[article] Phil Jackson will listen if knicks call

rady

Administrator
Staff member
Phil Jackson, back on Broadway yesterday to sign copies of his new book, said he would listen if the Knicks offered him their head coaching job next summer.
"I'd have to think about it," Jackson told The Post during his book-signing appearance on Wall Street. "But I don't want to preclude the fact that Lenny Wilkens is the coach and they have a team and they're going forward."

Indeed, Jackson, tied with Red Auerbach with nine NBA coaching titles, does not want to be accused of lobbying for the Knicks job, as he was in 1999.

http://knicksonline.com/getart.php?id=1408
 

newmove

Rotation player
Ohohoh, the best coach in the NBA history wants to head to our team?.. Am I the only one that thinks it's a sign of our team being a serious thread in the race for the trophy? I mean first it was Chicago (6 rings), then it was LA (3 rings) now it's us (probably)?
btw, coach Jackson has 10 rings (one as a player which he earned when being a... Knickerboker) so...
No, I like Lenny and all but coach Jackson...
 

dr.carpy

Benchwarmer
Phil Jackson is not a good coach. It's like calling a swaet shop owner "worlds greatest boss" because their employees never miss any time at work. Please. The guy betrays every player in LA with some self serving tell all book. Every other coach in the league thought that was unprofessional. The coach doesn't determine whether a team wins, the players do. If they don't go out and compete, they coach sits there screaming, helpless, just like a fan does. they have no direct input as to the outcome. Phil is one of those guys I hope stays away from the game cause he's a stain on the game. We have young players I'd rather see someone willing to develop them rather than exploit them.
 

youadmireme2

Benchwarmer
^^Dr. Carpy, yes and no, i agree and disagree...

Sure the players determine the outcome, but imagine what would have happened in LA had he not been the coach or imagine what would happen to teams... without a coach...
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
I have to disagree with Dr. Carpy.
Coaches have the greatest influence on their players and their game, and are able to motivate them to play past their potential!

And I think Phil Jackson is an amazing coach and here's why:
MJ arrived on the NBA scene back in 84 and 3 years after in the 87 season the bulls were 40-42, in 88 they were 50-32 and in 89 they were 47-35. Seems like Jordan is the man, his team is above 500, but their coach is Doug Collins. After the the 89 season, Doug gets fired and Phil is brought in. What happens? championship right away and is repeated thru 93. Seems like MJ needed someone's influence to motivate him and his team enough to go all the way. It looks like Doug Collins was unable to do that even with MJ in his prime!

Second point, in the 96 season, the Lakers pick up Shaq who is averaging 27.2pts and 13 rebs a game, they have kobe, but nothing. After 3 years the lakers fire their head coach and bring in Phil........What happens? championship right away and is repeated 3 times.........seems like deja vu that I wrote that with MJ. It seems with the star studded lineup that the lakers had from 96-99, they were unable to win the championship. Bring in a coach who can motivate them and they win it all....

Seems to me like Phil is the man. Other coaches had MJ or Shaq or Kobe in their prime and was not able to get championships. So either Phil is madd lucky or he actually got skills.
From the info above, I would think that he has great coaching skills.

Just my 2 cents
 

newmove

Rotation player
Trin_Starr's right. LA've been packed enough with good players but w/o Phill they were never able to win it all. Same with the Bulls. Why shouldn't we try?
 

a knick fan

Benchwarmer
chicago didnt become good because of phil jackson. scottie pippen developed as a player and become a great #2 guy behind mj. the lakers didnt become good because of phil jackson. kobe bryant, who was just a few years out of high school, became a superstar. both teams had players who became better after phil arrived. and i dont think it was phil who made them better, they scottie and kobe were going to be great regardless.

phil jackson is not a good coach. he is just smart enough to know when to join a team based on the talent that is there, and how much he thinks the new players will get better.

the knicks don't have any superstars on the horizon. the roster is full of below average to above average players. this team aint goin nowhere in the near future, and phil surely knows that. maybe if isiah can bring in more talent, it would be a different situation.
 

newmove

Rotation player
I don't agree with you. First of all Bulls couldn't have won six(!) championship titles in 8(!) years w/o a well ballanced coaching and a good roster. How is it possible for Phil to join bandwagon if their roster changed from year to year? How did he know they were going to have a championship team? Is he some kind of a fortune teller we see on the streets that ask 10$ for talking some bullshit about your future blablabla?

He brought a brand new concept of the team relationship, he changed the whole chemistry and believe me it was a change for good. You can not win a championship title without a great coach. Detroit proved it very well last season.

It weren't players for the Bulls either. Because if the players are the main reason of the team success why haven't the LA won it this year, they were packed with tallented players as whenever else in their franchise history? I tell you why - because their chemistry was fucked up with kobe-shaq relationship. Actually it was bryant who let his team down. Shaq was much more effective and it wasn't shaq who was 7-21 from the field when it most counted on the game 5 of the 2004 NBA Finals.

