Phil Jackson Is Running In Circles For The Sake Of A Triangle

While there probably is a story in the ideal that talking about basketball on television is a great way to prove that you are ready to coach an NBA team to a championship, the broader picture in the world of NBA hiring is much more interesting.  Despite losing his job after only a few fairly successful seasons, Mark Jackson is back in the broadcast booth, but also firmly in the conversation about who will fill one of these vacant job openings, especially the one in New York.

In fact, he is probably the coach most likely to intrigue Carmelo Anthony, who has to be the player that the Knicks brought  Phil Jackson in to retain.  In fact, the only reason you hand over the reigns to an old maestro like Jackson is to have him get you to the promised land.  Quickly!

Jackson himself could hardly be signing on for a ten year rebuild.  If he were, the idea of shopping Melo' for all you can get would make more sense then posturing as though Melo' is priority number one. The swing and miss that Jackson made for Steve Kerr, the television announcer who is swapping coaching seats with Mark Jackson who was fired by the Golden State Warriors, is evidence that Phil is looking for a yes man.  In Mark Jackson, Phil would have the experience of a playoff general who clearly has done a great job, but has more yet to prove.  His firing in Golden State possibly makes him the hottest option for any team serious about winning it all simply because of the ax he would grind.

The problem with Jackson, Mark and Phil, is this darn triangle thing.  You see, Phil, the mastermind who made Jordan the God of basketball and of shoe sales, could do the same with Melo' because the triangle is perfectly suited to someone like Melo who needs lots of touches and lots of space to make use of those touches.  The triangle isolates the court to three players at a time and opens the opposite side of the court to wide open 3's when players slide in to support teammates caught in the triangle's web.

When ran to perfection and with the right group of guys, the triangle is as effective as any offense around.  Run with sticky ball movements and late cuts and shifts, it simply doesn't run and can be a horrendous looking concept. From the time that Phil made it famous until now,few teams, on any level, have dared to run the triangle. Those who have tried it seldom take advantage of the full impact of the triangle's passing flow, opting for one-on-one in order to handle the unique pressure that a 24 second shot clock can create.

Now that Steve Kerr has passed on the Knick's job
will Derek Fisher turn his back on Phil too?

Therein lies the conundrum.  Not only must you coach beneath the greatest coach of the modern era, you have to run his system and make players buy into it without the luxury of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant to exert their will on the situation.  Did I mention that you also have to do this while accepting that you will only be the goat.  Any success that this team has will be credited to Phil and his geometrically described offense.  If you fail, it will surely be as a result of your inability to fit your round thinking into Phil's triangular world.

You might be lucky enough to have the option on whether or not you want sage burning in the locker room during bad losing streaks, (or anytime Phil thinks the energy is bad in the locker room of course) but if there is no sage, will Phil still believe that the coach understands what it takes to win?

Currently, former Phil Jackson player and current OKC Thunder guard, Derek Fisher is in the newest conversation to take over in New York.  Now, let me see if I am clear about this.  They not only wanted a former Philistine in Kerr, an ex-player, ex-executive and now ex-TV analyst (but not an ex-coach), they are also interested in Fisher, who just finished a season at 39 years old and is considering playing one more?

As I shake and scratch my head over who would be the bigger fool in this deal, Jackson or Fisher, I am also left to wonder if Phil is thinking of making him the next player coach?  We certainly haven't seen one of those in some time. In my heart, I hope that the Fisher rumors are far from true because it speaks to how 'way over his head' Phil really is.  The fact that Kerr was even a candidate for the job makes the Fisher story a lot more probable.  Phil is fishing and grasping at straws because he is doing what coaches always do when they need a person to fill a need. Unfortunately, Phil is no longer a coach, and the job he hopes to hire for goes a bit further than simply signing on the line to coach basketball in the Big Apple.  In fact, the skills that Phil himself will need to be great in the front office are most likely yet to be attained. Hiring a coach in the same boat could be disastrous mix for sure.

The next coach of the New York Knickerbockers will have the unique responsibility of needing the cache' to cash in on Melo', or some other big named free agent, but not be concerned with getting credit for any of the teams success.

If ever there was a need for Erik Spoelstra, this is it.