Even though a brand can be set does not mean that it cannot continue to grow. Phil Jackson and his marketing team are well aware of that, and are working to bring Jackson back into the forefront of the basketball world.
Could the unveiling of Jackson’s twitter account — in a very original and humorous way — be a sign that Jackson is looking to work his way back into the league, whether it be in a coaching or managerial role?
Surprisingly, we saw Jackson express interest in the Lakers’ job at the beginning of the season after the team hastily fired Mike Brown five games in. We all know how that worked out, though. Jim Buss decided to spurn Jackson by choosing Mike D’Antoni instead. Ironically, the boss himself, Chris Sheridan, believes that D’Antoni is already on the hot seat, and if the Lakers don’t make the playoffs, he’ll be canned.
Most recently we’ve heard rumblings that the Hansen ownership group trying to move the Sacramento Kings back to Seattle is working on recruiting Jackson as an attempt to do so.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Hansen group will also try to recruit R.C. Buford — the genius behind the San Antonio Spurs — and Larry Bird to join Jackson in the front office.
That is, of course, if the Hansen group can successfully secure the Kings for a move to Seattle, which is now looking less and less likely.
On Wednesday, the city of Sacramento approved a deal that would allow for a new arena.
The approval may help towards the larger goal of retaining the Kings, whose current ownership has a deal in place to sell the team to a group that plans to relocate the team to Seattle.
Today the Mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson, told the Dan Patrick Show that there is a “90 percent chance” the Kings will remain in Sacramento.
So for now, Jackson’s return to the NBA is still up in the air. We don’t know where he will be next year any more than he does.
But at least he is more reachable than ever.
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.