Chemistry. It's a very essential thing when you build a championship dynasty. Otherwise why did Horace Grant had to leave the Bulls, he was a very good player at that period of time? Or haven't the shaq-kobe relationship been a long time thread for the lakers? Or maybe the 1998/99 lakers were such a bad team? And if it's all about the players why didn't kobe led his team to their fourth title when it's obvious that the last season was one of the most successful for bryant (statistically and I heard y'all been yelling around him all the last season like he was a superstar which he never was but a selfish ballhogger)?

Tell you what: if PJ never was a good coach then why does he have more rings than Red (Phil's got 10 - one as a player)? You say it's because he has such a good feeling of what team's on the run and he joins that team. Then God bless him for his desire to head our team because it means we're gonna win a title this year.

a knick fan said:
the knicks don't have any superstars on the horizon. the roster is full of below average to above average players. this team aint goin nowhere in the near future, and phil surely knows that. maybe if isiah can bring in more talent, it would be a different situation.
I've got two more questions for you:
1. If Phil is that type of a coach that joins the team that's gonna become a champion (your statement) then why should he ask for joining us if we're "going nowhere"?
2. And Why have you chosen a "a knick fan" nickname if "this team is going nowhere"? How come a knick fan say something like that?

Peace
 

dr.carpy

Benchwarmer
I hate to say this but...You're all wrong. Phil Jackson wins cause he has the best horses. MJ, Pippen, Grant = The 3some in the NBA at the time MJ, Pippen, Rodman...same thing. Shaq, Kobe..you get the picture. A great coach wins regardless of the horses in the stable. Larry Brown did that last year. Winning when you're supposed too is unimpressive. Winning against the odds...that's legendary. Oh by the way Trinn_Starr omitted the fact that each time the rosters with all those teams changed, and players that are household names suddenly emerged. Like, Pippen, Grant, Rodman, Horry & some guy named Kobe. None of that was Phil Jackson doing. It was Jerry Krause & Jerry West. Don't believe that check Memphis. And Del Harris never coached the 2 for 1 season. That's like say John Gruden was the reason why Tampa Bay won the superbowl instead of Tony Dungy.
 

dr.carpy

Benchwarmer
By the way he (Phil Jackson) says he doesn't think the team is good enough yet. So, what he's really saying is once they prove that this team is something special. He'll try to come and take over..once he's guaranteed a hand withall the aces. What a LOSER!
 
i think that phil jackson would do a better coaching job than lenny wilkens, on the lakers he was the coach and they won back to back titles, and it wasn't just the players that won, they had him as their coach, i think he would be a great coach and i think that isiah thomas would be smart to pick him up ;)
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but answer me this!

So after the 1989 season, when Chicago got Horace, Pippen and MJ (all the horses as u say), why did Jerry Krause decide to fire Doug Collins and hire his assistant coach, Phil instead. Was he smoking crack?
I mean if I'm a GM and I know I got these top quality players on my squad, I want to find the best possible coach to lead them....and of all the coaches out there, Krause wanted Phil to lead them. As an assistant coach, Phil didn't hold weight to walk up to Krause and say hey fire Collins and make me coach! - It's the GM's job to pick the coach. Obviously Krause knew Phil had it in him to do great things with team, or else he would have went for a more distinguished coach at the timeor even just stuck with Doug Collins!
And Phil proved himself by winning the championship in his 1st year.

Then you also have to say that when the Lakers fired their coach after the 99 season, why did the Lakers GM aggressively seek out Phil to lead the team.
And since u said that Phil was not a good coach, then the lakers GM was really smoking crack for hiring this guy.
or was he looking for the best coach to lead his 2 superstars?

So let me see:
If I had to choose whose opinion was more accurate -
1. A person from knicksonline who says Phil is garbage
2. Or 2 distinguished GMs who make very critical decisions involving millions of dollars on a daily basis.

This is a tough one, but I would hope the GMs have some sense in them for their reasons in hiring Phil!
 

dr.carpy

Benchwarmer
I still think Phil a Loser. When faced with coaching younger players, he's always run and hide. There has to be a reason why. Simply put, if Jackson was the architect of success, then why doesn't he try to work his so called "magic" with an ordinary roster? Larry Brown did last year, Greg Popowvich does it with San Antonio, Flip Saunders in Minny. The actually mold young guys and nurture their careers. Who needs a guy who'll just rat guys out in some sissy book. What normal guy in the league would trust this fool now?? Phil Jackson is self serving, egomaniacal, jerk who once again has too make everything about him. Anyone who thinks by bringing him to NY means instant winner is crazy. I won't back down frow what I originally said, Players have to implement. Do you really think Starbury, Crawford, Houston, The thomas's are going to trust Phil? Change the coach sure. But there always a "next big thing" out there. I say we look for that guy instead. Oh By the way, He used a lot of Collins system that he employed the year before. So you're really proving my point for me. Again you prove me right with Lakers thing. guys came into their own. Read posts, then respond. I thought that was how this worked? And we're both just 2 folks with opinions on knicksonline. Relax if we were all saying the same thing, there would be no need to post.
 
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