What a disaster. It's not like the Rockets, where a young, thin team loses their franchise player like what happened last year, this is the reigning 3-Time World Champions we're talking about here! I mean no adjustments, no knew style, no nothing. At this rate the Lakers are going to be so screwed up they're going to be out of sync and playing like crap even when Shaq returns. See, this is what happens when you run everybody out anddon't get or keep a 3rd scorer. I don't think the Lakers would be in the mess they're in if they had kept one of their old players as a 3rd scorer, like Eddie Jones, or Elden Campbell.
Phil isn't the one that's shooting 38% from the field, nor is he jacking up almost 26 shots per game at a monumental 43% clip... That's one of the downfalls of having your offense based around the center. When the center isn't there to attract double teams, it's a lot easier to guard everybody else. The entire supporting cast was custom taylored for Shaq. Without him, they don't know what do to on the floor. Shaq gets a lot of heat for being too one dimensional and shoving everyone around, but this season proves that he is a true leader and makes his teammates better. Can't put the blame on Phil for this one...
You can say the same thing about Rudy, but people pile on him. It wasn't Rudy's fault with all of the injuries. But it goes back to this, when you exclusively build your offense around one player, when you have another All-Star player like Kobe you're asking for trouble. If Jackson had expanded the system so that Kobe was a key go-to guy in the system then they could have survived this. Orlando without Grant Hill did just fine, and it shows that if you don't build your team around just one player you can survive the hard times.
This is a great point. It proves to all those people that Shaq is the one responsible for the championships- not Phil or Kobe. And MJ was just as responsible for the Bulls championships. I mean, Phil's a decent coach, but he's not even on Red Auerbach's level. How hard is it say "give it to Shaq and get out of the way"?
I have said all along that Phil isnt as great of a coach as he is made out to be. In all of his championship runs, he has had the best player in the planet. I would like to see what he could do with a team like the Heat or the Knicks.
If Phil was such a great coach (the greatest ever, as some say), he'd be getting more out of his team, especially considering he's still got a top 5 player. Either a) Phil isn't that great of a coach, or b) Bryant isn't a top 5 player. Of course, "c) all of the above" is also a possibility.
It's a pretty balanced article... http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...,0,6175627.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba Kobe Stars as Reluctant Virtuoso Bryant has been forced into some unusual habits by O'Neal's absence, but he still expects teammates to deliver at some point. By Tim Brown, Times Staff Writer Kobe Bryant had three stitches taken out of his mouth Monday, and he couldn't wait to get to Dallas so he could get into a weight room, and his eyes were bright enough to be taken for hopeful. This sudden phenomenon where his teammates can't make an open jump shot is a bit wearing for him, and the defense, well, Yao Ming, for crying out loud, and that's all he'd have to say about that. And, he might be reluctant to admit it, but it seems the Dallas Mavericks will win the NBA championship of November, they being 10-0, with the 3-7 and very vulnerable Lakers next up at American Airlines Center. If they were the Sacramento Kings, they'd consider raising a banner. These are still the Lakers, half-game out of last place though they may be. They often speak with the perspective of the last three NBA titles. Recently, in the hallways of Staples Center, a visiting NBA coach compared his raft of injuries to the Lakers'. The difference, he said: "They've got the cavalry coming." So far, though, Bryant has gone it largely alone. In 10 games of heavy lifting, Bryant leads the team in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, minutes, lip sutures, hammer dunks and referee glares. He has taken three times as many shots as anyone else. A tri-captain alongside one who has missed every game (Shaquille O'Neal) and another who missed the first six (Rick Fox), Bryant has scolded teammates and ignored them and challenged them privately and publicly. He has passed to them without conscience and frozen them out, all of them, for quarters at a time. The national media — well, one judgmental soul — buried him for the 29 shots he took in the Lakers' first game, and Bryant has taken 37 or more three times since, without a care. Not only do his teammates not blame him for his aggression, Bryant said, "I've gotten a couple of apologies." So they get where he's coming from? He laughed. "I don't really care that they understand how I feel," he said. "I want them to knock down open shots. No, honestly, we'll be a much better team because of this." Asked if he were disappointed in his teammates — Brian Shaw is