Phil Jackson is trying to make things right with the New York Knicks fan base after he admitted that his first year with the franchise has not exactly gone well. The Knicks are currently sitting at the very bottom of the league with the worst record and are showing no signs of improvement. Jackson admitted that it was a personnel issue, something he intends to fix in the upcoming offseason. With Kevin Durant staying put in Oklahoma City, where will Jackson be looking in free agency?
According to ESPN's Ian Begley, Jackson is admitting his faults and simply pleading with the Knicks' fans to just be patient and that next year will be an improvement thanks to additional cap space that will allow the team to be more flexible with moves.
"While I know this has been a challenging season for our team on the court, I can also tell you that everyone in the organization is working tirelessly to get our Knicks back to a place where we are once again competing at the highest level," Jackson said in a released statement via ESPN.com. "We have made key roster moves to free up significant cap space that will provide us greater flexibility to acquire talent in this summer's free agency. And for the first time in many years, we expect to have a top pick in the NBA Draft this June. These are key steps to building a roster of players that have both the talent and character to win in New York and who, alongside Carmelo Anthony, will become a team that can become a consistent winner."
According to the New York Post, the Knicks are eyeing many trades, but rather prefer to make deals for high profiled players on the open market. That could leave out Russell Westbrook who might seek a move in the offseason as he enters the final year of his contract. However, it does include players like Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, Greg Monroe and LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Knicks will make certain positions a priority. Jose Calderon can expect to be traded, but Andrea Bargnani could return thanks to his success late in the season. Langston Galloway could see the same result. The Knicks have some solid players on the team already, but are in need of a few more super stars if they are going to change things around.