Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Return of the Zen Master?

On Friday afternoon the Los Angeles Lakers fired their head coach Mike Brown after a slow 1-4 start. Most people were shocked to see such a knee jerk reaction from the Lakers but Kupchak and the Buss family felt that the Princeton Offense wasn't working and they needed a change. Almost immediately talks of the Legendary Coach Phil Jackson coming out of retirement began. Lakers fans even went as far to begin chanting "We want Phil!" while Kobe shot free throws against the Golden State Warriors.
    While Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coaches of all time and the All Time Leader in Championships won(11) you have to wonder if The Famed Triangle Offense best suits this team. The Lakers have 3 guys who have previously operated under Phil(Kobe,Metta and Pau) but guys like Dwight and Nash will have to learn this offense after they just spent a whole offseason learning the Princeton. Nash will most likely be affected the most by this offense as it's an offense designed to take the ball away from the point guard. Phil Jackson has never had a point guard who can run the offense quite like Steve Nash, so he's going to have to intergrate some Pick & Roll sets to accustom Nash's style of play. I have no doubt that a coach of Phil Jackson's caliber can do it but it remains to be seen how Nash will play when he returns from injury.
     Ultimately this decision lies within the hands of Phil Jackson and only he knows whats best for him. Health wise he's better than ever and that should not affect his decision. While we still don't know if he can handle the 24/7 grind of a typical NBA Season he's gone through enough seasons to know whether he can handle it. The NBA and it's fans miss seeing Phil calmly sitting at the bench,his great soundbites and seeing his glory as he reached the top of the NBA world 11 times. As a coach Phil was unlike any other he was able to command the respect of his players with such ease that he didn't need to berate his players on the sidelines. His peaceful demeanor earned him the nickname "The Zen Master". The Lakers are in a state of panic right now and they need The Zen Master.

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