Phil Jackson wants 4-point line, 6 more seconds on shot clock

For someone who's at times been critical of the NBA's growing infatuation with the 3-point shot, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson has some surprising notions on how to improve the league.

"Why not have a 4-point line about 35 feet out?" Jackson suggested to Charley Rosen of Today's Fastbreak in an interview published Friday. "It wouldn't be long before players will get reasonably comfortable shooting from out there. And having a 4-point line would certainly serve to enable teams to catch up in what are now blowout games."

Perhaps it' a sign Jackson's outlook has changed. He's already demonstrated a softening stance on his adherence to the triangle offense, after his Knicks finished 29th and 26th in offensive efficiency the last two seasons.

"The spacing has changed dramatically," Jackson said of the modern game last month. "So the triangle can still be a part of that, but it has to adapt."

That said, adding a 4-point line would be unlikely to benefit this particular iteration of the Knicks, who finished 20th in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season, and didn't exactly boost their long-range shooting with the offseason additions of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Jackson's other suggestion for gameplay improvement seems more in line with his principles: He'd like to see six seconds added to the 24-second shot clock.

"This would give offenses more time to get low-post players involved, make defenses work harder, and encourage more passing and player movement," he explained.

Since Jackson took over as president in 2014, the Knicks have played slow while the league has skewed fast, emphasized the post while others have focused on the perimeter, and ranked in the bottom five in assist rate despite throwing more passes than nearly every team. They'd stand to gain as much as any team (save perhaps the Spurs) from a 30-second clock.

Jackson understands that small-ball and the 3-ball are all the rage right now, but he anticipates those fads being cycled out, and replaced again by the big-man bully-ball of the 90s and early 2000s.

"The pendulum will swing back," he said, "when big men make a habit of crushing smaller defenders."

Jackson insisted, however, he has no fundamental objection to small-ball.

"I'm certainly not against it," he said. "In fact, I'm not against anything."

Given the rule changes he's stumping for, that ethos makes a lot of sense.