biba
10-18-2007, 04:33 PM
Phil Jackson’s NBA Coaches Interview
October 15, 2007
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/071015_philjackson.html
Q. Who do you think improved the most during this off-season?
A. Well, I think there are a number of teams that I think improved. Obviously, our (the NBA's) first and second picks in the draft, if not all of it, but those teams have made major changes because of that addition to their teams, both in Portland and in Seattle. I think that Orlando improved considerably. I think that the New Orleans Hornets look like they improved. Boston obviously is going to the biggest pick in improvement over the year as they got Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in trades this summer so I would say most of the eyes will be on Boston.
Q. The Spurs have won three out of the last five titles and most of their core returns. Do you see them as the favorites? Who are their main challengers?
A. You know, the Spurs have never been able to win a back-to-back championship and that’s always kind of a sign of domination in the league and right now they haven’t shown hat. I know that’s got to be something that they are seriously driving towards because the first time—the one I call the asterisk championship in ’99—which was that shortened season, ruined their preeminence of coming to power in the NBA and the year following that, they had injuries that set them back as Tim Duncan got hurt right before the playoffs started.
So, they really didn’t have a chance the first year that the Lakers came into their dominance and won three in a row. But, since that time, they’ve been a very potent team and here they are having won three of the past five since we won three in row and my feeling is they have a good chance to win it. I don’t think they’ll finish first in the West as it’s very competitive, but once they’re in a playoff situation, they’re going to be hard to contend with.
Q. What are a couple of the keys for the Lakers to having a successful season?
A. Well, we have to get ourselves an organized plan as to how we’re going to play. We’ve got some additions with Derek Fisher this year. We’ve got guys back from injuries. We’ve got three centers that are returning—all of them expecting to play and start.
Andrew Bynum got a lot of time last year simply because we had injuries to our starters, which were Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown, and so all three of them have come back now ready to step into that spot and contest so we’ve got some new personnel to take position.
Fish’s addition to the lineup will change the way we play and once we get organized and find ways to how we’re going to play, who’s going to start, who’s going to bench players, we’ll be a pretty good team.
Q. Were you satisfied with the moves that were made in the off-season?
A. No, I wanted to have an additional player. I thought we looked at some things that could have happened for us and didn’t work, but you know, this is what it is and we’re going to go forward from here.
Q. How useful is the D-League in allowing younger players who may not be ready for significant playing time in the NBA to get that playing time?
A. I’m pleased with the D-League. I think that there has to be some more concessions made to the D-League so that there’s much more fluid movement between the leagues (NBA and NBDL) with players. I think that we have to add another year to how many guys can go down to the D-League.
I don’t think that there should be any qualms about the fact that players that are rehabbing that are coming back should have an opportunity like they do in baseball to go down and play in a minor league or in a D-League type of situation to have a chance to improve their timing, to show that they’re in good health, to get their conditioning back together again.
I think that in the NBA we just think they can jump right back in and play these minutes and we get guys that aren’t ready, get hurt again and the D-League opportunity would be great for that. Some of our players sign so young at age 19, 18 or in our case, 17, that if you just confine them those first two years in the D-League, sometimes they still don’t get enough playing time or playing experience of playing on an NBA team. They need more experience and more game experience that is refereed and monitored.
Those things I think are really important and I think the D-League will make those adjustments as it goes forward. Right now, in its inception, it’s going to be a big advantage for teams like ours that have a connection to a D-League team.
Q. What teams do you think will surprise this season?
A. Orlando started out really strong last year and faded, but ended up in the playoffs in the eighth spot with an under .500 record. I think they’re going to be a team that will surprise probably more people. I think that Howard and the addition of Lewis are both players that are solid, competitive, athletic players that can lift that team up. I don’t think that Boston is going to surprise anybody. If surprise is going to be done, I think it’ll be if they don’t play as well as they’re expected to.
