Like MLK Or Muhammad Ali. LeBron On Rugged Journey Of Destiny

Are LeBron detractors much like his talent..part of his destiny?

Peculiar behaviors demand a deeper introspection from all of us.  To be a fan or an intense hater of someone is perfectly acceptable, especially in sports.  It's not fully encouraged in society, but there are ways of getting around without revealing your true feelings about someone in life.  Your boss at work is a great example, but monetary motivations make that an unfair comparison, so let's try another example.  How about Martin Luther King Jr.?  While clearly beloved in this day and age, he was intensely hated by many during his time, even by some who are alive today (you know who you are).  Consider Muhammad Ali.  He is, by and large, an American treasure today and considered the greatest boxer ever to live by many. During his day, he was widely hated for some of the very things that people love him for today.

Leading the 10% = Skip Bayless of ESPN

Let's try one more person. Hmmmm, LeBron James comes to mind.  For reason's that are hard to fully grasp (peculiar behaviors), LeBron simply can not catch a break out there.  In an effort to be fair I will give the +Skip Bayless opposing version of this viewpoint before I delve into my own.  According to Skip, LeBron receives red carpet treatment from about 90% of the media who he believes coddles LeBron no matter how poorly he has performed over the years.  That might be fair, but the 10% who pile on LeBron, and always have, have very little excuse for their misplaced criticism of James, so they simply echo the voice of social media as a means of discussing their own deep seeded disgust.  The social media world utterly annihilates this great player.

Does he earn all of that with his willingness to "play the game" in the world of social media?  Maybe he keeps the fuel going, but this fire started long before he even took his seat on the throne.  This social experiment that we call King James was canonized way back in high school.

I can recall it now.  Every time a Slam magazine or Sports Illustrated came out back then, it referenced some kind of up-and-coming high school star.  Kobe and KG had already broken onto the scene before LeBron, but the anticipation for this guy was unlike any other.  Yeah, they tried to tag team him with Sebastian Telfair, who was also a legendary high school player at the time, but I don't remember him being called Prince Sebastian. King James was tagged with his royal lineage so early in life that he had to make a serious decision way back then.  He had to decide whether or not he would deflect the label or own it.  LeBron tattooed himself with the words "The Chosen One", and he did it long, long ago.

Since that time, this man has played the game the right way and improved at doing it every year of his career. He continues to get better and to display the game of a champion.  In game 2 against the Spurs, LeBron created for his team on 4 straight plays to close the game for good, but in the minds of the revisionist (Skip Bayless) LeBron did almost nothing in that minute and a half.  There is so much wrong with that suggestion that I don't know where to begin, but I will take a deep breath and clarify it for Skip and anyone else who seems unclear about winning basketball.

This won't take long, because I only have to refer to the losing coach, Greg Popovich.  He complained that his team allowed the ball to get too sticky down the stretch and it cost them the game.  In fact, he insisted that it will be the death of them in this series if they do not fix it because LeBron is too good.  Pop' didn't say this because LeBron scored all of the final points, because he did not.  In fact, of these 4 key possessions that I previously mentioned, LeBron only scored 1 freethrow when he got fouled on the only shot that he took.  The other 3 possessions went as follows:

LeBron attacked and found Bosh in the corner twice for a 3 point shot. The first one he missed, but the Heat got back, defended and blocked out the Spurs to secure the rebound before LeBron goes back down court to give Bosh another look at it, which he made.  Considering the Indiana Pacer game, Bosh had now missed two key jumpshots late in  key games after a good pass from the King, so the 3rd pass was an immense display of trust. The next possession, LeBron rove and got fouled on the shot, but only made that one free throw.  The following possession, the Spurs double teamed the ball away from his hands, forcing Bosh to make a decision with the ball.  Bosh eventually drove at the basket, attracted the double team and found D-Wade for an easy layup.  All was created by the decision to double team and deny the ball away from LeBron, and LeBron telling Bosh to attack the basket.  Bosh tried to force the ball to the King who deferred but dragged the double team away from the lane, which created the space for Wade's eventual layup.

