Knicks president Phil Jackson’s Twitter account was not hacked Sunday, but the club might have wanted to claim it was.
Jackson’s 140-character missive about reigning MVP Stephen Curry seemed racier than any photo interim coach Kurt Rambis “likes’’ on his Twitter feed.
Oh yes, the Zen Master has struck again, hours before the Knicks dropped a dreary wire-to-wire 98-81 decision to the Heat on Sunday night at the Garden.
Boos and disturbingly loud “Let’s go Heat’’ chants were heard in the final two minutes as Jackson’s triangle offense wound up shooting 36.8 percent.
While NBA stars were gushing on Twitter about Curry’s latest heroic Saturday night exploits, Jackson gave the back-handed compliment of the century. He compared Curry to the former Chris Jackson, who changed his name to the Muslim, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Yeah, that guy — the one who refused to stand up during the national anthem.
Abdul-Rauf had a rather forgettable NBA career (no All-Star appearances) and, sadly, is remembered best for being suspended for his anti-anthem stance.
While there is no evidence Jackson is trying to get himself fired by owner James Dolan so he can collect his $60 million package and bolt for Los Angeles early, his Twitter decisions and refusal to talk to the media make you wonder.
Certainly there are stylistic comparisons between Abdul-Rauf — especially when he roared for the LSU Tigers — and Curry. In fact, coming out of Davidson, some draft analysts used the Abdul-Rauf comparison with Curry. But style and success are entirely different.
In 140 characters, Jackson was unable to explain this nuance — the first tweet since he sent out a bizarre screen-shot missive on the difference between transactional and transformative leadership. And this one came off sounding worse.
Jackson tweeted Sunday: “Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA?”
Not at all, Phil. When you are the president of a team coming off a 17-65 season, guiding a club third-worst in the Eastern Conference (25-36) and almost never speak to the media, it’s foolish to come off looking out of touch to impending free agents. Remember, these free agents don’t go to bed at night with the “11 Rings’’ book by their sides.
Rambis wanted no part of it, saying it’s “unfair’’ to compare different eras because of rules changes. Maybe the tweet was well-intentioned and arguably more sophisticated than meets the eye. Chris Jackson was a sensational player at LSU, his uncanny shotmaking from different spots not dissimilar to Curry.
On the surface, however, the tweet appears a dig at Curry’s way of play, putting it in his head that the magic he does at age 27 at his size won’t last forever. Just ask Abdul-Rauf.
Either way, free agents and even Jackson’s own players such as Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony were left scratching their heads. Porzingis was one of the cognoscenti to issue his own tweet after Curry set the single-season 3-point record, writing, “Is this for real?” Anthony still hasn’t heard recently from Jackson, the master of Zen but not communication.
Jackson has only addressed the media once since training camp started. That was to fire his first head coach, Derek Fisher, whom he signed for five years and gave up on after 1½.
Curry is coming off an NBA championship and MVP award and could get his hands on both trophies again. On Saturday night he wove another historic game in notching 46 points and hitting a 38-foot, game-winning overtime 3-pointer.
Abdul-Rauf played nine seasons — six with Denver, two with Sacramento and one in Vancouver in the 1990s. He averaged 14 points, made the playoffs two seasons and didn’t make an All-Star team despite his free-throw shooting prowess.
And maybe the biggest difference is Curry, who has a clean-cut image with his young daughter joining him at press conferences, shows respect to national anthems.
Jackson’s eccentricities are better taken when winning. It’s an indictment the Knicks finished the 2013-14 season at 10-5 under coach Mike Woodson after Jackson got hired. Since dismantling the roster, changing coaches and offenses, Jackson’s Knicks are 42-101.
Jackson’s previous tweet came earlier this month when he explained what he was looking for in a new leader after firing Fisher, saying he preferred a transformative leader over a transactional.
It wasn’t explained well, not as succinctly as University of Albany’s strategic management professor Kenneth Moore, who told The Post then: “Transactional leadership is: ‘How do we play better basketball?’ Transformational leadership is: ‘How do we become a better team?’”
Fair enough. Later Sunday, Jackson tweeted a photo of himself having lunch with former teammate Bill Bradley and referred to him as “goat’’ — the acronym for greatest of all time. That would’ve been more appropriate for Curry.
At the Garden Sunday, Jackson sat next to Bradley, who once vied to be the Democratic presidential nominee. As Knicks president, Jackson needs to be clearer in his message — on Twitter, to a seemingly confused Anthony and 2016 free agents.