New York Knicks owner James Dolan has insisted that he still has complete faith in team president Phil Jackson and praised the fans for their support this year.
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Jackson signed a five-year deal worth $60m in March last year, as he was tasked with rebuilding the roster and creating a winning culture at the organisation given his success in the past.
However, he has found his latest role the most challenging based on the results this season, with the Knicks sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-63 record as they became the first Knicks team in franchise history to lose 60 games and will finish the year with the lowest winning percentage too.
While the initial plan was to be competitive this season, Jackson threw that plan out of the window mid-way through the campaign as he traded both JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Samuel Dalembert was waived and Carmelo Anthony was ruled out for the rest of the season with a troublesome knee injury shortly after the All-Star break, and so things progressively got worse for the Knicks.
However, they now have a high Draft pick and significant cap space, believed to be around $25m, to work with this summer, and Dolan is confident that Jackson will be able to turn things around.
“You got to believe, baby! I believe, I believe!” Dolan said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, according to ESPN.
“Phil is a brilliant basketball guy, and he and (general manager) Steve [Mills] are working together great.
“I enjoy being out of the limelight. I enjoy having two experts in there that I trust. I barely have to do a thing. It can stay like that for me forever. As long as we continue to make progress — and I’m sure we will. I believe!”
Meanwhile, Dolan paid tribute to the fans for sticking with the team despite their struggles, as according to the team they have sold out every home game this season.
The Knicks owner explained that he knew the majority of the fans know that they’re in a rebuild process and they appreciate that the management will move as fast as they can to become competitive again by starting the hard work this summer.
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