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Phil Jackson says the Knicks are 'not concerned' about Derrick Rose's trial

Phil Jackson addresses the media in July. (Getty Images)
Phil Jackson addresses the media in July. (Getty Images)

The civil suit against then-Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose, alleging that the former NBA MVP (working with two other friends) broke into an ex-girlfriend’s apartment after drugging her before gang-raping her, became public knowledge last year.

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The New York Knicks dealt for Rose in late June, months after the depth of the sordid allegations against Rose became very public knowledge. At the time of the deal, and in the months that followed, both the Knicks and Rose have doggedly attempted to keep their on-record focus solely devoted to basketball matters, in spite of the fact that Rose – hampered by two different knee surgeries, working in a diminished capacity as a result – is better known these days for the civil suit brought against him than he is any All-Star capability.

In speaking with New York media in the days before his team’s training camp, Knicks president Phil Jackson reacted to questions about Rose’s case in a typically brusque and astonishingly uncaring manner on Friday. From the Associated Press:

“We’re just going to let the process work itself out,” Jackson said during a news conference at the team’s practice facility.

“We’re not concerned. We understand this is a serious subject we’re talking about, but this has to be done outside of our control. It’s something we can’t control,” Jackson said. “So Derrick has expressed that he’s not concerned about it. I mean he’s quite aware of it, but it’s not keeping him up at night, so we’ll leave it at that.”

Earlier, when pressed, Jackson tried to put up a front. From the New York Daily News:

“So we’re going with that, okay?”

Jackson seemed to have a directive to avoid discussing the rape allegations, saying in his opening statement, “We want to put this to rest. There doesn’t need to be a lot of talk about this. Concerns about how our team is going to fit together are some of the biggest priorities for us.”

“Everybody all right on that guys? Anybody else? No more? We covered?” he said.

“We’re not concerned?” “We covered?”

Phil Jackson came to New York in 2013 with the promise of achieving transparency within the Madison Square Garden confines, in spite of the press-to-Phil relationship he helped establish in Chicago and Los Angeles (drawing curtains between the media and Bulls practice, kicking a female team staffer off of the Bulls bus, rowing with general managers Jerry Krause and Jerry West, acting as a primary anonymous source for Sam Smith’s ‘The Jordan Rules’), and he’s failed miserably in this regard since taking team owner James Dolan’s (a person not unfamiliar with botching sexual harassment cases) money.

Following the use of an expletive, Joe Flynn at SB Nation’s Posting and Toasting site dove in on the work of his favorite team’s mouthpiece:

“The trial itself is something out of his control, but it has been coming for a year now. Derrick Rose was a member of the Bulls when the world found out he would be going on trial, and Phil traded for him anyway. He deliberately traded for Rose, and Rose’s legal troubles, and he has to own up to that.

“The president of a professional sports organization who acquires a player knowing full well that player is about to go on trial for a serious offense should at the very least explain himself. It’s that simple. Phil Jackson not only failed to meet even that elementary standard, he brushed aside every legitimate question on the matter with a smarmy attitude that was hard to stomach. Do better, Phil.”

Phil Jackson isn’t staring down the assembled media after coaching a 102-89 win in mid-March. He is the president of the New York Knicks, he dealt for Derrick Rose months after the details of this case hit the press, and he’s had two full months following the transaction to formulate some sort of mindful and cogent response to a question that he should have long ago expected to hear several variations of.

For him to grow petulant because the press dared follow up to repeatedly ask about his thoughts regarding the most pressing concern (the trial will take place in California, starting in October) of the New York Knicks basketball team right now shows an absence of leadership, to say nothing of tact, poise and reason.

Regardless of the outcome of this case, and regardless of whether or not Derrick Rose is losing sleep over it (judging by his sanguine reactions thus far, we actually believe that characterization), this is far more important and far more prominent than whether or not a newly-acquired past-prime center and past-prime point guard can lead the Knicks to a mediocre record in the crummy Eastern Conference this season.

Do much, much better, Phil.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!