Somehow the John Paxson/Steve Kerr/Chicago Bulls championship jumpshots have gone to distant memory.  Jordan was so appreciated during his time, that revisionist' now think that he actually took every game closing shot and can hardly remember how necessary it was for Jordan to create for teammates in order to win championships.  Revisionist' also watch LeBron create like a magician and tell themselves that they are watching a local clown act and not the great Houdini himself.

Just as weird people know they are weird, peculiar behavior recognizes itself and seems quick to answer to "Why".  Why do we hate a player who is defining and redefining the game that we thought Jordan would rule forever?  This mere argument is gaining heat because LeBron is putting the heat on everyone who stands above him.  Kobe has already taken a back seat in the debate.  LeBron might not be the best player the game has ever seen, but he intends to be, and very little seems capable of stopping him.  Except public opinion.

No matter how great a performance Ali put on in the ring, millions simply tuned in to see his destruction.  His mouth earned much of that hatred, but his skill backed up his mouth more often than it did not. LeBron doesn't talk like that.  Tiger Woods could be a more modern equivalent to the peculiarity of LeBron hatred.  He was also a chosen legend who is living up to the hype and threatens to surpass them all. LeBron isn't a philanderer like Tiger. To be labeled "chosen" embodies more than a messianic connotation, it virtually insures a messianic journey.

Christ was as much beloved as he was reviled.  LeBron may not see his plight on such a spiritual level, but he did seem willing to confess that he is comforted in God whether he wins or loses.  Though he plugs out of the social media world during the playoffs, he still understands the sentiment regarding who he is as a person and as a player (why do you think he unplugs?). He know's when critics take advantage of the cramps that took him out of game one.  He realizes that some people who never lived in Cleveland still hate him for "The Decision".  He knows the good, the bad and the ugly of his public persona.  He might even be coming to terms with the fact that it would have NEVER been any other way.

The spirit of envy and hatred  isn't something any one of us proudly embraces, but all of us clearly experience it from a giving or a receiving perspective.  All have been victims.  All have been perpetrators. Back in the day, athletes used to get ridiculed for their  "show me the money" mentality, but today they face "how dare you control your career" critics.  Athletes had no control before LeBron demonstrated how it is done.  By the time Carmelo did the same thing in my hometown of Denver, no one seemed to care anymore because the blueprint was out.  Denver also lost a legend in Dikembe Mutombo for reason's that Mutombo could have dictated in the favor of Denver, and did not.  Yet, thousands of Denver natives and Nugget fans, remain forgetful and forgiving of both Mutombo and Anthony, but can not stand LeBron because of  "The Decision"?

Personally, I don't totally buy it.  I believe there are a significant number of people who celebrated when Tiger Woods fell from his mantle and there are those (maybe the same people) who needed LeBron to justify their disapproval with the kid who they called the King.  They criticized him similarly when he only threatened to win with Cleveland. It only got louder when he refused to stay.  Now, the room to criticize him is narrowing swiftly.  Why?

Because he is worthy of the throne he was anointed to assume.  He may not have arrived there in a fashion that his critics appreciate, (joining Wade and Bosh in beautiful Miami instead of having them come to kinda grey Cleveland is a problem for some) but he has arrived, and "He" is the King no matter who he assigns to close out matches. +Skip Bayless and anyone else who does not recognize all-time greatness will have to enjoy his career much like we do that of MLK and Muhammad Ali. In total hindsight if at all.

LeBron might not realize it now, but one day when he is old an gray he will look back on his detractors and realize the sheer necessity of them all.  Because of those who say he is not ...whatever, he works on his game to prove them otherwise.  His paint domination of big man Boris Diaw when San Antonio attempted a last minute adjustment in game 2, proves his complete ability to own any position on the court. In post game interviews, Greg Popovich seemed baffled as to what to do about LeBron's play making ability admitting that double team or no double team, there is no easy way to stop LeBron.  Spur's officials are scrambling to contact the Oberto beef jerky man to see if he can implement that 2-3 zone that he says is needed against LeBron.

LeBron will force the entire league to either design some variation of a zone to defend him or they must build a team that utilizes perfect passing execution for an entire game and an entire series.  According to Popovich, his Spurs, who are the closest thing to that model, will not win with anything less.

