The Los Angeles Lakers' commitment to sign the mercurial Ron Artest would appear to make retaining Phil Jackson even more imperative than the team believed when the NBA's free-agent period began.
It shouldn't be a topic of discussion much longer.
Jackson's presence on the bench next season, according to one NBA coaching source, is "99.9 percent" assured, with another source indicating that Jackson's return will be publicly confirmed by the Lakers by early next week at the latest.
Sources said Jackson left Los Angeles on Wednesday to make the drive back to his offseason home in Montana after completing a positive series of medical check-ups following the Game 5 victory in Orlando on June 14 that clinched the 15th NBA title in franchise history.
In a recent radio interview with 710 ESPN Los Angeles, Jackson said his 2009-10 status would be made official by "early July" and insisted that health concerns would be the only factor that could keep him from completing the final season of his contract in 2009-10, worth an estimated $12 million. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4304612
...
__________________
Quote:
"If NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC."
I can't see him walking away from this team now that they have signed artest and will likely resign odom. they made the finals without ariza and bynum, won a title with ariza playing a significant role and bynum playing spot minutes, and can only be the favorites having upgraded to Artest and hoping for bynum to be more of an impact.
__________________
Quote:
"GOT…damn! And I know Rubio saw it at like 4 in the morning and started crying and told them hoes from Ibiza to get the **** outta his room. And he said it in Spanish, too, so he looked like an angry drug dealer in a Michael Mann film. GOOD! How’s that for the league’s image, Stern? You ****ing *******. His name is Brandon…he from Compton…he got rapper friends…and he’s your league’s next superstar. Cry!
Quote:
Knicks fans, can you imagine what Jennings is going to do to you? He’s gonna be slicing through that defense like V for Vendetta. Then, after the game, he’s gonna slice through security and find Donnie Walsh and stab him in the damn heart.
I guess Kobe feels like averaging 30 again. At this point, he’s like Keanu at the end of the first Matrix. He became who he was supposed to be and now he’s just gonna do whatever he wants.
And God said, Let There Be Rock. And there was Led Zeppelin.
R.I.P ~ Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, John Bonham, Kurt Cobain, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Michael Hutchence, George Harrison, Syd Barrett, Richard Wright, Michael Jackson ~
After receiving results of medical tests, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson has announced he will return to coach the team for the 2009-10 season.
"After consulting with Lakers team internist Dr. John Moe, I feel confident that I can gainfully pursue an NBA season with another long playoff postseason. All things point to go!," said Jackson.
Jackson, who just completed his 9th season as head coach of the Lakers and 18th overall as an NBA head coach, concluded the 2008-09 season by leading the Lakers to the NBA championship. With his most recent title, Jackson won his 10th NBA championship, surpassing the late Red Auerbach for most in NBA history. In addition to his most recent title, Jackson won three consecutive championships in his first three seasons (2000-02) as head coach with the Lakers. The fastest coach to reach 1,000 career victories, Jackson's total of 1,041 wins ranks 6th all-time. His .705 winning percentage ranks 1st in league history.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Jackson served as head coach of the Chicago Bulls for nine seasons prior to joining the Lakers, leading the Bulls to championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
- Said he was very surprised that contract talks between Ariza's agent didn't go well. Gonna miss the dimension Ariza brings. Said Ariza found a nice niche defensively with the Lakers last year.
- Said that he was glad the Lakers got Ron Artest. Talked how versatile Artest is on defense. Said he always wanted to have a kind of player like Artest for the last 3 years.
- Shared the story 2 years ago after the Lakers lost to Boston in Game 6, about how Ron came into the Coach Locker Room (only supposed to be accessed by the coaching staff) and told Phil that he wanted to help win a championship for him. Phil said thank you, and appreciated what Artest said. Then Artest left and went across to the Players Locker Room (for the team players only) and said the same thing to Kobe while he was showering. Phil said it left a good impression on both him and Kobe.
- Said his decision to come and coach for another season wasn't because of money, but also about the guys inside that locker room. Jokes that his money all goes to the NBA anyway with all his fines complaining about the Refs.
- Also said coming in to coach again back in 2005-2006, he always knew that even though the Lakers were in "rebuilding mode" that Kobe was a wild card and knew that they could always contend. Phil wants to make sure that before he retires from coaching, that his successor will have a team that can contend for championships.
__________________
"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." – mom, circa 1974
"Either you are still a Laker fan, or you never were." - Guru
Source: Lakers' Jackson assured for 2009-10
And God said, Let There Be Rock. And there was Led Zeppelin. 
Linear Mode
