“It’s tricky. The question is who to offer the big money to?” Jackson said in the latest installment of his in-season interviews with his pal Charley Rosen, which was published Monday by ESPN. “A guy who’s an established player or someone who has sky-high potential? Also, there are, and always have been, really good players who are not winners − guys like Joe Barry Carroll, Glenn Robinson and many more whom I don’t care to name.
“And then there’s someone like Marc Gasol, who’s certainly a winner and would have to be paid somewhere around $18 million, a number that would severely limit what we could offer other players. We’d wind up with starters only getting about $5 million.”
“One problem is the state and the city tax here. There are places like Texas and Florida that have none of these taxes,” Jackson told Rosen. “Even so, New York is still a big draw. Nothing can duplicate the lifestyle here.”
“I heard through the grapevine that (Dragic) was open to coming here,” Jackson said. “We worked hard on that possibility, but the asking price was too dear. Maybe we worked on that possibility so much so that it distracted us. I mean, Dragic is every team’s current choice for a nuclear option − a guard who can penetrate and either score or kick. Guys like Chris Paul and James Harden. But, anyway, that’s not really the way I want us to play.”
Jackson again explained trading J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert by pointing out their flaws. In his previous interview with Rosen, Jackson said Smith “exhibited delinquent behavior.” In the story published Monday, Jackson essentially called Smith too selfish for the triangle.
“As I’ve mentioned before, J.R. was more interested in hunting for his own shots than in buying into the triangle. Plus, he has a player’s option for next season that would limit our flexibility.
“As for Shumpert, mainly because of injuries, he’d take one step forward and two steps backward. And because of a salary ‘hold’ on his rookie contract, a CBA format that limits available money in free agency. In the end, we didn’t have many other realistic options, and the dollar matchups made the deal work.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/phil-jackson-underestimated-rise-salary-cap-article-1.2306029