Phil Jackson's Refreshing Mea Culpa

Phil Jackson addressed the media and fans yesterday to admit that the team was badly underperforming and that he was accepting responsibility for that unfortunate reality.  I needed no such explanation.

Years ago, I realized that there is a hard-core cohort of boo-birds who will ruthlessly disparage the Knicks and their management the second their immediate gratifications were unfulfilled.  And on other forums I've had personal correspondences with some of them.  They tend to fall into the category of opportunists, profiteers, and beleaguered true believers.

Opportunists buy ticket packages which can be split to scalp a few that pay for the package granting the opportunist a free ride into the games of choice.

Profiteers buy one or more season tickets with the sole intent of profiting.  Sometimes this may even be an informal syndicate of individuals who buy blocks of tickets.

The true believers bleed blue and gold and want to win no matter what.

And tickets at MSG are not cheap.

All three of these groups have long dictated the way the Knicks managed their team.  That is a system of selling entertainment based on "stars".  A friend of mine calls it the Star-Phuck system when a terrible movie is released featuring a well known star playing a lead character who is no different from the well-known star's own persona.

For well over two decades the knee-jerk reaction to a team disappointment was to trade for a Star-Phuck player - any well-known, available start or former star will do.  That patch is guaranteed to keep ticket prices high and scalping profitable.  Of course it never helped the Knicks actually win anything but the minute the howls went up in the media and amongst the fans, the trade lines heated up.

A nasty consequence of this predictable behavior was that CBA agreements were crafted to cash in on New York's spending habits - luxury tax it's called but it is little more than fiscal extortion for dubious talent exchanges.  As time went on, high-profit, big city teams were further removed from any avenue of correcting poor team performance by denying young draft opportunities to these teams.  The lottery as exercised these days is little more than a sophisticated money-laundering scheme.

Big city teams can ill afford not to win basketball games.  This is why the Knicks under Phil Jackson seem like such a radical departure from the Star-Phuck formula.  Jackson was obligated to sign Carmelo Anthony last summer but one cannot help but sense an ambivalence in doing so.  Yet Jackson fully understood the necessity for a marquee player whose well publicized salary is the make-believe justification in NBA vernacular to charge high ticket prices.

Look! We have a "star" - cha-ching!

Star in hand, Phil Jackson underestimated the bad karma that had finally reached critical mass when he took over.  He reasonably expected a team continuity that could win just enough games to make the playoffs.

We know that hasn't happened much to our and Phil's disappointment.  He need not apologize to the fellow KnickMeccans here.  However, the same loud, self-serving cohorts who for decades have managed to influence Knicks management that yet one more star can save the season are finally being ignored.  This year's Knicks team will not be concerned with losing games but instead concentrate on learning how to play selfless team ball and how to win that way.

In New York that fact is never a foregone conclusion until now.  I'm grateful Jim Dolan is not interfering with this turn of events.  We are finally changing direction.