| This One's Optimistic Authored by Cyrus Behzadi - June 19, 2005 - 9:46 pm
Phil Jackson, the former and now present coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, has returned for a three-year contract to bring back the Lakers from under the debris of the 2004-05 season. The Lakers, filled with injuries, inconsistency, and lack of a permanent head coach for most of the year, are now beginning to work towards returning to the playoffs. The first step that Dr. Jerry Buss took was to bring back the Zen Master.
Jackson, rejuvenated from a year away from the game and the limelight, is now prepared to go forward with the Lakers. He has said that even though the roster needs a "major retooling" he is optimistic about the future and that the Lakers have the key pieces in "Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom." With a new coach, the city of LA now has a new optimistic aura around it.
WHY DID HE RETURN?
Evidently, Phil wanted to return because he felt it was necessary to give back to the city of Los Angeles, and that this was the only way he could do it. He also saw a vision about coming here and he saw the Lakers contending very shortly. With Phil on the sidelines providing a calming influence on the Lakers and emphazing defense, the Lakers could fulfill that vision shorter then many imagined.
WHAT WILL HE DO?
His first order of business has been to contact Scottie Pippen, Tex Winter, and to finalize a pending trade.
Phil contacted Scottie about the assistant coaching position. It seems that he contacted Scottie to become a mentor to a player very much like him, Lamar Odom. To teach him the triangle, to teach him and to show him different technicques on defense, and to fulfill the role that we all saw him in, as a point forward. Scottie has been talking publicly about the position, and i am assuming the job is his.
Tex Winter will be brought in either as a consultant or an assistant coach to teach and preach the triangle to the Lakers. While some players on the Lakers are familiar with the triangle, many are not. His primary job will be either to scout as a consultant or to teach the triangle as an assistant coach.
Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis will probably remain on the coaching staff, because they are familiar with the triangle. Brian Shaw was rumored to be considered for th head coaching job, so he will stay to be groomed for a head coaching position. Rambis has had head coaching experience and is an excellent young coach, so he will also stay on the staff (most likely).
Other possible candidates for an assistant coaching position: Jim Cleamons, Frank Hamblen, and Tim Grugrich.
The deal that is supposedly in place is the Slava Medvedenko, Devean George, #37 pick, for Jonathan Bender and the #17 pick. Personally, I think that the Indiana Pacers are getting ripped off in the trade. But, I understand their motives to do it. Bender has a huge contract (8 mil per year for 2 more years) and the Pacers are a team that is dangerously close to the luxury tax, so they need to trim salary and they accomplish that with this trade. George and Medvedenko's contracts both end next summer.The #17 pick is really the centerpiece for the Lakers to do this trade. Possibly, to use the pick and the #10 pick to move up in the draft.
Phil and the Lakers are back together, and ready to begin. A new era is here, and the city feels it. New hope for the seemingly bleak Lakers. It all begins in November. |
