this is all part of the lakers master plan to get kg added to kobe. after another season of mediocrity in minny, kg is gonna be sick of it. while he won't have the leverage of walking away for nothing that tmac had, they've never done much with him anyway and having him pissed off won't help matters. kg will say send me to LA since they have a championship history, a championship coach, and an all-NBA sg. so the lakers throw in odom and whoever they get in this years draft plus next years pick to get the salary match and talent for kg, then throw in brian grant's then expiring contract for wally's massive contract, which basically allows minny to start over with young talent and some cap room. the lakers have another great team for the next couple of years. hopefully it doesn't happen, b/c i don't wanna deal with kobe and kg in the playoffs. but they're the lakers, things always seem to go well for them somehow.
Phil Jackson has an extraordinary ability to know whether his team will be title contenders. As he has shown time and time again, if he doesn't think a team has a chance for the title, he won't coach it. Period. I think Phil Jackson is a great coach, but I think he's an even better judge of people and situations. If he thinks he can win in L.A. again, it's hard to bet against the man who has won nine NBA titles. He just doesn't put himself into situations where he can fail. I see no way that the current Lakers roster has any shot at the Finals next year, but a motivated and focused Kobe Bryant guarantees them 45-50 wins. Regardless of Kobe's power grabs and ego trips, he's one of the top 2-3 players in the world right now. And Jackson has proven (with three titles) that he knows how to coach him. If GM Kobe Kupchak makes a few shrewd deals, Odom continues his quiet ascent into stardom, and Jackson extracts career years outta Caron Butler and Chris Mihm, the Lakers have a shot at a small playoff run next year. And that would be pretty amazing, really.
Hmm...never saw this coming. Now that the soap opera is back in session, we'll get to see Sportscenter talk about it and run specials on it for the first 10 or 15 minutes of every show...just like they did at the end of last year. "Next time on Sportscenter...Kobe and Phil make up with each other after last year's falling out." Blah blah blah.
My guess is that a major reason he chose the Lakers over other teams is simply because of his involvement with Jeanie Buss. That and the obscene amount of money they're probably paying him (money they refused to give him just a year ago). He sure as hell isn't going back because of Kobe, that's for sure.
Can't say I'm suprised, but I thought PJ should have stayed out 1 more year. The Lakers are kinda a mess, they have a weird roster w/ no cap space. They are gonna have to move Butler in order to get a legit big man, Divac and Mihm aren't going to cut it. But I'm sure Dr. Buss is going to pay PJ a ridiculous amount of money so I guess it makes sense.
don: IMO you have to get out your knife and fork. I watched a piece on PJ and the Bulls on ESPN Classic. When he came to the Bulls it was almost a carbon copy of the situation he faces now in LA. He did not have a bed of roses at first with the Bulls. Jordan was a 'me first' player because he did not trust his teammates. PJ invented the triangle to help MJ get his teammates into the game. It was rocky at first but, you already know how the story ended. Players are there, as you mentioned, to help him. Players tend to gravitiate toward PJ and the Lakers. He'll do okay. He's having a pretty serious relationship with Jeanie Buss, and the Dr. is not getting any younger. Maybe they will have joint custody of the team when all is said and done. My only problem is that I really wanted him to coach the Rockets. Now, not only does he not coach for us, but he will be coaching against us.
Yeah, I don't know if his calculations of winning it all with the Lakers doesn't involve Jeanie Buss sweet assets as Lakers VP.
After this year horrible ratings for the NBA Finals, NBA will do everything next season to make sure lakers have a place in the Finals. Dont be suprise Kobe will average more than 10 FTA with 32ppg next season and all the media will once again claim that he is the best player in the league blah blah blah. GO TO HELL LAKERS!!!!
PJ wanted to coach Yao and Kobe wanted to play with Yao does this mean Yao might be a Laker in the future?
No, it just mean that the idea of 10 mil a year and access to Lakers only assets is just too good to pass up.
i absolutely love Phil and the way he coaches especially his people skills and his underrated defensive coaching ability and vision to use Tex and the triangle.. nevertheless the current Laker line-up will be not much better because of hime without major imrpovements at the 1,4, and 5 spots guess it will come down as to whether LA still has that major pull although are there really any major free agents or superstar malcontents looking to head to LA LA land and play with Kobe anyone catch Shaq's interview on sportscentre??? he really wanted Phil to Sacramento and said he thought he could have talked the Maloofs into getting Phil more money there.... he said he would have loved to see Phil with the Triangle and Bibby, Peja and Brad... the interviewer than asked if he ever thought there would be a time he would sit down and have a conversation with Kobe, Shaq then seriously said "WHO?" great stuff
Smeg, That interview was so freakin funny! I actually TIVO'd that Sportscenter and played that part a couple of times. "Who? I don't recall anyone by that name. I know alot of names. Know alot of people. But I can't recall that name. Especially when its people I have nothing to talk about with." Can't hate Shaq. At least I can't. But seriously... This makes sense. How else is Kobe going to prove he can win without Shaq? If Osama can provide Kobe with that ring he can shove in peoples face...especially Shaqs, who would you think will coach the Lakers?
