Phil Jackson was a beloved coach with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, however, his time with the New York Knicks is not remembered fondly. As an executive with the team, Jackson rubbed many people the wrong way and the franchise never saw any real success. Eventually, Jackson was let go and he hasn’t worked with an NBA team, since.
Recently, Jackson was on “The Curious Leader” podcast where he spoke about his experience and just how unpleasant it was. Jackson mainly blames the media for his failures, claiming that reporters wanted the Knicks to be bad and that it all eventually bled into the team. From there, Jackson even compared his experiences to those of Donald Trump.
“One, you had a media that was decidedly against the organization, and they were looking for whatever they can do to throw aspersions on the organization,” Jackson said. […] “And I kind of understand what Trump had to live with probably for his first three-and-a-half years of office with media in just the very short term of being in that seat with the Knicks.”
If you’re a Knicks fan, these comments aren’t going to be very popular, especially when you consider how things ended between Jackson and the franchise. There is no real excuse for his failures, and comparing himself to Trump comes across disingenuous.
