Ailene Voisin: Jackson chose the wrong California team to coach
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, June 15, 2005
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - As it turns out, not even Phil Jackson wins them all. He lost the NBA championship series - and his job - in this very Palace a year ago. He lost a few of his closest friends (at least temporarily) with a locker room exposé a few months after that. And now, surely, he has lost his mind.
Back to the Shaqless Lakers? Back to Kobe? There are challenges, and then there is clueless.
There are visions, and then there are blind spots.
Jackson took the wrong job.
The Kings are more appealing on paper, more promising in the box scores. Be sure to check back next January, when Kobe is dribbling the Lakers to another slow death, Lamar Odom is grumbling about shots, Vlade Divac is clutching his ailing back, Shaq is powering the Miami Heat to the title, and the celebrities who rally 'round ever so briefly create gridlock with their collective dash for the exits.
In fact, of all the organizations that approached Jackson during his one-year sabbatical - virtually every team with a vacancy (Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, New York, Minnesota, etc.), and a few willing to create one - the Kings offered the most balanced roster, the most accomplished general manager, the most loyal fan base and an arena that creaks and leaks, but unlike the atmosphere of sterile Staples Center never is confused with a church.
If he missed the high-stakes game that badly, Jackson should have rolled the dice with the Maloofs, matched wits with Geoff Petrie, taught that triangle offense to Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Brad Miller and whatever assemblage of Kings takes the court next season. And imagine with someone insisting that the Kings play a little defense? Or, OK, a lot of defense?
It would have been interesting, even fascinating, the small-market team and its town. It would have been like paying off a debt - Phil still owes the Kings one for stealing out of Arco with the Western Conference championship in 2002 - and, in another sense, like paying it forward. Jackson's political aspirations only would have been enhanced in the capital city, and one can only assume, his prospects for governor, senator, congressman, or even water board chairman, fueled by the Democratic fund-raising mechanisms of the Maloofs. And they tried, they really tried.
"I thought it was necessary that we at least talk to him," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Tuesday, "because he is probably the best basketball coach around. Geoff (Petrie) talked to him for a good length of time. But he was always the Lakers' to lose. We knew that from the beginning. We knew it was a long shot."
Actually, it was a pretty short list, and not always such a long shot. In January, before Rudy Tomjanovich resigned, Jeanie Buss, daughter of the Lakers' owner, was nudging her boyfriend onto that one-hour flight to Sacramento. And according to sources close to the situation, after Jackson returned from his spring vacation to Australia, he surveyed his opportunities, almost immediately removed Orlando and Cleveland from the list of contenders, and then began working a room that included Sacramento.
Portland and Minnesota never gained much momentum. Chicago - and had Scott Skiles left in a huff, that would have been attractive - never materialized. That left three choices, none of them ideal, none of them featuring a Jordan-Pippen, Yao-McGrady or even Shaq-Kobe on-court combination.
The New York Knicks were the sentimental favorite, the allure of being the club for which he played, and in a major metropolitan area. But the Knicks have Stephon Marbury, wacky ownership, and a hellish salary-cap situation. The Kings, well, everyone knows about the Kings (small market, lousy arena, no superstars). Then there were the Lakers, far from perfect, but forever the favorites because of familiarity, salary, and, apparently, Jeanie.
Never underestimate the power of a woman, particularly when she's the boss' daughter. Ring or no ring, Jackson credited Jeanie with keeping the romance alive - his and hers, his and her father's Lakers - throughout the process.
Kobe is another matter. Coaching Kobe is a nightmare, as Jackson so bluntly stated in his bestseller, the one that exposed all that ailed the Lakers during their soap opera 2003-04 season. There was Kobe, the individual. There was Shaq, overweight, out of sorts. There was Gary Payton, a pain in the fleshiest parts of the anatomy. There was Karl Malone, built like a brick but too old to last. There was owner Jerry Buss, refusing to extend the coach's contract, leaving Jackson unappreciated, and soon enough, unemployed.
Yet Jackson is here again, already working on his lines, perhaps preparing for that sequel. "I can't think of anything more intriguing that was offered to me," he said during his televised news conference. "It wasn't about the money (nah!). It was about the intrigue of this situation. ... It's a story of reconciliation, redemption. It's a story of reuniting. (There) are a lot of things in this that make for a wonderful opportunity for the team, for the Lakers and myself."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13068037p-13913516c.html
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, June 15, 2005
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - As it turns out, not even Phil Jackson wins them all. He lost the NBA championship series - and his job - in this very Palace a year ago. He lost a few of his closest friends (at least temporarily) with a locker room exposé a few months after that. And now, surely, he has lost his mind.
