Skip to content

Kerr: Maybe Jackson 'was due' to fail with Knicks after coaching success

Brian Bahr / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Phil Jackson has enjoyed plenty of success in his career, but not in his most recent stint.

The Hall of Fame coach was fired as president of the New York Knicks in June, after three seasons that saw the team post a 80-166 record - and never whiff the playoffs.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who remains close to Jackson from their time together on the Chicago Bulls, said he felt bad about how things ended in the Big Apple for his former coach, and that perhaps he was due to hit a snag after years of smooth sailing.

"We're all going to have our moments in this league - ups and downs," Kerr said Tuesday in New York, as quoted by ESPN's Ian Begley. "Phil had so much success as a coach. I don't know, maybe he was due for the down part of it."

Related: 5 awful decisions that defined Jackson's tenure with Knicks

Jackson collected 11 rings as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, and two more as a forward on the 1970 and 1973 Knicks title teams.

Kerr, who won three titles playing for Jackson on the Bulls in the late '90s, suggested teams need to perform well and have luck on their side to win it all.

"It's a hard league, man," he said. "Things really have to fall (in your favor), you have to do a good job. But you also have to get some luck. Phil knows that better than anybody. You can be really lucky and inherit Michael Jordan and you can also be unlucky and things don't go your way. It's all part of it."

Kerr, who turned down the Knicks coaching job in favor of the Warriors in 2014, is speaking from experience, having hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy five times as a player and twice in the last three years as the Warriors bench boss.

He noted some good did come out of Jackson's tenure in New York, citing the executive's decision to draft both Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina, and hire head coach Jeff Hornacek.

"It feels like they're on a good path right now," he said.

The Knicks are tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference at 9-7, and host the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox