Winning six championship rings together apparently isn’t enough for Scottie Pippen to give his former head coach a pass.
In an appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump” Thursday, Pippen placed the blame for the New York Knicks’ struggles squarely on the shoulders of president Phil Jackson, who coached him for nine seasons on the Chicago Bulls.
“I just think he hasn’t put the right pieces on the floor,” said the seven-time All-Star of Jackson. “I give a lot of credit to Carmelo [Anthony], who has been very professional in getting through this 82-game season, and now he’s being benched to some degree, they’ve taken a lot of his minutes away.
“This team really just hasn’t had it,” Pippen continued about the Knicks. “They haven’t had it since Phil Jackson landed. There has not been any upside to think that the New York Knicks were gonna be a contender, and I just feel bad for Carmelo having to go through this and having to deal with this.”
The fractured relationship between Jackson and Anthony has indeed been a dark cloud hanging over the 28-47 Knicks this season. The team is just 77-162 (.322) in the three seasons since Jackson was hired, and even the one home run he hit in drafting Kristaps Porzingis has been outweighed by questionable free agent signings (four years and $72.5 million for a 32-year-old Joakim Noah, anyone?) and his inexplicable commitment to the triangle offense. Pippen may have an axe to grind with Jackson as he appeared to be interested in an assistant coaching job with the Knicks in the recent past, but he nonetheless brings up a lot of valid points here.