...and neither shall LeBron.  His quest demands a fuel that passion alone can't fully provide.  He is on a mission that needs a nice chip on the shoulder.  Michael Jordan achieved a lot in his career and some of it came from those who told him that he could not.  Before it was all over, the world would willingly eat from a pair of his highly priced athletic shoes and the voice of his detractors became muted.  Michael had many reasons that we could be critical of his career, on and off the court.  LeBron may as well, but the quality of the competition and the quality of the performances keeps falling in favor of the King.

If you want to be the King, the messiah, the second coming of MJ, then you must assume the throne like any good King does.......by force.  In addition, you are going to be crucified for your namesake alone, and you will only be called the best player to ever play when the argument fully tilts in your favor, and not a moment sooner.

Fortunately, this King wouldn't have it any other way.    

Bergdahl & GITMO. Politics Of POW's Or Politics As Usual?

Afghan detention center prisoner cells.

Guantanomo Bay Detention Facility, most commonly known as GITMO, is destined to remain one of the hottest issues in America for some time coming.  While prisoners of war and POW detention centers are hardly a new thing, terrorist wars that have no end are.  Despite our best efforts to be the nation shaped by the Geneva convention that we helped to construct, war has redefined itself and so must war standards.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is as good an example as any.  According to the military that accepted Bergdahl, AWOL and deserting one's post are common to the military.  Common enough that such behavior has rules and regulations surrounding it.  In the face of such behavior, Sgt. Bergdahl and all soldiers are subject to a military review and could potentially be discharged from the military.  Outside of that process, Sgt. Bergdahl, who became a Sargent. while in captivity, should be recognized as all soldiers are recognized...including his Sgt. status.

In the process of recruiting soldiers, it might become necessary to change our standards surrounding our credo, "no man left behind".  According to some American's, Bergdahl might not be worthy of what was done to provide for his release.  Stories tell an account of six men that died in the search for Bergdahl. The five GITMO inmates that are feared to return to the war could someday kill even more American soldiers or citizen's who travel abroad. Maybe they even craft the next 9-11 attack on American soil, but our values must remain intact.

Sometimes in an auction environment you want to wait for the field to bid and sneak in to capture the prize after a bloody bidding war. At other times, you need to end the auction instantly with an aggressive bid that insures success.  If Bergdahl was the figurative item for auction, Obama's team chose the "go big" approach, but they also did so in the spirit of old America, the place that still honors things like the Geneva Convention Agreement and the military terms of enlistment.

GITMO is our blatant failure of the Geneva agreement. Offering up a few prized inhabitants of the facility seemed an obvious means of avoiding the political ramifications of ending the war in Afghanistan and "leaving one behind".  Debating the terms of Bergdahl's release is a matter of domestic opinions. International relations are tied to the GITMO detention center and nations worldwide are looking to determine if prisoner of war standards have now changed.  American hostages have always had a uncertain international value, but prisoners of war are unique.  Killing a POW not only defies the Geneva accord, it leaves you without a valuable tool in the end of war exchange process.

Yet, would we be better if we refused to live up to standards that our enemies reject?  Would we be more humane if we left deserters deserted? Or how about if we simply slaughter the remaining GITMO detainee's and never worry about them in the field of battle again?   Is old war black and white but new war gray from the smoke of an uncertain battlefield or are we willing to use anything these days in the pursuit of politics?

This whole line of questioning makes me sick.

Big Money Politics Is David Versus Goliath With David On The Take

2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a
Pimp- on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich HijackingAmerican Politics
- By Kenneth P. Vogel

I rarely take on the topic of election finance laws and term limitations because I am rather torn on the matter.  In concept it makes sense to set reasonable limits on both, but I would not like to rid ourselves of, or financially hamper good people who are good for politics just to place a limit on the bad ones. When good and bad start to look alike, even this argument falls flat.  As for term limits, especially the presidency, it is impossible to master any elected office in one term and impossible to be effective in a lame duck second term. Thanks to big money, what was once two uniquely individual matters of political concern (term limits and finance reform) have conspired to become different sides of the same coin.


