Phil Jackson: Knicks ‘worked hard’ for Goran Dragic trade

Flashback to February 2015. With the trade deadline looming, disgruntled Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic wanted out worse than a bat at an Ozzy Osbourne concert. The New York Knicks were supposedly on Dragic’s short list of preferred trade destinations. It would have been a sensible fit too seeing as they had such a Madison Square Garden-sized hole at the point guard position that Langston Galloway was riding shotgun. So why did nothing ever materialize? Well it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of effort on the part of Phil Jackson.

In Part 5 of a multi-part feature on Jackson by Charley Rosen which was published to ESPN on Monday, the Knicks president revealed that the team ‘worked hard’ in an attempt to bring Dragic to The Big Apple.

When asked by Rosen which players he focused on acquiring at last year’s trade deadline, Jackson replied:

Goran Dragic, for one. I heard through the grapevine that he was open to coming here. We worked hard on that possibility, but the asking price was too dear. Maybe we worked on that possibility so much so that it distracted us. I mean, Dragic is every team’s current choice for a nuclear option — a guard who can penetrate and either score or kick. Guys like Chris Paul and James Harden. But, anyway, that’s not really the way I want us to play.

Dragic wound up being traded to the Heat on deadline day, before signing a rich extension to remain in Miami this offseason. Jackson’s “asking price” defense is certainly valid as the Slovenian point guard commanded two future first round draft picks and a heap of rotation players/young talent.

The 29-year-old’s crafty playmaking and elite efficiency in the paint made him the hottest trade commodity in the league last season. But Jackson’s triangle offense is a hindrance for many a free-wheeling point guard as we saw with Emmanuel Mudiay’s concerns. Still, Phil’s “that’s not really the way I want us to play” comment reeks of sour grapes.

Instead, the Knicks were vendors at the deadline, shipping out J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Pablo Prigioni in a massive firesale. Quite pitifully, the only player Jackson was able to land at the deadline was the legendary Alexey Shved. Now they move forward into the 2015-16 season with a point guard rotation of Galloway, an aging Jose Calderon, and the high-upside but unproven Jerian Grant. After whiffing on their hot pursuit of Dragic, it’s difficult to argue that things worked out for the best in the Knicks backcourt.

Tally yet another point for Heat president Pat Riley in his perpetual competition with the Zen Master.