New York Knicks president Phil Jackson speaks during a news conference before an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, in New York. AP
The “Zen Master” has spoken and he wants a field goal worth four points.
In an interview with Charley Rosen of Today’s Fastbreak, Phil Jackson expressed some surprising notions on how to improve the league, starting with a proposed four-point basket.
“Why not have a 4-point line about 35 feet out?” the New York Knicks President was quoted in an interview published last Friday (Saturday in Manila). “It wouldn’t be long before players will get reasonably comfortable shooting from out there. And having a 4-point line would certainly serve to enable teams to catch up in what are now blowout games.”
Jackson’s squad finished 29th and 26th in offensive efficiency for the past two seasons, while relying solely on his patented triangle offense, which focuses on floor spacing and ball movement.
“The spacing has changed dramatically,” the 70-year-old executive added. “So the triangle can still be a part of that, but it has to adapt.”
Ironically, his Knicks also finished 20th in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season, and did not exactly improve their long-range shooting with the off-season additions of former Chicago Bulls players, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.
Apart from the 4-point basket, Jackson implied that he would like to see six seconds added to the league’s 24-second shot clock, parallel to the rules of collegiate basketball.
“This would give offenses more time to get low-post players involved, make defenses work harder, and encourage more passing and player movement,” he explained.
Since Jackson’s appointment as team President in 2014, the Knicks have played one of the slowest offenses in the entire league, while the rest of the teams employed a fast-phased and more exciting approach.
Much like his glory teams of the past, Jackson continued to focus on the post while others relied on the perimeter, and ranked in the bottom five in assist rate despite throwing more passes than nearly every team.
The 11-time NBA champion coach acknowledges that the age of “small-ball” and “3-ball” is the norm right now, but he anticipates that the big-man bully-ball play style of the ’90s and early 2000s will re-emerge soon enough.
“The pendulum will swing back when big men make a habit of crushing smaller defenders,” he said.
Jackson, however, insisted that he has no fundamental objection to small-ball.
“I’m certainly not against it,” he said. “In fact, I’m not against anything.” Khristian Ibarrola/rga