Lakers coach Jackson leaning toward retirement
Phil Jackson thinks he is just about ready to walk away from his unparalleled NBA coaching career. The Los Angeles Lakers are all hoping he will change his mind in the next week.
Phil Jackson thinks he is just about ready to walk away from his unparalleled NBA coaching career. The Los Angeles Lakers are all hoping he will change his mind in the next week.
The 11-time NBA champion coach said yesterday he is leaning toward retirement. After a full season of speculation on his health and future, Jackson will wait for the results of another battery of medical tests before informing Lakers owner Jerry Buss of his final decision late next week.
Jackson, 64, is the most successful coach in league history by almost any measure, with a .705 regular-season winning percentage, a record 225 postseason victories and two more titles than Boston's legendary Red Auerbach. His Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last week to earn their second straight title, and Jackson sounds increasingly interested in going out on top.
"Some of it's about health," Jackson said. "Some of it is just the way I feel right now. I've had vacillating feelings about it. It's hard not to feel like coming back when you . . . have an opportunity to coach a team that's this good, but it's what I feel like right now."
Jackson will drive to his offseason home in Montana this weekend. He didn't attend the Lakers' victory parade through downtown Los Angeles on Monday, instead undergoing tests on a body with two replaced hips, a sore knee requiring a brace under his suit during the season, and a previous heart problem.
After a second day of exit interviews at their training complex, the Lakers uniformly said they want Jackson with them next season, with Kobe Bryant claiming the club would be "drastically different" without Jackson's steady, cerebral presence on the sideline. Yet Jackson mostly has kept the Lakers in the dark about his plans.
"We all want him back," Bryant said. "He knows that. I've stressed it to him over and over . . . I don't even want to think about that right now. It's killing my buzz."
Jackson's career record is 1,098-460, winning at least 55 games in 15 of his 19 seasons.
Noteworthy
* The funeral for former NBA player and humanitarian Manute Bol will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at the National Cathedral in Washington. It will be open to the public. The former 76er died Saturday at age 47 after suffering from severe kidney problems and a painful skin condition.
* The New Orleans Hornets' ownership sharply discounted the possibility of trading guard Chris Paul before tonight's NBA draft or at any point this offseason.
"Chris Paul is the cornerstone of our franchise and brings us unequaled support on and off the court," Hornets majority owner George Shinn said in a statement.
* Miami traded the 18th pick in the draft and guard Daequan Cook to Oklahoma City for the Thunder's 32nd pick.