NBA

Willis Reed: Knicks ‘won the lottery’ with Phil Jackson hire

Willis Reed heard the phone ring. And ring. And ring some more. Inquiring minds wanted to know his take on the Knicks’ pursuit of Phil Jackson for the front office. So they called. And called. Reed ignored them all in his Louisiana home.

“I’m not a betting man,” the Knicks legendary and Hall of Fame center said Saturday, “but I would not have bet on it. I just didn’t believe we were going to get him. I never thought it was going to happen. I just thought somehow, someway, through his relationships with the Lakers and with Jeanie [Buss] that Phil Jackson would end up in the Lakers organization.

“I just think for us, the Knicks, we won the lottery.”

Don’t want to mention “lottery” around the current Knicks, who on Sunday against the Cavaliers go for their ninth straight victory as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive. The playoffs are the goal for the obvious reason, but the subtle undercurrent is a reminder a postseason bid would squash the possible nightmare of handing over a lottery win to the Nuggets.

With Jackson as team president, Reed is convinced only good times and playoff appearances await. Credit the style, the system Jackson has employed in going where no man has gone before — to the championship podium 11 times as a coach.

Reed saw all the necessary ingredients as a teammate of Jackson’s for seven Knicks seasons, two resulting in titles, one of which Jackson spent recuperating from back surgery.

“One thing impressed me about Phil,” Reed said. “In the game of basketball, sometimes guys who come off the bench, you don’t even remember that they came into the game, but I thought that Phil always had an impact on the game.

“He was never a big scorer in the NBA — he was a big college scorer and a lot of people don’t realize that — but he helped us win a lot of games because of his ability to play defense and contribute.”

So those contributions — which might have been a defensive stop, or a rebound or a screen or simply whatever it took whenever it was needed — set Jackson apart.

“It made him a great teammate, and that’s how he grew to be the Phil Jackson of today,” Reed said, “that growing process of coming off the bench, spending time when he was hurt with Red [Holzman, Knicks coach] and helping him out then going on to coach in the CBA.

“He had great insight and learning about how Red put a team together of guys playing together making a contribution. No one person had to do it all.”

There have been times this season when it appears Carmelo Anthony has had to do it all for the Knicks. It won’t be that way under Jackson, whom Reed thinks will embrace Anthony, utilize his vast array of gifts — and make him better.

“Carmelo is a great player,” Reed said. “I was really impressed when I saw him play in the Olympics and the way he came off the bench and passed the ball. Even now, I see him make a phenomenal pass. The system will be how they play consistently, every night. Carmelo will be a part of that.

“I heard Phil say he thinks Carmelo can play at another level,” Reed said. “He can see him doing other things because he as the ability to do it. It may not be averaging 30 points. It may be averaging 24. What players want is to win. And winning is not something one person can do. It’s everybody in it together, and that’s where Phil will be very good.”

Reed said Jackson always was a glass half-full, never half-empty guy. He looks at the 12th man but never says what he can’t do. Rather, Jackson seeks out and finds a skill, a talent, however minute, and discerns a way to put it to use.

“He make guys better players at the level of being a team,” Reed said.

Reed laughs — and firmly disagrees — with one perception of Jackson’s titles: Anybody could have won with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen or Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

“Totally disagree,” Reed said, “because there were nights they won with Michael scoring 30, but there were night they won because somebody else scored two. It is very tough to take those egos and get them to a concept where they understand, ‘We need all 12 of you guys.’ Phil does that.”

Reed points to Red Auerbach and to a more contemporary Pat Riley as coaches who went from bench to front office and collective title rings. He thinks Jackson will be the next.

“The Knicks have to go to a place where Phil has already been with the Bulls and Lakers,” Reed said. “It’s still basketball, and I really believe he’s going to be the man to get it done.”

And Reed is so certain, he will even talk about it now.