SAN FRANCISCO — When Steve Mills became Knicks president four days before training camp, he vowed to make every road trip, attend every practice, listen in on every coach’s meeting. Coach Mike Woodson welcomed it.
Phil Jackson is no Steve Mills.
I’m sure we will read in Jackson’s next leadership book on the Zen Buddhist teachings on why he decided to mostly stay away from the team in the first two weeks of his new job as Knicks team president
As the leader-less Knicks embarked on the Bay Area to face Golden State on Sunday with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, Jackson was down the coast in La-La land.
The Zen Master blew off the rest of the five-game West Coast trip after the Knicks opened with their embarrassing 127-96 loss to the Lakers. The club will finish off in Utah on Monday.
The Knicks will face coach Mark Jackson’s Warriors in Oakland, where the native New Yorker is rumored to be on the way out with no contract-extension talks in the works and a recent feud with assistant coach Brian Scalabrine.
Mark Jackson could be available in the offseason to set up a Jackson & Jackson tandem. But it says here the egos are too grand for the two ex-Knick players to make something work. Phil may want to mold his own coach such as Steve Kerr. Either way, Phil won’t be at Oracle Arena to take the temperature of the Oakland controversy.
There will be no consorting with players or coaching staff imparting his wisdom during these desperate times. No schmoozing with opposing team’s front-office personnel or agents that he needs to get to know.
No lecture to the players on Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path he has used with the Bulls and Lakers as a refresher course to selfless basketball. He will save it all for next season’s team, his team.
With nine games to play, the Knicks trail the fading Hawks by 1¹/₂ games. Atlanta lost 101-97 to the Wizards Saturday night.
“There’s no more talking,’’ Carmelo Anthony said, not worried about Phil’s whereabouts. “We got to go out and play ball. Either we want it or don’t.’’
The Knicks didn’t seem to want it in Phoenix on Friday when potential 2015 signee Goran Dragic destroyed them.
“I just keep hearing [Atlanta] keeps losing,’’ Anthony added. “As long as they keep losing, we got to keep winning. But we can’t control what they do. We only can control what we do and we didn’t [Friday].’’
Jackson was spotted the other night leaving a posh Los Angeles restaurant with his fiancée, Lakers president Jeanie Buss.
“I’m happy he’s found something he really wants to do,’’ Jeanie told the cameras.
Jackson was asked if there’s any chance taking over the bench.
“Can’t do it,’’ Jackson said. “Part of my physical [in]capabilities.’’
Jackson is expected to need another knee replacement surgery. But his health seems a curious excuse for him to be absent now.
“I will be accessible,’’ Jackson said at his press conference 10 days ago. “I am going to be removed.’’
So far he’s been removed — “InvisiPhil.’’ Jackson attended the Knicks’ shootaround at Staples Center on Tuesday, spoke briefly with Anthony in the locker room — mostly chit-chat. He didn’t talk to another player or coach, taking a seat courtside with Mills and assistant general manager Allan Houston.
Asked if he has had a conversation with Jackson, Stoudemire said, “He’s still trying to figure out the lay of the land. No pressure having a sitdown at this point. Eventually I’ll have that sitdown.’’
Perhaps Jackson doesn’t want to get attached to players he wants to try to shuttle out this summer, even if getting to know them better should be part of the evaluation.
This is new territory for Jackson. He’s getting paid $12 million a year for five years with no presidential experience.
Jerry West said running a team is “a difficult’’ job. Mike D’Antoni, before his Lakers destroyed the Knicks at Staples Center on Tuesday, said Jackson’s excellence as coach doesn’t mean it will translate to president.
Jackson was at the Knicks-Lakers game but wasn’t there. He snuck into the arena, sat hidden in an upstairs suite — undetected until the second period. He wasn’t with the team after the game, leaving before the final buzzer but not without calling them “awful.”
No matter what lips service he paid at the press conference to making the playoffs, his actions speak of ambivalence. In two games on the trip, in Los Angeles and Phoenix, the players have been ambivalent on defense, allowing 129 and 112 points, respectively.
If Anthony stays because of Jackson, he will have earned part of his $60 million. Jackson is expected in New York for the Knicks’ return vs. Brooklyn on April 2.
There’s an old saying: “Showing up is half the job.’’ If he genuinely cared about the Knicks making the playoffs, he would be in Oakland tonight with his desperate team being the Zen Master.