New York Knicks owner James Dolan is reportedly already reneging on his promise not to interfere with president Phil Jackson's plans. Based on a separate report, Dolan may be preventing Jackson from firing two of his favorite employees who work in the front office.
Dolan vowed his days of meddling in basketball operations were over when he introduced Jackson in March as the new team president. Dolan's decree, though, was reportedly short-lived.
"Just one month into his role as Knicks president, Jackson has already clashed with Dolan, the chairman of Madison Square Garden, over personnel decisions, the Daily News has learned," Frank Isola of The Daily News wrote on Wednesday. "According to a team source, Jackson is looking to remove several staff members, which is commonplace when a new administration takes over, but Dolan opposes removing certain employees.
"According to the source, Dolan's reaction to Jackson's request was to tell the 11-time NBA championship coach to simply focus his attention on building a winning team."
Isola reported another Garden source as saying it was only "minor friction" between the two sides, and to call the honeymoon over between them would be a stretch.
The two front office favorites who Dolan may be blocking Jackson from firing could be assistant general manager Allan Houston and director of player personnel Mark Warkentien, based on a report on Friday from Bleacher Report's Howard Beck.
Beck reported Jackson would begin "dissolving the unholy marriage between the Garden and Create Artist Agency," which represents both Houston and Warkentien.
While calling the two men "friends" of Dolan may be too strong, they at least appear to be in the owner's good graces.
Houston is a "favorite" of Dolan, according to Beck, and the Knicks hired Warkentien prior to trading for star Carmelo Anthony in 2011. They both work in the personnel department, where Jackson would likely want to clean house.
UPDATE (4/23/14): Jackson denied The Daily News report and said Dolan hasn't meddled in any basketball decisions, according to ESPN.
