The Phil Jackson Chronicles Part 3:

Over the course of the 2015-16 NBA season, Today?s Fastbreak?s Charley Rosen met with New York Knicks president Phil Jackson to discuss the state of the team. This is Part 3 of ?The Phil Jackson Chronicles.?

DECEMBER 16, 2015

KNICKS? RECORD 10-14

Phil Jackson lives in a 130-year-old apartment building on West 57th Street. The elegant lobby features a uniformed doorman, marble columns, marble walls and a broad crimson-carpeted staircase.

?I like the location,? Phil says as I enter his apartment and remove my shoes. ?My chiropractor is only a block away, I can email my grocery orders and get everything delivered for an extra five dollars, and the subway?s so close that I sometimes take it to the Garden. When I walk the streets, people stop me to wish me well and console me about the team?s doldrums. I?m really enjoying living in New York again.?

His three-bedroom, 6,000 square-foot homestead is replete with wood-burning fireplaces in the living room and the dining room, as well as a marble tub in the master bathroom. A guided tour also showcases a style that might be called elegant-contemporary. There?s not a hint of anything ornate or ostentatious, just room-after-room adorned with comfortable chairs and beds, and other furniture offering smooth lines and interesting surfaces.

One of his three daughters, Chelsea, is an interior decorator, and is responsible for the graceful design of the guest room that Phil also uses for his daily meditations. The living room emphasizes a long, cushy brown leather couch that faces a wall-mounted 90-inch TV. There are several interesting paintings and framed posters on the walls, but in the place of honor in the long, spacious hallway-gallery is a painting of a boy flying a kite that has graced everywhere Phil has lived.

Whether he?s residing in his three-story contemporary beach house in Playa del Rey, his rustic getaway in Montana, or here in the Big Apple, there?s usually some kind of music playing from hidden speakers. While his interest in classical music is a constant, Phil currently favors Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Van Morrison and Dave Brubeck.

But as we sit facing each other in his study, the only extraneous sounds come from the street. Indeed, our Q-and-A dialogue is often interrupted by the loud honks, bleeps and wailings of passing ambulances, fire trucks and police cars. Thankfully, Phil?s bedroom is situated in the interior of the apartment where the street noises cannot reach.

Q ? Gregg Popovich recently said that the three-point shot has turned the NBA game into a ?circus.?

A ? It certainly has dramatically changed the game. Shooting threes is OK if the right players are doing it, but there are way too many guys who have no business taking those shots. And the reality is that the three-point shot hasn?t increased scoring on a league-wide basis. Sure, Golden State can make a scoreboard light up, but not everybody can play like them.

And if there?s a three-point line, why not a four-point line? Give players 10 years and they?ll shoot the same percentage from there as they now do from the three-point arc. How about a five-point line? Or six points if you make a shot from beyond the mid-court line.

The real circus, though, is the deliberate fouling situation that began when Don Nelson instituted Hack-a-Shaq. Just a few days ago DeAndre Jordan shot, what? 35 free throws? Of course, guys should be better free throw shooters, but big guys with big hands frequently have trouble from there. Still, benefiting from committing those types of fouls is not true to what the game should be. Instead, it just wrecks a game.

Q ? What?s the remedy?

A ? For a while, back when I was playing, when there was a two-shot foul we had three chances, or three-for-two as it was called. That?ll never happen today. What should be done is a rule change. The penalty for any foul that?s not committed in the context of a basketball play should be the two free throws plus possession.

Q ? I know that you?ve always had some qualms about foul calls in general. Right?

A ? Absolutely. I?d like the NBA to institute the old CBA rule. If somebody commits his seventh foul, or his eighth or whatever, before the regular free throws are taken, the other team simply gets an extra free throw that?s shot like a tech. And since those extra fouls would invariably occur in the endgame, the opportunity for a bonus point would be critical. So, keeping a player on the court who has six fouls would be a tough call for his coach. Moreover, since nobody would ever foul out, the outcome of a game would be more in the hands of the players than the refs.

Q ? Speaking of fouls, haven?t you also voiced your concerns about the way screens are officiated?

A ? That?s true. Sure, the refs will call an occasional moving screen, but because they primarily ref defense, guys who set screens are doing things that should be whistled and are not. Like using their hands down low to grab or shove the players getting screened. Another problem with the way screens are sometimes set is that a screener?s feet are not supposed to be set any wider than his shoulders are. Dikembe Mutombo used to set screens that were five feet wide, and some guys today get awfully close to that.

The refs have to stop giving screeners such unfair advantages. It creates an imbalance in the game.

Q ? What other aspects of the game have to be altered?

A ? I?d like to see the dimensions of the court enlarged. As the players get bigger and bigger, the court has gotten smaller and smaller. It?s gotten so that, unless you throw the ball 40 feet high, completing a long down-court pass is extremely difficult. I?d like to see the court lengthened by 10 feet, and also have more of a distance between the backboards and the baselines. The court should also be widened so that the three-point arc would be concentric, and players wouldn?t be stepping out of bounds so much when looking to shoot treys from the corner.

