[Amick] Phil Jackson: "[Rockets] have a chance to be in the Finals"

Phil knows we've swept the season series so far with OKC and LAC and the road to the Finals goes through SAS.

 

and so it begins.

 

you're such a tease...


Phil has better things to do.

 

Does he? Jackson has always gone to the teams with the best players. We are now one of those teams. I'm sure he misses the excitement of a run in the playoffs, with a chance of a title. If he could get a front office job with the Rocks and we go deep, possibly making it to the WC Finals, Jackson could once again bask in the glow, with his reputation being burnished yet again. Personally, I don't see either Jackson or the Rockets going that route, but you never know with Alexander. And as I said earlier, should there be a mid-season coaching change, for whatever reason, Jackson steps right into a great situation, without, yet again, having to do the heavy lifting to build a contending team. In my opinion.

 

I read part of the reasoning for Adelman departure was because of conflict with the stats based approach...and JVG coached us really in the transition period. I don't think we were organizationally in the same place then that we are now. Rudy T's son may have been involved but that speaks more to professional nepotism than anything else and I'm fairly certain the Lakers have been mentioned repeatedly as one of the teams behind the curve on the analytics revolution.

...I don't believe Morey is telling McHale when to play certain lineups but I think the scouting packets the players get(of which the Rockets are known to have one of the deeper packets), are also given to the coaches with added data about specific lineups and how they match up with the opponents. I don't think anyone is willing to say the stats should drive the team exclusively(least of all Morey), but I think consideration of the stats on equal footing with long time scouts is a mandatory part of coaching this team. In most cases, they are going to jive completely anyway but I think it has to be discussed when they don't.

 

IIRC, a big part of Adelman's disagreement with Morey was over roster instability. Adelman wanted the roster to be kept together so they can get some chemistry and compete at their best. Morey's view is that the roster needed to add an elite guy or two to have a real chance at the title and he needed to keep turning over the players for younger/future assets until the team finds such an elite player.

For example, Adelman wasn't happy about trading Battier for Thabert plus a pick and had the "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with him" response when asked about Thabeet.

I think the analytics in tactics part Morey and Adelman could have worked out. Morey himself said that if a coach's instincts were right (and he said that Adelman's often were) he'd be fine with the coach not relying as much on analytics. It's the roster direction part (stability vs. taking chances on high upside guys via asset trading) that they couldn't work out.

 

this is useless drivel. "lots of us want..."

 

Not true he saw them together in the last game. And it worked for the time it was used. maybe you didn't see it, but He did ! We saw it...and also how it can be used come playoffs. His analysis is spot on.

p.s. the Word is Know. What the heck are they teaching in English class these days ?.. Or are they still teaching English ?

 

LOL, Les/Morey doing that to troll that Lakers would be tremendous!

 

This should be getting more attention. PJ may be joining the team in a formal role...

 

Lol, Rudy T or Phil. Who wanna come.

 

I read Jackson's quote, "Rockets have a chance to be in the Finals in the West," to mean we had a chance to be in the Western Conf Finals???

 

Phil and Daryl can go recruit Pau Gasol together.

 

Here is Phil's take on NBA practice during the same interview, I found it's very interesting,

Phil Jackson Q&A.

 

NBA coaching is not one full time job, it is at least two full time jobs. Phil is almost 70. I am about McHales age and in much better shape than he is physically. And I can tell you 70 hour workweeks are much tougher now than they were 20 years ago. Long workweeks weigh more heavily on "older (more mature?)" people. I cannot imagine how Phil would hold up if he returned to coaching. Anyway, it is a personal decision for Phil. If he wants to coach again many teams would magically open up a spot for him. I would doubt he returns. He already can bask in the limelight any time he wants to publicly speak. Just my opinion.