Big money has now 
taken over both matters for all of us by dictating who runs for office, how long they get to stay there if they win and what they say while in office.

Nadal Extends His Run At Majors Winning 9th French Open, 14th Major.

Up 2 sets to 1 with a chance to break his opponent in the 4th set, Rafa Nadal went for a tough shot against his rival Novak Djokovic.  He got the point, but when it was over he remained bent over at the waist agonizing in both pain and fatigue from the effort he'd just exhibited.

30 seconds later, the towel girl stood waiting for Nadal to take the cloth and clean his face from the sweat he had amassed.  Nadal was in the driver seat on the scoreboard, but no one, especially his opponent, could ignore the physical cost that Nadal had obviously paid.  The only question that remained from this outward display of despair was how much reserves remained in the immense account of this legendary champion after paying out so much on just one point.

Months earlier, Rafa, and an ailing back provided an opportunity for Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland to make his way to the champions table in the Australian Open.  Every point that followed Nadal's bent over moment of weakness seemed to go towards Djokovic......Sort of.

Earlier in this match Djokovic had a fateful decision.  He had opened the match with a 6-3 route of Rafa and pushed the second set to a virtual stalemate, and then Rafa came alive.  What followed was some of the best tennis my eyes have seen in years. Not from a standpoint of sheer strategy (points tend to last a lot longer on the softer surfaces), but from a standpoint of sheer energy and attack. This felt like hard court shot making complete with the sliding stops that only soft courts provide. These are two of the best in the business and neither is really lacking on any level.  They can serve, they can return.  They can volley or they can attack you with any shot from any angle that you leave vulnerable.  They are two of the most complete players of all time and their championship accomplishments agree.

Rafa might have dominated the scoring, but the competition was fierce.  Nadal's 13 championship victories provided a competitive thought process that Djokovic simply didn't possess fully.  Djokovic's deficiency of thought seemed to unveil itself when he chose to fight to save a set that he might have been better served to let go of and save the energy for later rounds.  By this point of the match, and of the live commentary, this was being compared to the greatest of great boxing matches, because that is exactly what it was.

Djokovic tried valiantly to save that 3rd set and appeared to be physically (he puked on the court) and mentally worn when it did not work.  Rafa beat him and battered him and broke him time and time again....but suddenly Rafa, not Djokovic was bent over at the waist.....and he wasn't moving.  Djokovic was now down 4-2 and nearly dead, but this gave him the breath of life. Djokovic jumped all over the battered champ and tied the game within an instant at 4-4......Sort of.

In hindsight, Rafa did what Novak should have done for himself earlier in the match.  Rafa rested for a few games and did not push his body towards an injury, but allowed himself time to gather his physical composure and to search for what his tired body could and could not do.  Somewhere in the process he must have opened a safe deposit box full of sunken treasure.  Somewhere in the process, Rafa found a new reserve of whatever it is that makes champions tick.

By the end of the match, Rafa had pulled off the tennis equivalent of the rope-a-dope.  Rafa had suckered Djokovic into the same errors that burned him earlier in the match.  Thinking he had a wounded animal forced Djokovic into a physical attack without a mental approach.  In the end, the wounded animal lured his victim just close enough to kill him.  In a match that Djokovic should have been striving to send to a 5th set, just to see if Rafa could endure, he let the fuel of his own excitement burn too fast and explode, finishing with no answer at all to the seemingly recovered champion.  

Rafa won his 14th major title (including a record 9 French Open titles) in 4 sets and sit 3 titles behind the legendary Roger Federer for most majors (17) among active players  In the process he passed Pete Sampras on the all-time list for major titles. The Serbian Champion Djokovic may only have 6 major titles, but he is currently the most consistent player and could win more titles than anyone if he keeps playing at this level for too much longer. At 27, he has the game and the time to get it done. When it came time to honor Djokovic, the runner up in this match, the crowd would not stop cheering until they pulled a tear from the eye's of this phenomenal player.  I'm crying just recalling the moment. When he actually spoke to the crowd, his address, spoken in all French, was great French and great class (his Italian is impressive too).

