In a move that was a long time coming, James Dolan decided to pull the plug on his embattled team president on Wednesday morning.
Phil Jackson was supposed to bring respectability, winning, and a direction to Madison Square Garden, but instead he brought the opposite — chaos, losing, and embarrassment.
With Jackson gone, the chances of Kristaps Porzingis signing a max extension with the team when he becomes eligible has become exponentially better. Putting everything else aside, this fact alone makes Jackson’s departure a good thing for the franchise. Porzingis was the biggest thing Jackson got right during his tenure with the Knicks, but the NBA legend’s ego and stubbornness was going to potentially erase it.