the notable exception to the otherwise roster-wide shooting issues — Bryant said, "I think we can play much better. We're not. Am I disappointed? Yeah, I'm disappointed. But there's nothing I can do about it, nothing we can do about it but move on to the next game and try to enjoy playing. Just relax and shots will go down for us." With O'Neal aiming for a Friday return against Chicago at Staples Center, it would seem there is no November problem that can't be solved in December, January and February. If Bryant has alienated a teammate or two with his make-a-jumper-or-stand-back crusade, it isn't evident, and he probably wouldn't care. The man's leaving pieces of tooth on the floor and in Antawn Jamison's scalp. Still, Bryant understands. It's not that he's forgotten the men around him, he simply believes that it may not be their time. "This team is built to be able to play around Shaquille O'Neal," he said. "Outside of myself. I just kind of developed into my own a little bit. But everybody here is orchestrated to play around the big fella. That's why we're so good when he's here. Are we vulnerable now that he's out? Absolutely. But when he gets back, all of a sudden the people you look at as being vulnerable, now they're strengths. They come to the forefront. "I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to keep us in ballgames. If guys are hitting shots I'm going to keep going to them. If not, obviously I have to be more aggressive to try to keep us in the game." One gets the impression Coach Phil Jackson at times misses the old triple-double Bryant, but doesn't have the heart to reel him back in, either. After all, the 11 guys other than Bryant are shooting 37.6%, including Shaw's 46.3% and Slava Medvedenko's 44.6%. "Kobe's trying to make us competitive," Jackson said. "But a lot of guys are doing their job rebounding, trying to do the job defensively, that process. Kobe, who went from being a playmaker triple threat just a week ago, has really felt like he's had to shoulder a lot of responsibility shooting the ball and scoring for us. That's a whole different set of works there, because it makes it difficult to play alongside of him, as a teammate." It seems Bryant won't worry about that. Before this season, they were at least a .500 team in the games O'Neal missed. Now, they're hovering just above the Golden State Warriors, Bryant with a handful of guys who can't create their own shots, in an offense that by definition is supposed to produce open shots. As he walked away on Monday afternoon, Bryant seemed inspired by the whole thing. "I feel good," he said, grinning. "I feel like a monster."
I won't say that Phil is a great coach but let's be fair. In 1994, the Jordan-less Bulls took the Knicks to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
If Phil was such a magician, couldn't he have gone to the Grizzlies and turned that team into a playoff contender? Nope. Go for the sure thing.
Either way a defending championship team will learn how to get back in championship form in the finish.
Phil said he has not been putting out his "A" coaching game this season. He regrets any disappointment and promises to start using all his skills on 11/22/02 against the Bulls.
I hate Phil Jackson as much as anybody, but come on. Everyone knows that for playoff locks like the Lakers, it doesn't really matter until the playoffs begin. And when the playoffs begin, the Lakers will be the Lakers again with Shaq at full-strength (except for his toe) and the galloping Mavs will still be bounced out of the playoffs before the Western Conference Finals. No one on the Lakers team really gives a s*** right now, including Kobe, although he's trying to win. Phil certainly doesn't. If he weren't a coach for the playoffs, he wouldn't specialize in coaching teams of marquee players. It's the same with the Olympics. He's considered coaching for the Olympic team, but he's too good to be an asst. coach. He likes the top seat when it matters, and really doesn't care for anything else. When it comes down to it, that's his choice, and he's entitled to it. Like Shaq, he's good at what he does (mind games, getting troubled stars to work with each other, running Tex Winters' triangle with talent who can execute it). But he's still an arrogant prick and I can't stand him. 3-8, however, doesn't say jack about anything, and we all know it.
If it's not Phil who's doing that then who is???? You think he's handed the playbook over to Kobe since Shaq went down... actually... that might be right... Jackson, "You know what fellas, I'm not coaching till the big guy is out there - Kobe, you take over" Kobe, "Alright guys, now I'll shoot and you go glass..." Surely Jackson has to bear some of the blame for Kobe's actions? If he didn't approve then he could use the pine.
I know it was only a few years ago, but that was a different NBA. Can't compare either coast in their current stature to what they were like back then. That being said, Phil still had Pippen who was having a MVP-like season, only other player playing better was the Dream.
