Ramona Shelburne from ESPN L.A. has a little report about former Laker coach Phil Jackson.
Phil Jackson still happily retired. But he’d listen if Nets call. Process with Lakers “got him thinking about coaching again” source says.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) December 27, 2012
Of course, Phil Jackson is going to be a target by a team that needs a coach. Of course, Phil Jackson’s name is going to be tossed around when a team needs a coach. He’s only the winningest coach in NBA history and has an impressive resume of, oh, I don’t know, 11 championship rings? Six with the Bulls? Five with the Lakers?
But quite frankly, unless Phil gets hired, this really shouldn’t be news to anybody. Avery Johnson (who was fired by Brooklyn earlier today) won’t be the last coach to get fired in the NBA and once another NBA coaching job opens up, Phil Jackson’s name will come up once again. And it will be like this for years to come until he really is too old to coach and can’t handle the travel anymore (which he already had openly complained about). He is open to returning to coaching, for what it’s worth but I really doubt the “perfect situation” will come up anytime soon.
This isn’t Laker-related but if you’ve seen the Nets play, it’s not exactly a championship contender. They weren’t going to turn heads this season although a 14-14 record is quite disappointing for Brooklyn. While they should be better, they’re not exactly at the edge of contending for the title, either. So this is a job Phil Jackson won’t take; especially since the Triangle offense isn’t exactly predicated on a pure point guard like Deron Williams.
Phil Jackson was thought to be hired (95 percent chance!) as the Lakers head coach after Mike Brown got fired. Instead, Mike D’Antoni was hired, stunning Jackson.
