If JVG fails and gets fired, would you want Phil Jackson?

If?
Try "when."

 

Phil wins championships with the most dominating players in the league. Well, the Rockets have two of the most dominating players in the league. I'm ok with winning a few championships, give me Phil Jackson if JVG can't get it done.

 

Phil Jackson is a fraud, the last two seasons in Los Angeles exposed him.

 

Will the Triangle Offense work in Houston?


The answer to that question is the answer to the poll.

 

How many championships did it bring to LA with two similar players.

 

we complained about Rudy's X's and O's. We'll riot if phil comes in.

 

Given that logic, Rudy T would be even more of a fraud for his last four seasons here.

Every coach has his strength. Taking an amazing group of talent and getting them to play together and win it all is Phil's strength. He's also one of the best at making adjustments in the league.

But I still hate the guy for the same reason you do. Because he's an opportunist and has never built a team from scratch. And he's got that hippy California zen attitude which isn't my preference for basketball coaches.

 

Nice post and my thoughts exactly. Everybody hates him but he does get the job done.

 

Who "built a team from scratch" and won it all? No coach is allowed to do that, as if you don't win it all immediately with your guys, you are shown the door. Poppovich may come closest (since he drafted Duncan), but he too had David Robinson given to him.

If we are going to ignore loyalty and go the "Les Alexander way," I think this organization should push and push hard for the man with the most rings since Auerbach.

 

The triangle is the best option for a passing center and a shooting guard. If I could dump JVG right now, for Phil I would. I'm afraid JVG is going to try to force post play on our finesse center, and make Tmac jack up bombs, or run around Yao picks. Ugh. That's disgusting. Only an imbecile would take an offense built for a point and power forward and run it for a shooting guard and finesse center, but I have a real feal that's what we'll get.

 

HELL NO!!! Never liked that arrogant SOB...I hate him with about the same amount of hate I have for Karla.

 

Hey, that's our imbecile.

Having said that, this is the first truly talented offensive team JVG has ever had. If he pulls a "Jimy Williams" on the Rockets' offense, he should be shown the door.

 

I hate this arguement. How many rings did MJ get before Phil Jackson arrived? ZERO! How many rings did Shaq and Kobe get before Phil arrived? ZERO! That can't be discredited. You have to be an unbelievable coach to command the respect of all those guys. I don't know that anything is more remarkable than getting Kobe and Shaq to work well enough together to win three championships together. Those guys both have incredible egos. As to why he didn't win with Malone too, nobody could have. That team was falling apart at the seams. There was no chemistry. They all hated each other and Malone was injured to top it off. Phil Jackson has 9 rings. 9. Larry Brown is an unbelievable coach and he only has 1 now. 9 rings cannot be discredited. It cannot be argued with. You can talk all you want about how talented his teams were but there have been other teams with great talent that didn't win anything. Say what you will, but Phil Jackson got results.

And while I agree that Jerry Sloan is a great coach, he had John Stockton and Karl Malone together for their entire careers and never won a ring. Having 18 years of two of the top 50 players of all time should get you a ring.

 

Plenty of coaches do this, just not in the modern NBA. Look at college sports, football, Olympic sports, etc. You're never going to see a movie like "Miracle" about Phil Jackson, even though so many call him the best coach in the NBA.

But if you want to argue semantics, fine. Phil Jackson has never rebuilt a team. He's never coached a losing team and made them a winner.

 

Phil rided on MJ to get six rings.

Phil rided on Shaq and Kobe to get another three rings.

I don't mind Phil riding on Yao and T-Mac to get few more rings in Houston.

 

Excellent topic...I was thinking about this the other day.

In looking at his history, Jackson will only return to a coach in a situation where the elite talent is in place to IMMEDIATELY become a title contender.

Right off the bat that eliminates almost every team in the NBA, excluding the following, for at least the next 2 years:

MIA
DAL
SAC
SA
UTAH
IND
DET
PHO
DEN
HOU
MEM
MIN

You can further reduce this list by eliminating the following teams:

SA - Pop is GM and coach, so chances are he isn't going to fire himself for Phil.