In the West, we have pretty much a strong set of contenders in Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix. I think that Houston showed their ability last year in moving into the fourth position and I think that with a new coach and some additions to their team, I think that they may change the balance of how people finish in the West. Utah—another team that played exceptionally well last year—I think is going to have to really challenge at some level to compete with those four teams. And the rest of us are challenging on the outside to see if we can’t break through those top five.
Q. Which rookie do you think will have the biggest impact this off-season?
A. Well, obviously with Oden down, Durant is going to be the one that all the eyes will be on, but we’ll have to wait and see. Outside of that, he’s really young, he’s 19 and hasn’t really grown into his body. There could be a lot of incidents or things that will happen that you know, won’t make it easy for him as everybody thinks because of his adjustments to this game, the depth that he has to play in the rest of the game. But, he’s going to be fine everybody thinks. I think Oden’s going to sit out and watch this year and learn from the sidelines.
Q. What was your team’s most memorable moment from the 2006-2007 season?
A. I’m hard-pressed to remember. We had such a poor second half of the season, almost reversing our record from the first half to the second half that most of the strength of the year and the energy of the year happened early in the season. I would say that as a team, it probably was the individual highlights of Kobe Bryant’s tremendous scoring surge. Even in that period, I think we only won five of nine games, six of ten games, when Kobe scored 50 or more points in those games. I can’t remember what the string was, but it was remarkable and I think that was probably the highlight that people would see.
Q. What have you learned about your team so far in training camp?
A. Well, we’re not through with the injury bug. The last year bit us bad and starting out in training camp, we still haven’t seemed to eradicate it, but we have some young players that look like they can compete in this game and our draft pick and Coby Karl are two players that have shown well in camp. We have some veterans and second and third year players that have grown up a little bit and they look like they’re ready to become professionals and that helps.
Q. What area of improvement do you see as the most pressing?
A. I think our rebounding, turnover ball control aspect of the game where you get the ball back more times than your opponent simply because those hustle points come to I think a reaction to the ball and our ability to pressure defenses into coughing up the ball. Those things are all areas we have to improve on.
October 15, 2007
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/071015_philjackson.html
Q. Who do you think improved the most during this off-season?
A. Well, I think there are a number of teams that I think improved. Obviously, our (the NBA's) first and second picks in the draft, if not all of it, but those teams have made major changes because of that addition to their teams, both in Portland and in Seattle. I think that Orlando improved considerably. I think that the New Orleans Hornets look like they improved. Boston obviously is going to the biggest pick in improvement over the year as they got Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in trades this summer so I would say most of the eyes will be on Boston.
Q. The Spurs have won three out of the last five titles and most of their core returns. Do you see them as the favorites? Who are their main challengers?
A. You know, the Spurs have never been able to win a back-to-back championship and that’s always kind of a sign of domination in the league and right now they haven’t shown hat. I know that’s got to be something that they are seriously driving towards because the first time—the one I call the asterisk championship in ’99—which was that shortened season, ruined their preeminence of coming to power in the NBA and the year following that, they had injuries that set them back as Tim Duncan got hurt right before the playoffs started.
So, they really didn’t have a chance the first year that the Lakers came into their dominance and won three in a row. But, since that time, they’ve been a very potent team and here they are having won three of the past five since we won three in row and my feeling is they have a good chance to win it. I don’t think they’ll finish first in the West as it’s very competitive, but once they’re in a playoff situation, they’re going to be hard to contend with.
Q. What are a couple of the keys for the Lakers to having a successful season?
A. Well, we have to get ourselves an organized plan as to how we’re going to play. We’ve got some additions with Derek Fisher this year. We’ve got guys back from injuries. We’ve got three centers that are returning—all of them expecting to play and start.
Andrew Bynum got a lot of time last year simply because we had injuries to our starters, which were Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown, and so all three of them have come back now ready to step into that spot and contest so we’ve got some new personnel to take position.
Fish’s addition to the lineup will change the way we play and once we get organized and find ways to how we’re going to play, who’s going to start, who’s going to bench players, we’ll be a pretty good team.
