The All-Star break has come and gone, and the trade deadline is here. (We’ll get to that.) But the biggest story in California this week – the biggest in the NBA, really – came Monday with the death of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. It will have a serious impact on the league’s most important brand, so it makes sense to start there. [Read more…]
Phil Jackson will NOT be back as a coach this season. He said so himself Tuesday. “I have no intention of ever coaching again,” Jackson told SheridanHoops.com in a brief statement. [Read more…]
LOS ANGELES — Ryan Anderson is the No. 1 target of the Los Angeles Lakers if they decide to trade Pau Gasol, an NBA source tells SheridanHoops.com. But there are complications, and they begin in the Lakers front office. [Read more…]
Phil Jackson released a statement Monday that said he was awakened at midnight Sunday by a phone call from Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and told that Mike D’Antoni had been hired as coach. Jackson said he met with Kupchak and Lakers executive Jim Buss for 90 minutes on Saturday, during which no contract issues were discussed. His statement implies that his next contact with the team was Kupchak’s call. From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Saturday morning,
When the NBA lockout was announced in the summer of 2011, I was driving the streets of Dallas and checking out the three sports radio stations in the area. I listened briefly to each one to get their take on the major news of the day and then called my basketball cohort Mike Monroe in San Antonio. “Guess what the three sports radio stations are discussing?” I said. “Not the lockout?” wondered Monroe. “Hardly.” “Well then what?” “Two of the three are in animated discussions
During a roundtable NBA discussion on TheOpinioNationNetwork , Jabari Davis, Jamieson Welsh, Twan Staley, and Jory Dreher were joined by NBA historian/author Roland Lazenby following the news of Los Angeles Lakers’ Head Coach Mike Brown being fired on Friday morning. Lazenby has been a fixture around NBA locker rooms for the past four decades, and is a close personal friend of Tex Winter and Phil Jackson. Lazenby has credited Winter (Father of the Triangle Offense) to have practically taught him the
There is a lot of speculation and conjecture out there today regarding Phil Jackson’s possible return to the Los Angeles Lakers, but one piece of information has a lot more meat on the bone than others. It comes from Ric Bucher, formerly of ESPN and now writing hoops for CSNBayArea.com, and it says one of Jackson’s desires is to have final say on personnel decisions — which would render both Jim Bus and Mitch Kupchak relatively powerless. An excerpt from Bucher’s report:
// When we last saw Phil Jackson coaching on that elevated seat of his, he was a man in pain. He had a terrible hip problem, he needed a knee replacement, and the rigors of the NBA lifestyle were taking a toll on his physical comfort and health. Phil needed a sabbatical, and I’d say 18 months away from the game qualifies as a sabbatical-sized absence. But as discussed in this podcast and in this video, this decision may come down more