Q ? Okay. Let?s turn to the Knicks. There?s been a lot of criticism in the media about how ineffectively the team is running the triangle. Why is this so?

A ? Today?s players simply lack the skills to play the triangle. They know how to play one-on-one, catch-and-shoot, and they?ve mastered crossover dribbles, spins, playing off of screens and step-back shots. They don?t know how to execute things like inside-reverse pivots and other basic footwork. They have no sense of timing or organization. They don?t really know how to play five-on-five basketball. It?s strictly generational.

That?s why Fish {Derek Fisher} wants to uptempo the offense. And why he spends a half-hour before practice doing lots of skills work.
New York Knicks' Derek Fisher in action during an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Q ? The Knicks have lost eight of their last 10 games. What else is going wrong?

A ? We have to develop a pace that fits our personnel, a pace that?s comfortable for us and that can influence game to our benefit. What I always tried to do when I was coaching was to have two units that could play at different paces. The first unit could look to play a grind-it-out half-court offense, while the second unit could trap, press and run.

With this kind of setup, opponents would have to prepare two different game plans, plus their starters would have to play extra minutes. Of course, both units had to be somewhat flexible ? run when they had the chance and slow down when there was no chance to get out and go. Also, if the second unit tries to force their running game, the danger is committing too many turnovers that lead to easy scores the other way, and also losing any sense of organization.

Right now, we?re still in the process of getting all of the newcomers ? nine of them ? learning not only the triangle, but learning how to play together.

We also have a problem that every other team has. We?re carrying 14 on our roster and only allowed to dress 13. Telling the guy who?s not going to suit up for a game is a necessarily awkward situation. You have to wait until game-time to let him know, just in case somebody turns up sick. What can you say to the guy? ?Hey, sorry you?re not dressing tonight. Go work out and I?ll see you at practice tomorrow.?

Cleanthony Early has been playing well in the brief appearances he?s made, but it?s hard to get him the time he needs to continue his development. So he?s the most likely suspect to be deactivated.

Almost every other team has a full 15-man roster, so this is even more troublesome for them.

To compound the entire situation, we had a difficult schedule to start with, and there have been a couple of hiccups along the way.

Q ? Such as?

A ? After a couple of really good games, Kevin Seraphin is getting pushed off the block. Lou Amundson was out with a back issue. Robin Lopez is not getting the ball in the right spot when he?s in the low post.

The correct way to make an entry pass into the pivot is to have the passer and the receiver positioned in a straight line that?s at a 45 degree angle from the baseline. This way, the big man?s defender can?t overplay one side or the other without giving up an open lane to the hoop ? and is forced to play behind his man. In our lingo we call this ?The line of deployment.? Also, to make sure he catches the ball, any incoming pass to Robin has to be aimed at his nose.

What else? Defenders are going under screens set for Jerian Grant, in effect letting him shoot. Even though he can make the jumpers, Jerian is reluctant to shoot them ? which is typical for most rookies.

Another problem is finding enough playing time for Derrick Williams. He?s a rebound-pusher with great energy, who can really uptempo a game. The trouble is that Lance Thomas is playing well off the bench, and with Carmelo Anthony playing 34-36 minutes, that leaves only about 12 minutes for Derrick ? six minutes short of what he needs to develop consistency. Another factor is that Derrick is learning how to play two positions ? small forward and power forward ? that?s certainly crimping his development. But Derrick?s playing time, as well as all our other current difficulties, will even out over the course of the season.

Kristaps Porzingis is making huge strides, but he?s missing makeable shots because his base is not always solid. He also has to learn when he has to pull and shoot instead of trying to force his dribble into a crowd.

Q ? Okay. What?s going right so far?

A ? The guys are attentive to Fish and the staff and really pulling for each other.

Arron Afflalo is hitting his baseline three-pointers, scoring in the low-post and playing his usual good defense.

Carmelo is playing well. Passing, rebounding, playing defense.

Jose Calderon is healthy and playing well. He fights through screens, doesn?t force shots and always competes. It?s expected that we have to help Jose in certain situations, like when he?s having trouble controlling younger, quicker guards.

With all the young guys on the team, there?s an air of anticipation of good things happening. The feeling that starting tonight, everything will be better.

NOTE ? Things did get better that very night as the Knicks beat Minnesota and embarked on a four-game winning streak.

Q ? With the trading season just underway, are you looking to make any moves?

A ? One of our biggest lacks is a backcourt player who can penetrate either on his own or with a screen. Jerian was able to do that, but as I said they?re playing him soft and giving him the jump shot.

But to answer your question?No, we like our depth and we?re not looking to trade.

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