Utah - Sloan is an icon, and even if he quit b/c of his wife's recent death, I don't think SLC provides enough glamour to stroke Phil's ego.

DET - Brown, coming off a title, has at least another 2-3 years before he abandons this team to continue his nomadic career.

MEM - Unlikely Jerry West would ever hire the man who essentially forced him out of LA.

PHO - Although talented, they lack the one true superstar who can carry a championship, so I doubt Phil would chance ruining his rep on a team with a history of underachieving.

That leaves the following destinations:
MIA
DAL
SAC
IND
DEN
HOU
MIN

Let's rank these destinations, examing Pros/Cons for the team and Phil:

MIA - The Shaq factor is huge...everyone knows he loves Phil, and vice versa. But Pat Riley also has a rather large ego, so I doubt he would hire someone who might overshadow him. Besides Stan VG has probably earned at least 2 more years, unless the Heat completely collapse next year.

DAL - Phil and Cuban have a long history of war-of-words, but don't think for a second Mark would spare any expense if the opportunity was there to bring in another star, even as the coach. However, it seems the Nelson clan has a good hold on this franchise, so at least for the immediate future, it looks like the Nelsons won't be leaving, even for the Zen master.

SAC - A very strong contender, IMO. Adelman is already in trouble, the team has a ton of coachable talent, and the Maloofs share Cuban's zeal in making a big splash. The only drawback for Phil could be the rapidly closing window: Vlade's already gone, and older guys like CWebb and Christie won't be around much longer. Still, any team with a young foundation of Peja, Bibby, and BMiller will be contenders for a while.

IND - Certainly have the talent to appeal to Phil. Also, by coming to the East, Phil's challenge becomes infinitely less daunting in the playoffs. But Larry Bird runs this team, and although I don't remember any friction between the two, Larry already ran off Isiah. A definite possibility though.

DEN - Probably the frontrunner, if Phil is interested. The chance to coach an up-and-coming team built around Carmelo and Kmart is definitely right up Phil's alley. Carmelo has a chance to be in the Jordan/Shaq/Kobe class of player, and with Bzedelnik clearly a lame-duck, it's just a matter of whether or not Phil would accept.

MIN - Any team with KG is always going to contend, but Minny just doesn't seem to have enough glamour to attract Phil. The proximity to his Montana ranch could help, as would the opportunity to coach Garnett, but I can't see Flip leaving anytime soon, so I call this one a longshot.

HOU - From a talent standpoint, this team is probably the most attractive to Phil. We all know about the Shaq/Kobe comparisons with Yao and Tmac, and this could be the ideal situation for Phil to come in and take an immensely talented team to the next level. JVG would have to fail tremendously to get canned in the next 2 years, but I would say that is the only major obstacle to Phil becoming the next Rockets coach. Co-leader, along with Denver.


So, to recap, this is my final ranking of Phil's likely next destination:

1A - Denver
1B - Houston
3 - Sacramento
4 - Miami
5 - Indiana
6 - Dallas
7 - Minnesota

Personally, I hate his smug, pretentious a$$, but if JVG can't do it, I'd give Phil a chance.

What do you guys think...where will Phil coach next?

 

What they said.

 

McGrady's greatness has already been guaranteed. If Phil ever wants to come to Houston, you can bet that Yao's greatness will have already been guaranteed at that time.

The argument of Jackson's critics is that many coaches could have won championships with two of the most dominating players in the league. If so, why do we need Phil?

You left out a very important qualifier: "with two of the top 5 players in the league." He didn't just lost in those series with a small margin. He lost with two top players on the team getting their butts kicked. (Notice I'm not even factoring in the other two HOFers because you could argue that they weren't the same players they used to be.) That's how the last two playoffs exposed him.

I'd rather have some other coaches to ride on Yao and T-Mac's coattail.

 

How so? McGrady hasn't even gotten out of the 1st round yet, and he has the distinction of being one of the only, if not the only, scoring champ on a last place team. Talent doesn't equal greatness, that's why Dominique Wilkins wasn't included in the 50 greatest player list.