OT: Phil Jackson and the Pistons
It was already posted that Phil Jackson is going to help the Pistons in their coaching search. But, what I think this does, is likely set up Phil as the next President of Basketball operations for the Pistons. The Pistons, by all estimations, are 2 years away at best from competing. Dumars, who is reportedly on the hot seat, likely doesn't have even one more season without a playoff birth before he is let go. Writing on the wall?
It just seems to me like this job is being set up for Phil to eventually take over. He'll hire his own coach this spring, and next summer, after the Pistons miss the playoffs again, Joe will be fired ad Phil will be hired. This seems like a job Phil would be interested in, even if Gores and he didn't have a close friendship. Drummond looks like a dominant big man, and is headed for superstar status, and Knight and Monroe are great complimentray pieces. Add to that another lottery pick and a substantial amount of money to spend, and this seems like a ready made spot for Phil to take over. I have no idea how Phil Jackson would perform as the President of basketball operations, but I'd pay a great deal of money to find out. Being a life long Pistons fan, I have an uncomfortable feeling with one of our biggest foes leading us; but those issues are quickly swept away by his track record.
Thoughts?
needs to be on Lettermans Top Ten list...things Phil Jackson would rather do than anything involving the Pistons.
Why are so many people in a rush to downplay Jackson's accomplishments? He's coached 20 seasons in the NBA and won championships in 11 of them. That is incredible. He's not the only coach who's had superstar players. You could turn it around the other way: players under Jackson seem to always reach their potential and buy into his system. Those are two signs of good coaching. Not to mention that these same players never seem to win anything when he isn't coaching them.
Because he's never really developed a team or coached one that had to overachieve. Guys like Larry Brown get credit because they take teams with less talent and do more with them. Or guys like Chuck Daly who are around as the team builds. Heck, even Riley coached the Knicks between stints at LA and Miami.
To say everyone has superstar players is to understate what he's had. Only the best player of all time, maybe the next best shooting guard of all time after the first guy, and one of the top 3 or 4 centers of all time (And if you believe the hype train, another guy who was one of the top 50 players of all time). And some of them with more than one of those guys.
He walked in right when the Bulls were ready to peak, and took over the Lakers again after they had amassed all that talent. The latter because he could. NBA lifers take jobs and coach teams that aren't loaded. He never has. So we'll never know if he can really coach up teams without talent, or he was just really great at managing the biggest of egos and allowing them to succeed.