Jerry West said what a lot of Knicks fans probably are thinking these days: If Phil Jackson wants to become a leader in the Knicks’ front office, he needs to be serious about it and not treat it like a hobby.
“I think if he has the wherewithal to understand that these jobs are difficult, that they’re frustrating and he’s not going to be able to coach the players unless he wants to, I’m sure he could do a great job,” West told The Post during a telephone interview Monday night.
West, the Lakers legend who is now a consultant with Golden State, was meeting with Warriors ticket-holders Monday night some 3,000 miles from where the Knicks were en route to a 123-110 victory over the woeful Sixers at the Garden.
Despite the distance, word has traveled that Jackson is close to accepting a front-office position with the Knicks. West signed Jackson to be the Lakers head coach in 1999 and worked with him before joining the Memphis Grizzlies in 2002.
West has done it all in the NBA. He’s starred as a player for the Lakers, coached the Lakers, and was the architect of four championship teams as a general manager in Los Angeles. He also built the Grizzlies franchise after it moved to Memphis. Now he consults for the Warriors. While West has been a success at all levels, nothing is guaranteed when coaches become general managers.
“I really don’t know,” West said when asked if he thought Jackson could make a smooth transition to the front office. “Coaching and being an executive are different things. But he has a lot to draw on in terms of experience with players, how to organize teams and how to put them together.”
West won titles by getting Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal on the same team. Jackson, who had a guy named Michael Jordan playing for him in Chicago, should understand what it will take to make the Knicks a winner again.
“The biggest thing to learn is that you’re going to need a lot of really good players,” West said. “But you can’t overspend for players who are not worthy of it. You have to learn how to manage your money. When you’re a coach you’re so concerned about working with the players that ownership provided for you, you don’t think of anything else. Regardless of where you are, you just can’t go out and just get any player you want. It doesn’t work that way.”
In the midst of all the talk about Jackson, Knicks coach Mike Woodson is working with blinders on, trying to keep his players focused on their desperate quest to make the playoffs. Everyone else can talk about Jackson. He’d rather focus on Wednesday’s game at Boston after handing the Sixers their 17th straight loss.
“I’ve just got to worry about what I’m doing from a coaching standpoint in terms of what I’m doing to get our guys ready to play,” Woodson said after being asked for the umpteenth time about Jackson. “It’s out there. It’s what it is. But my focus is really on our team.”
Nonetheless, talk of Jackson’s hiring hovered over the Garden on Monday night despite the Knicks’ fourth straight win. It kept alive their hopes of making the playoffs, though the courting of Jackson makes it certain owner James Dolan is looking to make major changes in the organization.
Hiring Jackson “would probably add a lot of excitement to a season that probably hasn’t been what they expected,” West said.
He added Jackson’s presence might also help the Knicks attract quality free agents.
“With his name associated with [the Knicks], it’s going to bring a lot more cache than it has today and that’s not to demean the people that are there,” West said.
The Knicks need all the cache they can get.