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.