Knicks president Phil Jackson took a backdoor cut to belief his remodeled club will finish in playoff position during Friday’s press conference.

Jackson refused to issue a playoff proclamation but suggested a finish in the top eight in the East.

The Zen Master, whose club has failed to qualify for the postseason three straight seasons, said the new moves “provide us opportunity to challenge in the Eastern Conference.”

In response to a query on how high he thinks the Knicks place in the East, Jackson said, “We talked about being a competitive team. Fourth, third, sixth or eighth, we won’t know that until it gathers a sense of chemistry.”

In the past 17 days, Jackson added three new starters in point guard Derrick Rose and free-agent signees, center Joakim Noah, shooting guard Courtney Lee and a marquee name in backup point guard Brandon Jennings.

However, Jackson didn’t dispute the roster is dotted by health worries.

The largest concern — and cornerstone to the glitzy moves — is Rose, who missed 201 regular-season games the past four seasons. He played 66 in 2015-16 but without an All-Star appearance. Jackson blamed Rose’s freak eye injury on an errant elbow from Chicago’s Taj Gibson during the first day of training camp in 2015.

According to Jackson, Rose’s accolade as the league’s youngest-ever MVP in 2011 overrides his knee woes.

Jackson said Rose was forced to “wear a mask” and had “blurred vision’’ after missing training camp. “It colored his season,” Jackson said.

Noah, Rose’s Chicago teammate, played just 29 games last season because of two shoulder injuries. Jennings, who is 18 months removed from rupturing his left Achilles tendon, played only the season’s second half — and not well.

Jackson said he believes a shoulder is “repairable,” adding, “We look at foundation — the legs.”

Noah moved well last season, despite a 2014 knee surgery. Jennings did not.

“Obviously it’s a big concern,’’ Jackson said of Jennings. “We’re aware of this. We’re aware of it, but we think the reward will be great.”

“We have enough depth and feel confident doing the medicals about all these guys and their ability to withstand the season,’’ general manager Steve Mills added.

The risky moves came with Carmelo Anthony’s blessing. Jackson reiterated remarks from Rose’s press conference June 23. The exit meeting with the disgruntled Knicks superstar initiated the “win-now’’ mode instead of leisurely waiting for Kristaps Porzingis’ potential development into a superstar.

“One of my questions to Carmelo was — we haven’t made the playoffs in three years — are we moving quickly enough for you in anticipation of being in a competitive playoffs situation,’’ Jackson said. “That conversation established the idea he’s getting into an age range where things have to happen. We decided to activate ourselves a little quicker.’’

Mills said he believes another losing/rebuilding season could hurt Porzingis’ growth.

“It was real important for KP to develop as a basketball player to put him in a culture of winning basketball games and he’s around other good players,’’ Mills said.

According to Jackson, Anthony told him his “first priority was to get a point guard.” Jackson said the free-agent point-guard market — with Mike Conley topping the list but ultimately remaining in Memphis — likely would turn into a bleak scenario.

“As I looked down the [point-guard] list, I didn’t want to go out and spend a lot of cap dollars chasing what I thought was a very competitive point-guard market,’’ Jackson said.

Hence the trade for Rose, in which Jackson gave up starting center Robin Lopez and two point guards — aging Jose Calderon and young Jerian Grant.

“We went to Plan B, which was Plan A in my head,’’ Jackson said. “Losing Robin was like getting a tooth pulled and Jerian has a future and we liked who Calderon was.’’

As Jackson hoped, the Rose move opened the floodgates, creating an opening at center. Jackson felt he had a strong chance at signing Noah, with whom Jackson had a past relationship. Noah, in turn, recruited Lee, and Jennings followed the splashy march to New York.

Jackson said the Knicks will have “a little more experience and competitive power” after superseding his disappointing haul from last summer. The Knicks have 12 players with guaranteed pacts, and an NBA source told The Post shooting guard Sasha Vujacic is a strong favorite to become 13. Vujacic would make five players back from last season’s 32-50 squad.

“We like this team,’’ Jackson said. “[Last year] we didn’t have the strength to provide a bench to cover injuries, fatigue or a rookie [Porzingis], who hit the wall in the middle of the season. We anticipate this is what the NBA will be like. Rosters have to be restructured at free agency. There’s a lot of turnover in the NBA and precludes having the continuity. It’s one of the difficult things about it. We’d like to have continuity and do a better job of it in the future.”