LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni gets a minor assist for Phil Jackson’s arrival last week as Knicks president. If Lakers management had hired Jackson as head coach early last season and not D’Antoni, the Zen Master would have been off the market.
The former Knicks coach knows the pressures of working in New York and doesn’t necessarily think Jackson’s coaching experience will translate into excellence as a president.
“I don’t think one correlates to the other,” D’Antoni told reporters late last week. “I think they’re two completely separate jobs. It’s like turning a great player into a coach. It’s a different job. So you don’t know if they can do it or not. I think that obviously he’s got a good basketball mind, so he’ll approach it a different way and let’s see if it works out. I think there’s a lot of great qualities there, so there’s no reason it doesn’t. But there’s no reason it does.’’
Already rumors are floating D’Antoni will be fired at season’s end as the Lakers, at 23-46, approach their worst record since moving to Los Angeles in 1960. Sources close to Jackson say D’Antoni was put in a rough spot with the fans, who wanted a Zen Master return. D’Antoni still hears “We Want Phil’’ chants. For that reason and others, Jackson isn’t expected to show Tuesday night at Staples, according to sources.
“You follow a great coach like he was and what he meant to the franchise, that’s there,” said D’Antoni, whose Lakers host the Knicks Tuesday night at Staples Center. “So you accept it and you go on. You do your job. He’s never affected my job day-to-day. So it really doesn’t affect what I do or try to do.”
And D’Antoni knows Jackson turning around the moribund Knicks is no given.
“It’s a tall order for anybody at anywhere, anytime,’’ D’Antoni said. “This league is not easy to get on top. And we know in New York, you’re either winning or you’re a failure. So, it will be tough but they got a good man and he’ll do a heck of a job.”