Watching moments of greatness can be difficult to analyze when your mouth is open in amazement.  It takes the benefit of hindsight to understand greatness. Rafa was placing the icing on the cake of an exceptional career that deserves to be topped off properly.  To have his career end minus these kinds of victories would compromise his place in the discussion of all time greats. He knows it and he plays accordingly, sacrificing everything for the chance to be considered the best.

After today, Rafa Nadal remains firmly in that discussion.

LeBron Bows Out From Leg Cramps. Should The Spurs Fix The A/C?

"Sugar" Ray Allen might have been thanking
 Jesus that he didn't miss this dunk. - CBS sports

One game down and the story line remains virtually unchanged.  The luck, or lack thereof, is becoming palpable in relation to these teams and this level of competition between them. I know it has been a while, but Ray Allen must have kept his Boston Celtic Irish luck with him when he drove the lane and completed a full court driving dunk that has the blogoshpere calling him Jesus Shuttlesworth once again. When you are a 6' 5" NBA player, you had better be able to still put one in the hole as needed.  The strain of completing it showed that his hops will go away a few years after he retires....which might be soon if LeBron can't take the Heat in San Antonio.  


Fan's of the NBA and HVAC repair men all over San Antonio, Texas are scrambling over the news that the A/C didn't work during last nights game in San Antonio.  As a result of the heat, the Heat took a Game 1 loss to the Spurs when the league's best player, LeBron James, went down with cramps, presumably from the heat of a Texas arena without AC.

Much like the humidor Colorado uses for baseball's, the Spur's have uncovered a competitive advantage that is not "technically" against any rule.  LeBron, who has had history of cramping up in the playoffs, was the only player taken out by the Heat as Spoelstra waved the white flag, refusing to give LeBron a second chance to play on expired limbs. Teammates had to help him off the court from the failed first attempt. While most expect the Spurs to correct the condition of the air, the repeated "heat" related songs that the Spurs organization chose to play in their blazing hot arena sounds like the kind of premeditation that could accidentally cause another A/C failure now that we all realize heat and Heat don't mix.

Here's where LeBron and Spoelstra are going to have to manage his minutes and his hydration better.  There are ways to avoid these things, but freakish genetics can be freakishly demanding on ones hydration level.  Skinny cats rule basketball because they are more capable of enduring the aerobic strain.  The thin player also has an easier ability to play a longer career since they put less strain on joints and ligaments throughout their careers.

Jesus might be blessed to play until he is 40 (even though he may never get another dunk), but Lebron will have to expand his understanding of the limited power of his massive physic versus the greater power of his brain. He may even want to become, and actually play at power forward to avoid the beating that he puts on his nearly 300 pound frame while squatting to defend smaller players.  If LeBron is a chiseled 270 now, age will easily see fit to add 10-30 lbs. of additional mass that comes with aging. At some point his desire to display perimeter domination has to give way to a style of game that provides better stamina.  270 pound guards can certainly force their will upon any basketball game, as long as they have the legs to avoid getting benched in the end of the NBA finals from leg cramps.  

You know why you can't remember the last time that you saw a Ray Allen dunk?  Because Ray is old school and old school realizes that the dunk still is only worth 2 points.  Until it becomes worth more, it comes with a physical price that you only sacrifice when situations demand.  When Allen decided to dunk the ball, he pushed off on the only player that had a chance to stop his attack of the rim.  Even with that push, he realized that an older, more mature player who expected such a push would have recovered enough to contest almost any shot........except a dunk.

Ray Allen dunked the ball for one reason and one reason only.  He had no other choice in the matter.  Until LeBron James understands this kind of basketball and stops dunking and wasting leg stamina just for the Michael Jordan of it (who was 54 lbs. lighter than King James), then he might never avoid late game cramping in the playoffs..especially in Texas, cuz everything is hot in Texas.  Even playoff basketball. 

NBA Finals Begin With Questions About Last Year. Were The Heat Lucky?

When Tim insured they would get it done this year, did
he open up speculation about what happened last year?

