014 trade, has averaged just 4.3 points per night in 56 games played over two seasons.
“While Cleanthony has missed lots of time in the past two seasons with us, he still has the potential to be a valuable player,” Jackson added. “Even so, I should have taken Crowder.”
Early, who overcame a gunshot wound to the knee last December, will undoubtedly feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy when this eventually gets back to him.
