Knicks president Phil Jackson has struck again.
In his first tweet since his bizarre missive on the difference between transactional and transformative leadership, Jackson issued a tweet Sunday comparing Stephen Curry to the former point guard Chris Jackson, who later changed to a Muslim name, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
Curry is coming off an NBA championship and MVP Award and Saturday night had a historic game in notching 46 points and hitting a 38-foot, preposterous game-winning 3-pointer against OKC that drew breathless tweets from NBA players.
Curry appears a landslide candidate to win a second straight MVP Award as he leads the 53-5 Warriors to an historic season.
Jackson’s sentiment seemed odd considering Abdul-Rauf played nine seasons – six with Denver, two with Sacramento and one in Vancouver in the 1990’s. He had just a 14 points per game career scoring average, was in the playoffs just twice and didn’t make an All-Star team despite being known as one of the great free-throw shooters of all time.
His claim to fame was refusing to stand during the national anthem in 1996 and got suspended by the NBA one game.
Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis had a more normal take on Curry’s Saturday night when the Warriors sharpshooter set the single-season record for most 3-pointers. “Is this for real?”
Jackson also seemingly took a shot at the Warriors during the playoffs last season on Twitter when they struggled in the early rounds and knocked the notion of the 3-point shot being the route to an NBA title.
Jackson’s last tweet came earlier this month when he explained what he was looking for in a new leader after firing Derek Fisher, saying he preferred a transformative leader over a transactional.
Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis said he was unsure of the managerial differences, cracking “I know what a transformer is.’’