Phil Jackson said his biggest mistake since taking over the New York Knicks was not taking Jae Crowder in the Tyson Chandler trade with the Dallas Mavericks.

Crowder emerged as one of the NBA's best defensive players since his trade to the Boston Celtics.

"One of the first deals I engineered when I came back to New York was to trade Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas for Shane Larkin, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert, plus a second-round pick that the Mavs owed to the Celtics," said Jackson. "In talking with (Dallas), I was given the option of taking that pick or else taking Jae Crowder. I liked Crowder but I thought he wouldn’t get much of a chance to play behind Carmelo, so I took the pick which turned out to be Cleanthony Early. While Cleanthony has missed lots of time in the past two seasons with us, he still has the potential to be a valuable player. Even so, I should have taken Crowder.

“Anyway, for all of us, making mistakes are part of the learning process."