Remembering Phil Jackson In a Better Light

The Bulls and the Lakers had the fortune of having Phil Jackson lead them through multiple title reigns. The Knicks, however, had Jackson as both a player and a president. While he did achieve success playing, his tenure as a president was one marred with one bad decision after another, with his recruitment of Kristaps Porzingis being the only bright spot for many Knicks fans.

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  However, Jackson isn’t a conventional person to say the least. Let’s take a look at some of his quirks so that we may remember him in a more positive light, shall we?

• Jackson had unorthodox methods of motivating his teams. One of the more popular ones was letting them watch “Braveheart”, the inspirational Mel Gibson classic before the season began.

• Jackson is often associated with the potent “Triangle Offense”, one of the most effective in-game systems in basketball. However, it was his assistant coach, Tex Winter who came up and implemented the system.

• It’s widely documented that Jackson draws a lot of inspiration from the book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig.

• And before Knicks fan hate on him for being a relatively lousy president, he did help bring two championships to the Knicks as a player. That, coupled with his 11 rings as a coach, gives him 13 rings all-in-all. Jackson has the most NBA rings of any person in history.

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Hello, my name is Peter Max, and I’m a sports management student focusing on sports marketing. Born and raised in New York, I moved to California to pursue my passion for sports. For similar reads, visit this blog.

Peter Max: Joakim Noah Doesn’t Really Fit Anywhere…

The New York Knicks are starting off strong, but this begs the question: Where does Joakim Noah fit in all of this? According to rising sports blogger and analyst Peter Max, the Knicks need to find the answer to this question -- and find it fast.

Max, who is currently studying sports marketing while in college in California, is from New York, where the Knicks is one of his favorite sports teams. According to Max, Noah clearly had a poor 2016-2017 season, so now it’s time for damage control.

Noah was initially welcomed on a $72 million contract for four years last summer, at which time the Knicks expected him to lead a reviving Knicks defense. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Now, the Knicks need to figure out a way for the basketball player to contribute once he returns from his suspension (his violation of the NBA drug policy led to his 20-game suspension). And it’s not just enough to find a role for him: They need to find the right one. Otherwise, it will be as though he essentially stole millions from the team.

Basketball fans on Facebook and other social media said they hoped he would bring to the Big Apple the fiery passion and intensity that Chicago fans loved so much. Unfortunately, he let many New York fans down, says Max’s daughter and dad, who are both also Knicks fans.

Last season, the New York team ranked a pathetic 23rd in points per game. Although this is not completely Noah’s fault, he was still slow when trying to defend the high pick and roll. Agents and the media alike agree that Noah, who proved to be an outstanding artist in the Windy City, for some reason could not keep pace with the fast men in today’s basketball game in the Big Apple. So now the Knicks are left scratching their heads over this defensive and offensive liability. Only time will tell whether he will finally find his place and make that $72 million spent on him worth it.

Collector’s Guide: Most Prized Babe Ruth Collectibles

Every serious sports collector is always on the lookout for prized collectibles.  Some even spend years going after their very own Holy Grail.  The bigger and the older the sport, the more sports memorabilia can be collected.  However, only a handful are truly worth collecting.  


In baseball, collectors know that there’s one name that stands out from the rest – Babe Ruth.  While many other baseball legends have prized memorabilia, if a collector were to get their hands on one of Ruth’s, that would be truly special.  After all, Ruth is a legend among legends, and the baseball gods know it.

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There are two contracts in existence – one that Ruth signed when he joined the Boston Red Sox, and the other when he was taken in by the New York Yankees.  Both contracts are valued at around $1 million.  The Red Sox contract is a bit pricier because it’s older.


Ruth also owned watches.  The most expensive ones aren’t the timepieces he bought, but the timepieces that were given to him.  The 1923 Yankees World Championship edition was auctioned for over $700,000, while the gold pocket watch given to him during his farewell game in Yankee Stadium fetched for $650,000.

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However, the most valuable of all these collectibles is his 1920 NY Yankees jersey that was almost worth $4.5 million.  That piece of clothing is said to be the memorabilia of memorabilia.

My name is Peter Max, and I’m a sports management student with dreams of being a known agent to star athletes. I’m from New York and a big fan of the teams of the city. Learn more about New York teams here.

Is the Lonzo Ball hype turning out to be a dud?

The hype initially driven by Lonzo’s dad Lavar Ball—from wild antics on national TV to creating his own expensive sneaker brand—has not gone unnoticed by the basketball media and fans. But while the attention is laudable from a business perspective, it’s ultimately about how the first of the Ball brothers will do in the professional league. 

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Lonzo did well during the pre-season games and the summer league, taking the MVP trophy and wowing the crowd with crisp, Jason Kidd-reminiscent passes and playmaking. But he has been erratic at best since the season started, turning in stellar stats in one game and shooting bricks in others. Everyone in the sport is quick to pounce on his misgivings, the given consequence of the hype. 

The buildup has not been lost of NBA players, too. Most of them have publicly declared that the young Lakers player will not have things handed to him on a silver platter. On opening night, Patrick Beverley of the Clippers harassed and shackled Lonzo on the defensive end, leading to an anemic 1-6 shooting for the second overall draft pick. 

As of this writing, Ball’s accumulated stats are not pretty. He is 34.4% in the paint and 25% outside, the worst and second worst in the league, respectively. But to be fair with the rookie, he is currently fourth in the NBA with 2.2 assists per game and has a solid 1.1 steals average. All in all, though, Lonzo Ball has to work on his atrocious shooting if he’s to live up to the hype and bring the Lakers back to the map. Entertainment value can only do so much for a team. 

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Hello, Peter Max here. I’m currently based in California, but I was born and raised in New York. I’m working my way into becoming an agent to star athletes. For more features on the NBA, follow me on Twitter.

Knicks commit to rebuilding for 2017-18 season

If there’s one sure thing the Carmelo Anthony trade has shown, it’s that the Knicks are ready to bank on a younger roster moving forward. It’s highly unlikely that the upcoming season will lead to more Knicks wins, with their star scorer gone. But the move is a great indicator that the team is keen on rebuilding. 

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For one, this trade will unfetter Porzingis, who has played second fiddle to Anthony since he got to New York. The talented 22-year-old power forward should now bear the brunt of the offensive load. And given his unselfish, pass-aware play, this should let other young players to gain confidence on the offensive end. 

The new-look team just got McDermott and Canter, who’d probably take some time to buy into the system. But with only four players in the current roster in their 30s (Noah, Sessions, Lee, and Jack), the Knicks is likely going for a faster, run-and-gun offense. The triangle system employed by former president Phil Jackson is outdated in current NBA play, and it’s about time the Knicks accepted the need for change. 

On paper, the New York Knicks is not much to look at. Rookie Frank Ntilikina is a work in progress; Hardaway Jr. is, well, overpaid and still to prove that he can be as good as his dad; and millions of the team’s fans will have to sit and wait a few more seasons. But, who knows, this rebuilding, probably tanking team might just get somebody like Luka Doncic next draft. And that will surely catapult the team to the next level. 

Image source: dailyknicks.com

Hello, my name’s Peter Max and I’m a New Yorker currently studying sports management in California. I’m also a sports blogger. For more on my sports writings, visit this website.