Somehow, some way, the Knicks will always find a way to bring a tiny bit of chaos to the table. It never fails.
Today’s bit comes from Mark Jackson, who was set to occasionally fill in as the color commentator for Clyde Frazier on the Knicks’ MSG Network broadcast this season after being laid off by ESPN.
Apparently, that’s not happening. Not according to the latest from the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand.
Jackson was set to begin calling games with the Knicks on an upcoming road trip but the team put a stop to it. You’ll absolutely never guess the reason why.
Wait, Mark Jackson was going to do play-by-play for the Knicks?
Yes. Remember, Jackson was laid off earlier this year by ESPN along with Jeff Van Gundy.
There was talk that the two of them could both make the jump to MSGN to call Knicks games along with their old partner, Mike Breen, but Van Gundy pulled out to go consult with the Celtics.
That left Jackson on his own with the Knicks, where he’d fill in for Clyde Frazier when he took off.
And now that's not happening?
Exactly. The Knicks have reportedly axed the deal between Jackson and MSGN.
According to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, Knicks team president Leon Rose pulled the plug on the deal and it’s all because of a beef with an old assistant coach of Jackson’s who is now on Tom Thibodeau’s staff with the Knicks.
“Mark Jackson will not be calling games on MSG Network after the Knicks objected to him being on the team’s chartered plane, The Post has learned.
MSG Network planned on having Jackson occasionally fill in for Clyde Frazier this season, but Knicks management, led by team president Leon Rose, put a kibosh on the arrangement in part due to an old quarrel with Jackson and an assistant coach, according to sources.”
The intrigue! The drama!
WAIT. A beef with an old coach? I figured it was James Dolan! So what happened?
Nope! James Dolan is in the clear — just this once, at least.
This is something that stems back nearly a decade with Jackson and Darren Erman, who is an assistant on the Knicks’ staff today. Once upon a time, he was Jackson’s second assistant on the Golden State Warriors bench.
Erman was fired by Jackson in 2014. The Warriors stated he was fired for a “violation of company policy” back then. While we don’t have official word on what that violation was, an ESPN report stated that Erman secretly recorded meetings and conversations between Mark Jackson and players while he was there.
Here’s more:
“Sources said Erman, who was coach Mark Jackson’s second assistant, would record coaches’ meetings, meetings between the coaches and players, and informal discussions among coaches that took place in the team’s coaches room — all without the participants’ knowledge.”
It’s unclear what he was doing with the recordings. Erman was let go by the Warriors and then, weeks later, joined the Celtics staff. Mark Jackson was fired at the end of that season and hasn’t coached since.
Your guess is as good as mine as to whether the recordings had anything to do with it. But, clearly, there’s still plenty of friction between these two.
OK, got it. I understand that history. But why couldn't Jackson call the games? It's not like they had to talk
Leon Rose reportedly chose to axe the deal because of everything that would’ve come with it.
Usually, the team broadcast crew is permitted to travel with the team on the plane and team bus. They’ll even be allowed to stay in the same hotels. Interaction is usually kept at a minimum, but they’ll often occupy the same spaces.
According to Marchand’s reporting, Jackson was going to be banned from the team plane, hotel and bus. He wasn’t going to get that same treatment.
Jackson could’ve stayed elsewhere and found another way to games, but it ultimately wouldn’t have been worth the hassle. This was probably the best decision for all parties involved.
So what now?
Nothing changes, really. The Knicks will continue to do games with Wally Szczerbiak when Frazier takes games off. The team will go about business as usual.
Nothing was ever made public — all we had so far was reporting that this was on the way. Now that it’s reportedly not happening, there’s nothing to talk about.
It would’ve been fun to see the old ESPN NBA broadcast crew reunited in New York. Alas.
