Phil Jackson Made Dennis Smith Jr. Eat An Octopus Tentacle During His Pre-Draft Visit With The Knicks

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Phil Jackson‘s time with the Knicks has been dragged for about a million different reasons. From trying (and failing) to force Carmelo Anthony out of town to trying (and failing) to trade Kristaps Porzingis for missing an exit meeting after the 2016-17 season, Jackson tried (and failed) to do a lot of stuff in Manhattan.

Towards the end of his tenure, Jackson tried to do something a little unusual. He wanted to expand the palate of NC State guard Dennis Smith Jr. During a pre-draft visit, Jackson and Smith went to grab a bite to eat, and Smith told the New York Daily News about a weird moment between the two.

“We went out to some restaurant and they had me eat some octopus, like an actual octopus tentacle,” Smith Jr. told the Daily News. “First time ever. I wasn’t going to try it, honestly. They kind of put the pressure on me to do it.”

Jackson must not like how Smith, uh, consumed the octopus tentacle, because the Knicks ended up selecting French point guard Frank Ntilikina with the No. 8 pick in the draft. Smith, who we selected as one of our top performers from Summer League, ended up going one pick later to the Dallas Mavericks. This may ultimately just be a funny footnote on the end of Jackson’s tenure, but it’d be something if 15 years from now, we learn that Jackson passed on Smith because he didn’t like how he ate an octopus tentacle.

(Via New York Daily News)

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