Back to the Shaqless Lakers? Back to Kobe? There are challenges, and then there is clueless.
There are visions, and then there are blind spots.
Jackson took the wrong job.
The Kings are more appealing on paper, more promising in the box scores. Be sure to check back next January, when Kobe is dribbling the Lakers to another slow death, Lamar Odom is grumbling about shots, Vlade Divac is clutching his ailing back, Shaq is powering the Miami Heat to the title, and the celebrities who rally 'round ever so briefly create gridlock with their collective dash for the exits.
In fact, of all the organizations that approached Jackson during his one-year sabbatical - virtually every team with a vacancy (Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, New York, Minnesota, etc.), and a few willing to create one - the Kings offered the most balanced roster, the most accomplished general manager, the most loyal fan base and an arena that creaks and leaks, but unlike the atmosphere of sterile Staples Center never is confused with a church.
If he missed the high-stakes game that badly, Jackson should have rolled the dice with the Maloofs, matched wits with Geoff Petrie, taught that triangle offense to Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Brad Miller and whatever assemblage of Kings takes the court next season. And imagine with someone insisting that the Kings play a little defense? Or, OK, a lot of defense?
It would have been interesting, even fascinating, the small-market team and its town. It would have been like paying off a debt - Phil still owes the Kings one for stealing out of Arco with the Western Conference championship in 2002 - and, in another sense, like paying it forward. Jackson's political aspirations only would have been enhanced in the capital city, and one can only assume, his prospects for governor, senator, congressman, or even water board chairman, fueled by the Democratic fund-raising mechanisms of the Maloofs. And they tried, they really tried.
"I thought it was necessary that we at least talk to him," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Tuesday, "because he is probably the best basketball coach around. Geoff (Petrie) talked to him for a good length of time. But he was always the Lakers' to lose. We knew that from the beginning. We knew it was a long shot."
Actually, it was a pretty short list, and not always such a long shot. In January, before Rudy Tomjanovich resigned, Jeanie Buss, daughter of the Lakers' owner, was nudging her boyfriend onto that one-hour flight to Sacramento. And according to sources close to the situation, after Jackson returned from his spring vacation to Australia, he surveyed his opportunities, almost immediately removed Orlando and Cleveland from the list of contenders, and then began working a room that included Sacramento.
Portland and Minnesota never gained much momentum. Chicago - and had Scott Skiles left in a huff, that would have been attractive - never materialized. That left three choices, none of them ideal, none of them featuring a Jordan-Pippen, Yao-McGrady or even Shaq-Kobe on-court combination.
The New York Knicks were the sentimental favorite, the allure of being the club for which he played, and in a major metropolitan area. But the Knicks have Stephon Marbury, wacky ownership, and a hellish salary-cap situation. The Kings, well, everyone knows about the Kings (small market, lousy arena, no superstars). Then there were the Lakers, far from perfect, but forever the favorites because of familiarity, salary, and, apparently, Jeanie.
Never underestimate the power of a woman, particularly when she's the boss' daughter. Ring or no ring, Jackson credited Jeanie with keeping the romance alive - his and hers, his and her father's Lakers - throughout the process.
Kobe is another matter. Coaching Kobe is a nightmare, as Jackson so bluntly stated in his bestseller, the one that exposed all that ailed the Lakers during their soap opera 2003-04 season. There was Kobe, the individual. There was Shaq, overweight, out of sorts. There was Gary Payton, a pain in the fleshiest parts of the anatomy. There was Karl Malone, built like a brick but too old to last. There was owner Jerry Buss, refusing to extend the coach's contract, leaving Jackson unappreciated, and soon enough, unemployed.
Yet Jackson is here again, already working on his lines, perhaps preparing for that sequel. "I can't think of anything more intriguing that was offered to me," he said during his televised news conference. "It wasn't about the money (nah!). It was about the intrigue of this situation. ... It's a story of reconciliation, redemption. It's a story of reuniting. (There) are a lot of things in this that make for a wonderful opportunity for the team, for the Lakers and myself."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13068037p-13913516c.html
