Phil Jackson is a great coach but is he the right coach for the Lakers?

[DrHouse]

I believe Phil has always been at his best when he has battle-tested veteran players on his team that need very little direct coaching and can go out and execute his gameplans consistently.

I'm looking at this current Laker team and I just don't see a similar make up. This is a young team, this team has very few veteran players outside of Kobe and Fisher.

IMHO this team has more than enough talent to beat any team in this league handily every single night. But they have a lot of surprisingly bad habits that need to be eliminated (not playing hard for 48 minutes, coasting on big leads, etc.). I think they would be better served with a coach like Popovich who gets on his players until they do what he wants the right way. Someone who can and will crack the whip.

I just don't see Phil Jackson and his coaching staff getting on the team enough for their flaws. They lost Game 4 in the Finals for all the same reasons they lost tonight. Coasted on a big lead, didn't play hard the whole game.

I think LAL might be lucky enough this season to have a team that is so talented that it doesn't even matter. But if that doesn't happen I would probably be in the minority here that wants to see Phil gone from LAL and someone else brought in like a Pat Riley.

[Indazone]

Fire Phil!! lol

[balli]

I would probably be in the minority here that wants to see Phil gone from LAL and someone else brought in like a Pat Riley.
Yeah, call him or someone else (like Pat Riley :lmao) up. God knows there's just a litany of out of work, multiple title-holding coaches out there just ready to drop everything and head out to LA. To replace Phil. Jackson. lol.

I didn't think it possible, but all the Spurs schmoes calling for Pop's head look like a bunch of Stephen Hawkings in the light of this dumbness.

[IronMexican]

He's the right coach.

[YellowFever]

Dont' worry about it, dude.

Alot of people seemed to forget we were 2 and 2 with Utah last year in the second round.

This is not that big a deal and it won't be even if we lose game 4.

Last year the Celtic's record was 16-11 on their way to win the ring.

I'm expecting the Lakes to lose at least 7 or 8 before they reach the finals.

Are we going to be this upset after every lost?

[YellowFever]

Fuck Pat Riley!!! Gotdamn slave driving, credit hogging, self-serving bastard.

LoL..
How do you really feel about the man?

[UrAphag]

Does phil jackson ever draw up a play in the time-out besides give the ball to kobe and let him figure out what to do.

[hhml]

I'm with Dr. House on this. In the previous championship years, we've had veterans who can make big shots and get stops when we need. That coupled with having two of the most dominant players on the same team enable them to win.

This Lakers team, as talented as they are, don't play any defense. They can't get stops when it matters (like tonight). The team is way too soft and full of young players. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't win the championship this year.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

While I don't agree with firing Phil, DrHouse isn't just pulling random bullshit out of his ass, Phil isn't the type of coach to motivate players to play extremely hard and play smart. On his past teams, the veteran presence and unified desire to win it all as a team erased those mistakes.

Even with all the regular season bullshit Phil let happen from 2000-2002, the veteran presence and desire to win it all always set in for that team once the playoffs started, and they would play a full effort 48 minutes every night and wouldn't need coaching to get rid of bad habits that were there in the regular season. This team appears to need coaching to eliminate bad playoff habits.

[hhml]

When the Lakers' shots are off, they have no defense to fall back on. We all know defense is vital to winning championships. This team just doesn't play any defense and thus does not give me enough of a reason to believe they'll be the favorite if they face the cavs, especially without HCA.

[j.dizzle]

Have any of you guys seen any Laker coaches get up during games to yell . Phil does that maybe once a game to call a timeout but he just kicks back & gets paid 12 mil a year to whistle. Dont get me wrong, hes a good coach but hes not a good motivator. He tries all these bullshit zen master ways to motivate his players but it seems like it aint workin haha. One of my friend's knows someone that knows Jordan Farmar & he said that most of the Laker players dont like phil.

[j.dizzle]

If LA doesnt win it all this year i dont know if phil will return. I think all the traveling is starting to take a toll on his bad legs, he said so we'll see what happens.

[resistanze]

I don't even think the Lakers can screw this up with all their faults. If they somehow don't win the title this year...well...better start shopping Kobe around...

[lefty]

Lot of interesting points.

I still think Phil is the right coach for this team.

As someone pointed out, they had veterans role players with championship pedigrees who made big plays during the 3peat, but you can't blame Phil Jackson for not having those guys around.
Phil is not the kind of coach that is heavily involved in the management, unline Riley or Popovich; he just gets the best out of what he has.

[ImmortalD24]

I don't even think the Lakers can screw this up with all their faults. If they somehow don't win the title this year...well...better start shopping Kobe around...:lol:lol:lol:lol

Even if the Lakers were willing to trade him, Kobe has a little something called a no-trade clause.

[LakeShow]

Does phil jackson ever draw up a play in the time-out besides give the ball to kobe and let him figure out what to do.

Phil's the right coach for the Lakers. With 2.2 left the best option was to get it to Kobe. He got it off without much difficulty but he missed. 1 loss is no reason for alarm. I give Utah and Boozer props for last night.

However, i did expect Phil to put Bynum back in the game at the end because Boozer was having his way with Gasol. Who cares if he picked up his 6th foul at that point. I thought that was a mistake.

[turiaf for president]

gawd damn it people! kobe had his worst shooting night of his playoff career, andrew was in foul trouble all game, the jazz played like desperate wounded dogs because this was a must win game for them and they still needed a GW shot by d williams at the end to pull it out. just relax, this series is over in 5

[TheManFromAcme]

Fuck Pat Riley!!! Gotdamn slave driving, credit hogging, self-serving bastard.

lakaluva. Your family. We root for the same team night in, night out. But to harbor those ill fellings toward Riles is striaght up BLASPEHMOUS. We are talking about Pat Riley here. I don't give a hoot where he coaches and where he's coached AFTER the Lakers or what he's said in the past. This is Pat Riley we are talking about here. The architect of Showtime.

4 of those banners that hang at Staples (after being ceremoniously moved from my beloved Forum) have Pat Riley written all over them. Easy on the guy. Really. :nope