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Phil’s coming back

July 3rd, 2009, 11:06 am · 5 Comments · posted by Mark Whicker, ocregister.com

ESPN is reporting that Phil Jackson is 99.9 percent certain to come back as Lakers’ coach next year, as expected.

Considering what he’s getting paid and who he’s coaching, this was a fairly easy call. As long as Jackson doesn’t need a walker to get onto the court, he’ll be around as long as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are.jacksonblog

The wins and losses get to Jackson like they do anybody else. He just has a different personality, a greater sense of the big picture, than most other coaches. He knows he’s not going to get fired, which certainly calms the blood pressure, and he appreciates the process of putting together a team, of seeing the improvement of young players like Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza. That gets him through the year as much as any personal ambitions.

He also knows that teams need to withstand losses and  bad times, and they can’t do so if the coach panics.

Plus, Jackson isn’t exactly operating solo, like Norman Dale in “Hoosiers.” He has a full bus full of assistants, and Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis pick up more responsibility each year.

So Jackson will go for 11 championships. All of  the previous 10 had two common threads: He had the best players, and they were allowed, encouraged and persuaded to be the best players by their head coach.

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Posted in: Lakers
 
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 5 Comments

  • Lhhman says:
    July 3, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    So, is Jackson coming back good news or bad news?

    And Mark - they booted Ariza out.
    And Andrew needs to improve greatly - mentally as well as physically - I was a fan of his - but he has disappointed me lately.

    • Mark Whicker, ocregister.com says:
      July 3, 2009 at 6:07 pm

      Good news, obviously, for Laker fans

      • J-Dizzle says:
        July 4, 2009 at 5:21 am

        Andrew needs to get healthy. Once he’s healthy, the mental aspect of his game will be fine. You shouldn’t be disappointed. He was limited due to that injury and that damn brace. Here’s to a full healthy season and future ones as well.

  • Larry Barber says:
    July 3, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    Phil is needed to keep things calm. We need Lamar back as well.

    And the mind set is not to *defend* the title but to win the 2010 Title. Defending something becomes a mentally defensive focus; that’s a hollow approach. Claiming something is an assertive, affirmative approach. Subtle, but important. Let’s go get it.

  • Frankie says:
    July 4, 2009 at 9:33 am

    Correction, Ariza was not booted out, He was a victim of his stupid agent David Lee who is now learning like Shaq that if you start pushing the Lakers’ around, they will push back. A stupid and arrogant ploy backfire because the agent never bothered to research lakers’ history in negotiating with their players.
    Welcome Coach Jackson!!!!
    Go Lakers!!!