Le$ has already proven he doesn't care about loyalty, and doesn't care about the history of the organization. That leaves "Just Win, Baby," and Phil Jackson is much better at that than JVG has ever been.
me too. i really expect the rox to make it to the WCF, at least.... depending how the off-season goes, naturally. if JVG cant get us there, then maybe we should give ol' philly-boy a ring-a-ding-ding.
I just dont see how this can happen. Unless Phil contacts Les showing that he will pick Rocket's job first. Then again, Phil has 9 rings, Yao and Tmac is nice, but I am sure he isnt that desperate. Enough this talk. Cant believe we are talking about this while JVG stuck his neck out for all your little fantasies.
Les is a great owner...he puts together good teams...and has made smart trades. While the Horry/Cassell trade for Barkley was a tough one, he really felt that this team couldn't get past Seattle as it was. Maybe he was right, but in any case, you can't blame the guy for making a blockbuster trade to capitalize on the last few years of an aging Hakeem. Yeah, I would have liked to see the team kept together and instead try to find help at the 4, but alas, no one will ever know. But Phil Jackson is the wrong coach for this team. Yao and T-mac need some stability. T-mac obviously likes his coach and Gundy is getting more out of him then anyone before. Yao's problems aren't coaching folks, it's his body, and PJ isn't going to persuade the Chinese gov't any more then Jeff Van Gundy. So you all need to stop harping for Phony Phil. I'd rather have a 1st rater coach who can take 2nd rate talent to the finals then a 2nd rate coach who can win with first rate talent. We don't need Phil, we need some better players to support Yao and T-mac.
Using the only scale that matters: Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach are first rate coaches. RT and Popovich are second rate coaches. JVG is a third rate coach, tied with every guy who's ever strapped the tie on and not won a damn thing. "Just win, baby"
9 rings, led his team in NBA finals four of last five years. I have the same question as Shaq does: tell me which active coach achieved the same? None. JVG is a great coach, but he is not Phil Jackson, not even close. I only worry about the timing, I doubt Les will fire JVG and give him 8M for free. Plus Phil will ask for 10M and Les isn't very rich.
we have people on this board that coudl win rings with Freaking jordan/pippen/Rodman and Shaq/Kobe it dont make big Chief triangle special....his pet system isnt even his....it came from Tex Winter. you people are so easily bamboozled...I have more respect for a coach that takes a bunch of players and gets them to over-achieve than a guy that comes along when the stars are ready and goes along for the ride.
I guess this means the Spurs should go ahead and fire Gregg Popavich so they can go after Phil Jackson in the offseason.
FYI, 9.... Anyways, even if Phil came in right now we're still a few key players away from seriously challenging for a ring. I doubt, if the roster stayed the same and Phil coached them instead of JVG, that they would have gone to the finals. Maybe we could have gone beyond the 1rst round, MAYBE reach the WCF or I'll even concede going to the finals, but I seriously doubt winning the whole thing. Phil knows he has to have the right players in order to win, even beyond his superstars that he always has. Phil's magic can only be so good to a certain extent, that Detroit final showed that. I just don't want him to push for a Derek Fisher trade or entice Ron Harper out of retirement, he has a knack for wanting former players that played for him on his teams, ala JVG. Last thing I want is Slavo Medvedenko as our starting 4.
Sure fire Hall of Famer, 9 championships. Overrated, I think not. Still to pay the guy 10M per is obscene and Les ain't paying it even if this is a tailor made situation for Phil with 2 stars in residence and just a couple of pieces away from getting to the big show.
Please no Phil in Houston. Hell, It's taken me two years to find a way to warm to JVG. Gumby deserves another year unless Brown were to fall into our lap.
Yeah, and who was coaching those teams? Kurt Rambis? Del Harris? C'mon dude, one of many many coaches could have brought the ring to L.A.... Adelman Pop Rudy-T Gundy 1 Gundy 2 Riley Brown Rick C Mike D Any of those coaches and more could have won titles with Shaq and Kobe. PJ was 3 for 5....nice, but not super duper considering he had the two best players in the league. PJ got lucky man, he got 6 rings on the back of the greatest player to ever play the game, and then cashed in on that to get 3 more. Yeah, he's a good coach. Great coach? No way....he couldn't win his last two years with the Lakers, and he couldn't win in Chicago without Dennis Rodman (even having Jordan!). Peope talk about how great Phil is, but the fact is, Red would have gone 5 for 5 with that Laker team. So you can really say that Phil is only 60% of the coach that Red is. I think Gundy, who took a crap team to the finals - an 8th seed lead by ALLEN HOUSTON!!!!! has got to be considered as one of the most phenomal coaches.
Great, so you are kinda saying that Rudy could have taken the Lakers to the next level too.....wait...what's ironic about that statement?
