James Dolan's 'willingly and gratefully' line about Phil Jackson taking over ...

What does his future really hold? What will Jackson be forced to do in crunch time, either through internal pressure or outside interference? Howard Simmons/New York Daily News

Watching the made-for-TV soap opera that is the New York Knickerbockers through the prism of the Madison Square Gulag Network always requires a fertile imagination, the ability to bend reality and some healthy skepticism.

Late Tuesday morning, as Phil Jackson filled the screen, fantasy was added to that checklist. This is not about the analysis offered by MSG voices like Bill Pidto, Alan Hahn, Wiggie Trautwig or Walt (Clyde) Frazier, who honored his former mate by wearing purple.

No matter what any of them said, it didn't do justice to the Zen Master's coronation, which often sounded like a response to concerns voiced in the weeks leading up to the deal becoming official. Like when Jackson, with no prompting from boss scribes, revealed his media policy - sort of.

'I'll be accessible. I'm going to be removed (when) things are important,' Jackson said. 'I want to develop relationships with people here. The organization has suffered in the past few years by things that have just been created by the press by lack of continuity, by lack of solidarity.'

Jackson, straddling the fence of access, said there will be 'walls' as far as the media is concerned. 'But I'm reaching out to you today in the media to say we are going to have an open relationship,' Jackson said. 'And we're going to have a good one.'

At this particular moment we were hoping one of the MSG analysts would break into the telecast to clarify if the 'open relationship' Jackson spoke of applies to all media members covering the Knicks or just the lucky ones chosen to ask him questions during the press conference.

This moment also required MSG's director to call for Jackson and James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan to appear together in split-screen frames. Seeing the look on the Garden boss' face at the moment Jackson told the media, 'I'm reaching out to you today' would have been so enlightening, so revealing.

For, moments earlier, Dolan said he understood the 'concerns that we have not made ourselves available to you about the team's current issues.'

Considering his history of hiding in the Gulag bunker, this is hard to believe. Undeterred, Dolan slogged on. 'The reason for that,' Dolan said, 'is because we were working on an answer.'

Now the only thing missing was Pidto chiming in to say: 'There you have it Alan, Mr. Dolan kept us all in the dark because he was working on a master plan. Yep, I buy that. Back to you, Al.'

Seriously (okay, half seriously) though, Dolan showed that beyond his guitar stylings he also has the ability to do stand-up at Burt's Comedy Hut. He's been through so many of these Knicks Next Savior events (Isiah, Donnie, Larry, Stephon) he's likely decided it's better to do shtick than sit there looking like he just sucked on a lemon.

Dolan opened up by paying tribute to the the man who initiated talks with Jax and did the deal, Irving Azoff, who manages the Eagles and is chairman/CEO of Azoff MSG Entertainment. 'Thank you Irving,' Dolan said. 'And if this doesn't go well I will blame you, OK?'

Hilarious, right? Yet Dolan, and the rest of the free world knows, if things don't 'go well,' Jax is going to take the fall, but still collect his $60 million. Having a Zen Master to serve as your personal heat shield is comforting. Is Dolan transferring all authority to Jax?

'Willingly and gratefully,' Dolan gushed.

And we found out their professional marriage, according to Dolan, is born out of love. This must explain why Jackson turned Dolan on to his 'Seven Rules of Offense.'

Dolan, playing the role of Li'l Zen while making googly eyes at the new Knicks prez, reminded him if he learned those rules 'really well and we were up by more than 30, you said, right, that I could suit up. So I'm really looking forward to that.'

Another funny, but not something we're really looking forward to watching on MSG. No matter, Dolan was rolling, seguing into a riff on ticket prices. He basically said when the Knicks suck he doesn't raise ticket prices, so he won't be raising them for next season. 'Instead we will have a great year next year and hopefully everybody will find that product is more valuable and probably after that we'll raise ticket prices,' Dolan chirped.

Always leave them laughing, especially when one hand is deep in their wallet - the symbolic wallet of the loyal fan base once again sold a bill of hope, this time in the form of Jackson.

What does his future really hold? What will Jackson be forced to do in crunch time, either through internal pressure or outside interference?

'I hate prevarication,' Jackson told everyone watching. 'I don't like to prevaricate.'

Considering the nostalgia and promise for a bright future sold to us Tuesday, the Zen Master won't ever be forced to avoid a question. Or lie.

Now that's funny.

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