Jeanie Buss: Phil Jackson Won't Bail On Knicks
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Phil Jackson is not plotting a return to the Los Angeles Lakers and is committed to building the Knicks into a winner, says his fiancée, Jeanie Buss.
Buss, the president of the Lakers, told USA Today's "NBA A to Z" podcast that Jackson is not eyeing the 2017 opt-out clause in his five-year contract with New York.
"For him, that's the job that he's always wanted -- to go back to where he started and to put that team back to where he knew it could be," she said. "It's kind of weird for me to think about that the last time the Knicks won a championship (1973). Phil was a player on the team. So he's very passionate about what he's doing."
Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski touched off much speculation when he wrote in a column earlier this month that there is a "strong belief" Jackson will return to the Lakers, where he won five world titles as a coach.
Wojnarowski did not specify who exactly believes Jackson has an escape plan in place or when he might execute it.
Jackson, 70, was hired as the Knicks' president of basketball operations in March 2014. The team has continued to struggle since, and on Feb. 9 Jackson fired coach Derek Fisher. Jackson named Kurt Rambis, one of his former assistant coaches who is well versed in the triangle offense, as interim head coach.
The Knicks are 24-34 and in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, 6½ games behind the Chicago Bulls for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Knicks haven't reached the postseason since 2013.
"He knows what he wants to accomplish, and he's putting things in place to eventually get there," Buss said. "He doesn't get discouraged. He knows there are setbacks, but I think he sees overall that they're continuing to move in the direction that he wants, and so that is satisfying to him, but he's not done with the job yet."
