"Well I think (the chances he retires after this season are) pretty good. It's really about how I feel about getting into another 82 game season. It's a commitment. As you guys know, it's not about this last month of April, May, and part of June to coach. That's exciting, fun, challenging, and you've got a team in a seven game series that brings out all those ideas and percolates things as a coach. But it's those other 82 games, the exhibition season, and being in five different cities in eight different nights or seven different nights. It kinda wears and tears and kinda creates a life that gets a little bit ragged and a little bit jagged. Obviously I have the pace of that. I know a lot about it having done it for a large part of my life, maybe 35 years of my adult life. I've got a little bit of the rhythm of it, but it is something that I think about as the season gets to the end. You know last road trip and stuff like that. You wonder is there a time where you just feel like I've had enough, I just don't want to do it anymore. It's enough is enough." http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....ing-after-this-season-we-give-up-guessing.php
I kind of hope he does retire, just to answer the question of how good his coaching really is. If there is a sharp drop-off for the Lakers, that can go along way in validating his coaching career.
I would argue that there will be sharp drop-off, regardless. You are replacing one of the greatest coaches ever...with who? And why would this new guy even have the respect of Kobe and co.? You would have to bring an accomplished guy in like Pat Riley, which I just don't see happening.
i hope he does, just so the west will be a little easier to win next year. who might they target as his replacement? rambis isn't an option anymore. are there any other coaches with championship level experience available?
Agree with Shasta. Kobe is not getting any younger/better than he is right now and the Lakers team as a whole is aging. Is their age enough to warrant a drop next season? I think so with the exception of Bynum and Shannon Brown. They really need a new young energetic starting PG. With the exception of Kobe, Artest and Gasol, I think the role players can be replaced quite easily. Even if Phil stays after this season, there is no doubt that the Lakers will drop off from what they've shown us the past three years. Would this be a good time to call it quits and preserve a legacy as one of the greatest if not the greatest coach of all time? Sure. Would it harm his legacy if he stayed? Probably not but it would give people a second thought about if it was his coaching or just the players he had during his coaching career.
I think you underestimate the importance of coaching in a team like the Lakers. Aside from Gasol and Fisher, most of the players there have some major issues. Kobe, Bynum and Artest are divas and have a tendency to break plays and look for their own shot, the bench is suspect and Odom has a tendency to go to la-la land in his own mind. As the other poster said, who would you replace PJ with that has the resume to command respect in the locker room? The eternally unhappy Larry Brown and JVG really are the only two people I can see coaching them. With that said, I don't think PJ retires next season. He's always saying that, but every year he always comes back. The fact is, PJ is also as big a diva and limelight hog as Kobe. I think he'll be coaching in LA as long as they want him there.
Phil knows the Lakers are going to fall off pretty hard next season no matter who is coaching (unless they grab another All Star for nothing). Kobe is officially in decline mode and if you think he's dinged up now just wait until next season when he is a year older and has another season's worth of mileage on his legs. Unlike many players, Phil Jackson knows to leave while he is on top.
Phil will keep coaching until Kobe retires but he may stay home for certain road trips like what was planned before the season until Rambis took the Minny job. But yeah I see the gap between the rest of the teams and the Lakers getting smaller and smaller, unless they shore up that bench and the PG position.
Kobe declining? ¿? Consider that the next coach will take Phil's legacy, his work and achievements in terms of chemistry, IQ and player development (Bynum , Pau, Lamar, Kobe...),offensive and defensive parameters, winning mentality, etc, etc....
Perfect time for Mike Brown to step in and prove that he's not LerBon's product. Now he can be a product of Kobe and Gasol.
If the Lakers get a legit PG and finally let Fisher go, how do you define falling off pretty hard? I would argue they have a very good chance of being Finals favorites again from the Western Conference if PJ stays. A Kobe/Pau/Bynum/Odom/Artest rotation is a great 2/3/4/5 combination. Their rotation at PG next season will likely be better than their current trash-heap of Fisher/Farmar/Shannon Brown. They don't need an All-Star at PG next year, just someone who isn't a pile of garbage like Fisher. I'm not saying they will even equal this year's team (although that is quite possible), but I don't see them falling hard.
Why would he retire when he could very possibly be on the verge of a fourth three-peat this offseason? Anyway...I'm not a fan of his, but I'd like to point out that Phil Jackson has 10 of the last 19 NBA titles. Two of those 9 years he didn't win were when he was retired. Another two years ended in the NBA Finals, albeit in losses. Two of the remaining 5, he gracefully bowed out early in fear/awe of the unstoppable force that was Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.
