What do you get for $12 million a year?

Phil Jackson, the Zen Master, the most successful coach in NBA history, accepted a job last spring with the New York Knicks as General Manager.  The price tag was $12 million for five years, or $60 million.  $60 million isn’t Kobe Bryant money, but you could pick up a couple of good power forwards and a point guard for that kind of cash.

The good news for the Knicks is that their investment is already paying dividends.  Under Jackson’s leadership, his hand-picked coach, and the vaunted “triangle offense” the Knicks are well on their way to having a good shot at the number one draft pick next year in the 2016 draft.

At 5 wins and 21 losses, the Knicks are one of two NBA teams with a sub-.200 record (the other is the hapless Sixers, who at least have the excuse of trying to stink).  On a pace to win 16 games, 8 less than last year, the Phil Jackson magic has yet to take hold in the Big Apple.

Of course the whole thing was doomed from the beginning.  There are a lot of things team owner James Dolan could have done to improve the team, but bringing in a designated guru wasn't one of them.  The question is how soon will he realize that and stop the bleeding by firing Jackson.

Phil Jackson has always been the most overrated coach in basketball history.  He won six rings in Chicago, not because of his “triangle offense” but because he told everyone, “Okay guys, get the ball to Michael.”  He won three rings in Los Angeles with two Hall of Famers, Shaq and Kobe, in his starting line-up. He picked up two more rings with the Lakers, but he never won a title without having the most talent on the floor (Pat Riley coached the Heat to a championship with Dwayne Wade and a bunch of guys named Fred).

The Knicks have been playing with the “triangle offense” this season, and it obviously isn't the magic formula it has been purported to be.  Jackson and his acolytes have always made the “triangle offense” out to be something only Stephen Hawking could understand, so Jackson had to hire a head coach with no coaching resume but who had played in that system.  Fine, except that apparently Carmelo Anthony is having trouble learning the finer points of the triangle.

Phil Jackson has always risen and fallen with the quality of his team.  When his team consisted of Jordan and Pippen, or Shaq and Kobe, he won.  We his top two players were Kobe and Lamar Odom, or Kobe and Smush Parker, not so much.  That’s the way it is with all coaches or managers; few rarely make THAT much of a difference. Maybe Joe Torre managing all those ego deserves some credit; coach K keeping Duke a perennial powerhouse as well.

But James Dolan thinking that paying Phil Jackson $60 million would turn the Knicks into title contenders was just another sign of how dysfunctional that organization is.  My only question is, how can I persuade Dolan to give me some of that money?