Q. Were you satisfied with the moves that were made in the off-season?
A. No, I wanted to have an additional player. I thought we looked at some things that could have happened for us and didn’t work, but you know, this is what it is and we’re going to go forward from here.
Q. How useful is the D-League in allowing younger players who may not be ready for significant playing time in the NBA to get that playing time?
A. I’m pleased with the D-League. I think that there has to be some more concessions made to the D-League so that there’s much more fluid movement between the leagues (NBA and NBDL) with players. I think that we have to add another year to how many guys can go down to the D-League.
I don’t think that there should be any qualms about the fact that players that are rehabbing that are coming back should have an opportunity like they do in baseball to go down and play in a minor league or in a D-League type of situation to have a chance to improve their timing, to show that they’re in good health, to get their conditioning back together again.
I think that in the NBA we just think they can jump right back in and play these minutes and we get guys that aren’t ready, get hurt again and the D-League opportunity would be great for that. Some of our players sign so young at age 19, 18 or in our case, 17, that if you just confine them those first two years in the D-League, sometimes they still don’t get enough playing time or playing experience of playing on an NBA team. They need more experience and more game experience that is refereed and monitored.
Those things I think are really important and I think the D-League will make those adjustments as it goes forward. Right now, in its inception, it’s going to be a big advantage for teams like ours that have a connection to a D-League team.
Q. What teams do you think will surprise this season?
A. Orlando started out really strong last year and faded, but ended up in the playoffs in the eighth spot with an under .500 record. I think they’re going to be a team that will surprise probably more people. I think that Howard and the addition of Lewis are both players that are solid, competitive, athletic players that can lift that team up. I don’t think that Boston is going to surprise anybody. If surprise is going to be done, I think it’ll be if they don’t play as well as they’re expected to.
In the West, we have pretty much a strong set of contenders in Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix. I think that Houston showed their ability last year in moving into the fourth position and I think that with a new coach and some additions to their team, I think that they may change the balance of how people finish in the West. Utah—another team that played exceptionally well last year—I think is going to have to really challenge at some level to compete with those four teams. And the rest of us are challenging on the outside to see if we can’t break through those top five.
Q. Which rookie do you think will have the biggest impact this off-season?
A. Well, obviously with Oden down, Durant is going to be the one that all the eyes will be on, but we’ll have to wait and see. Outside of that, he’s really young, he’s 19 and hasn’t really grown into his body. There could be a lot of incidents or things that will happen that you know, won’t make it easy for him as everybody thinks because of his adjustments to this game, the depth that he has to play in the rest of the game. But, he’s going to be fine everybody thinks. I think Oden’s going to sit out and watch this year and learn from the sidelines.
Q. What was your team’s most memorable moment from the 2006-2007 season?
A. I’m hard-pressed to remember. We had such a poor second half of the season, almost reversing our record from the first half to the second half that most of the strength of the year and the energy of the year happened early in the season. I would say that as a team, it probably was the individual highlights of Kobe Bryant’s tremendous scoring surge. Even in that period, I think we only won five of nine games, six of ten games, when Kobe scored 50 or more points in those games. I can’t remember what the string was, but it was remarkable and I think that was probably the highlight that people would see.
Q. What have you learned about your team so far in training camp?
A. Well, we’re not through with the injury bug. The last year bit us bad and starting out in training camp, we still haven’t seemed to eradicate it, but we have some young players that look like they can compete in this game and our draft pick and Coby Karl are two players that have shown well in camp. We have some veterans and second and third year players that have grown up a little bit and they look like they’re ready to become professionals and that helps.
Q. What area of improvement do you see as the most pressing?
A. I think our rebounding, turnover ball control aspect of the game where you get the ball back more times than your opponent simply because those hustle points come to I think a reaction to the ball and our ability to pressure defenses into coughing up the ball. Those things are all areas we have to improve on.