When an NBA fan watches the conference finals finish in 6 games, leaving several days before the championship series begins, you have a lot of down time to fill. I've grown weary of the May/June swoon of the Colorado Rockies, so an angry flip of the channel found me on game one of the Stanley Cup finals. I don't have anything at all against the NHL.  In fact (as long as my team is still in it), I am quite the fan.  When the playoffs come around though, I love the intensity of the game and hate the intense need for pure luck.

Of all the major sports, hockey is the hardest championship to win because luck is simply too much of a necessary quotient.  However, don't get confused on this luck thing.  It is necessary for sure, but the luck that we common folk speak of and the luck of a champion are hardly cut from the same cloth.

Enter the reigning NBA world champions, the Miami Heat, and suddenly the conversation of luck has taken on new dimensions.  If you followed last year's finals, you understand clearly the reason for such opinions, but it might take a deeper knowledge of winning and losing to understand what luck is and what it is not.

Was it lucky that Ray Allen got his feet behind the line to tie game 6 on a miracle 3 pointer when San Antonio had the game all but wrapped up just moments before?  Ray Allen won't let you describe his well practiced jumper as lucky.  To me, the long bounce off of the rim that gave Chris Bosh, an exceptional rebounder, an offensive rebound and the assist to Allen was much more akin to luck.  Had that ball bounced a little less than it actually did, then Bosh possibly gets called for an over-the-back foul and luck rewrites this story.

Yet, all of this is belaboring the obvious when it comes to luck.  No one argues with the cliche', "I'd rather be lucky than good", including the greatest of them. No sensible human being would sacrifice the benefit of luck.  In the end, life, and sports, demands a healthy dose of luck just to get an opportunity at greatness.  Deep thinkers and coaches try to sell the notion that luck benefits the aggressor, but at the highest level of competition the lines blur between who is truly the most aggressive, especially since aggression has to be tempered by wisdom and prudence to become a champion.

We would all rather be lucky when our good isn't better than the competition  Luck notoriously chooses sides.  Sometimes it stays where it began, other times it becomes a bit fickle, but most often it walks out with the winning team.

I say often and not always because the beauty of sports is that you can make luck, and your opponents fall prey to your exceptional effort and unity.  Revisionist' might revise you into the seat of the lucky one because that is what they do, but you and luck will always know the truth.  Overall, it even takes a bit of luck to remain healthy enough just to be good.  Greatness in team sports like basketball demands the luck of your good and my good showing up on the same day.

The Miami Heat know how to be great.  They are a team in every sense of the word, but so are the San Antonio Spurs.  Each team understands that they must exhibit the ability to play multiple styles of basketball and be fortunate (not lucky) enough to stay one step ahead of an opponent who is perfectly capable of doing the same to you.  Had San Antonio won last years series, they would have had to mention the good fortune (luck) of overcoming LeBron and them, but it would be disrespectful to assign such a monumental achievement to the sheer luck of the draw.

As game one of the Stanley Cup finals came to an overtime end last night, one team came out playing really really good hockey....only to see a lucky bounce go in the net for the other team.  The Colorado Avalanche opened the playoffs this season with one of the greatest efforts ever seen to erase a deficit and win in overtime.  As they sit at home watching two other teams chase after the cup, I wonder if they feel lucky just to have won that first game and to have pushed Minnesota to a game 7.  In hindsight, this Av's fan certainly feels a lot luckier than I did as our boys cleaned out lockers for the season.

The best team will win the NBA finals because the best team always does.  No matter the nature of a game and the plays within it, the lucky team will always be the winner and the losers instantly become the team who's luck ran out.  This years champion will need to overcome injury and in-game adversity. This years champion must shoot and defend, or run the risk of losing control of scoring. This year's champion also really needs luck to fall their way just to take advantage of the few advantages that great teams give up.

Call it what you want, but only the greatest teams ever get lucky enough to come within reach of a championship crown.  The Spurs have plenty of rings and got a fairly good sniff of the crown last season.  If the Spurs add to their championship legacy by winning another title this year, I can guarantee you that they won't care what adjectives we add to the word "Champion"
.

Lucky Champions smile just the same.

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.