Phil Jackson knows who he'd draft at No. 1: 'a guy like Tyson Chandler'

Though it came about organically (which is to say, accidentally), the New York Knicks' tank job has remarkably gone even better this season than the painstakingly planned one in Philadelphia. 

While the Philadelphia 76ers have somehow played their way into 18 wins, the Knicks are bumbling along at 14-61, with a two-game cushion over the Minnesota Timberwolves for top odds at winning the draft lottery and landing the No. 1 overall pick. 

That unexpected incompetence has allowed first-year president and general manager Phil Jackson to pivot from projecting a playoff berth to preaching patience and process, touting a master plan as though it was in the works all the time. 

"If you sit around (picking) in the 20s and the late teens when you're drafting players, you're not going to move the franchise ahead," Jackson told a group of Knicks season-ticket holders at a Madison Square Garden event, according to ESPN's Ian Begley. "You've got to have a high draft pick to do that. They're the ones that really move the franchise ahead. And this is our opportunity. It may be a godsend in the end result."

So long as they don't get reckless and win more than two of their final seven games, the Knicks will finish the season with the league's worst record. That will guarantee them a pick no lower than fourth overall, and give them a 25 percent shot at the top selection.

Jackson was asked if he knew who he'd want to draft if the Knicks do end up having their pick of the litter.

"I do," he said.

And what kind of player is he looking for? 

"Gotta have a defender," Jackson said. " ... That's a good starting point - a guy like Tyson Chandler is the defensive backup that we have to have. In this day and age in our game, there are so many screen and rolls, so many 3-point shooters, so many things that a player of size has to (do). Not only cover the paint and protect the basket but he has to be able to step out defensively and play a guard. And do some defensive work on the extreme part of the floor so it's very important that that player have defensive capabilities."

Funny story: the Knicks had Tyson Chandler, as recently as last summer. Jackson, almost immediately after taking control of the front office, traded him to the Dallas Mavericks for a package highlighted by Jose Calderon. 

But hey, trust in the plan, or whatever.