Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Rudy is Ill, Call Dr. Phil
Rudy T's resignation is now official and the story is now supported by a few more quotes and details.
So I guess the storyline their selling now is that the daily grind of NBA coaching proved to be too much of a physical strain on Rudy T, a cancer-survivor. He found that, for whatever reason, his body was not cooperative with the rigorous demands and pressure of an NBA season.
I guess I can buy that. That seems believable to me. I feel bad for him that his body is basically forcing him out of his life's passion. The story says he will remain with the Lakers as a consultant and I hope he finds satisfaction in that.
Some of you (one or the other) might be looking for some sort of retraction or apology from me, but you won't get it. Of the many ways in which I listed Rudy T to be at fault yesterday, all of them were predicated on the notion that he was quitting for any reasons other than his health. I stand by the comments I made about what now appear to be confirmed as hypothetical situations.
After Joe and I debated this for a good half-hour last night, we moved on to discussing the Lakers next head coach. He asked if I thought Phil Jackson was a possibility and, like Stephen A. Smith on NBA Fastbreak, I said absolutely not. After all, Phil made it very clear that Kobe was the main reason he left the Lakers in the first place. It made no sense why he would even consider coming back to them now. Since this is the Lakers, I should have known better.
By the time I plopped into my cubicle this morning, reports were already circulating of a meeting between Lakers owner Jerry Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak, and team captain Kobe Bryant about the possibility of asking Jackson to return. Apparently, Kobe gave his approval and Phil actually said he would "mull it over" via an e-mail from Australia.
If this actually happens, the Lakers will officially have become a daytime soap opera, eligible for ratings comparisons and daytime Emmys. If Phil comes back, Laker Nation will throw up its collective hands and smile a collective grin of surprise that even after last summer, the Lakers still have the ability to shock us.
Oddly enough, I think Phil Jackson is the best man for the job. Even after Kobe and last year's team nearly drove the Zenmaster to therapy, who would be better suited to taking command of this team and getting this runaway franchise back on track? For this job, there is Phil Jackson and no one else. I just hope Dr. Buss can do his best impression of a wife-beating alcoholic and convince Dr. Phil (I'm giving Jackson an honorary doctorate in the science of team psychology) to "just give him one more chance to make it right." Maybe he should actually wear a wifebeater to the meeting just to really get "method" with the whole thing. I can see the trailers now....Jerry Buss is Stanley Kowalski in "A Laker Coach Named Must-Hire."
Would Dr. Phil do it? If you really think about it, he just might. What are his other options? Retirement? No way, you can bet your budha he's not gonna give up yet on topping Red Auerbach for the most championships. The Knicks? I seriously doubt the homecoming factor is enough to cancel out the fact that Stephon Marbury is still on the roster. Plus, how well would Phil's ho-hum sideline demeanor hold up with the New York media and fanbase when the Knicks still suck next year? Portland? Jackson may have coached Kobe and The Worm, but he's not brave enough to try coaching a whole team of Rodmans and Bryants. L.A. with its yoga, juicebar lifestyle is the best fit for the Zenmaster. Not to mention that, of the teams thought to have coaching vacancies, the Lakers give him the best chance to win that elusive tenth title. Maybe not this year, but if they get a couple free agents to sacrifice like Payton and Malone did and if the team actually listens to Phil, the Lakers could easily contend next season. And what of the pride factor you say? Why would Phil return to a team that practically told him he was no longer their best option and to coach the player that was supposedly whispering that fact in the owner's ear? Because it would prove he was right all along.
Can you imagine how Shaq would react to Phil coming back? He might act blase at first, but he's never been known as The Big Restraint when it came to voicing his feelings. Sooner or later he would crack. Shaq seems to have put himself and Phil on the same bus out of Lakerland last summer, unifying the blame against Bryant for his and Jackson's departures as if they were two parts of the same decision. Shaq would crap a size-22 Reebok if Phil sided up with his (and as he presumes their) archnemesis again. Aside from the positive outlook it will give the Lakers, I'm pulling for Phil to return just to see Shaq's bravado taken down a peg.
Sports matchups are really peeking these days. We've seen Pedro vs. Clemens in a Game 7, and now we have the potential to see Schilling vs. The Big Unit, and Kobe and Phil vs. Shaq. Now if we could only find a way for USC and the Patriots to square off...
Laker fans get a bad rap as being soft because they show up late and don't make much noise, but I think it's time to come clean, the truth is we're all on Ritilin. It's the only way we could have survived this long. Can you imagine those wimpy suburbanite San Antonio fans enduring this kind of constant controversy and upheaval?
The real gem in this whole story is that Phil Jackson is vacationing with Luc Longley and when asked if he would consider returning to the Lakers, Phil said he's "mulling it over" and then followed by saying "Luc and I are going swimming in the Indian Ocean this p.m. (afternoon)"
Only Phil.
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So I guess the storyline their selling now is that the daily grind of NBA coaching proved to be too much of a physical strain on Rudy T, a cancer-survivor. He found that, for whatever reason, his body was not cooperative with the rigorous demands and pressure of an NBA season.
I guess I can buy that. That seems believable to me. I feel bad for him that his body is basically forcing him out of his life's passion. The story says he will remain with the Lakers as a consultant and I hope he finds satisfaction in that.
Some of you (one or the other) might be looking for some sort of retraction or apology from me, but you won't get it. Of the many ways in which I listed Rudy T to be at fault yesterday, all of them were predicated on the notion that he was quitting for any reasons other than his health. I stand by the comments I made about what now appear to be confirmed as hypothetical situations.
After Joe and I debated this for a good half-hour last night, we moved on to discussing the Lakers next head coach. He asked if I thought Phil Jackson was a possibility and, like Stephen A. Smith on NBA Fastbreak, I said absolutely not. After all, Phil made it very clear that Kobe was the main reason he left the Lakers in the first place. It made no sense why he would even consider coming back to them now. Since this is the Lakers, I should have known better.
By the time I plopped into my cubicle this morning, reports were already circulating of a meeting between Lakers owner Jerry Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak, and team captain Kobe Bryant about the possibility of asking Jackson to return. Apparently, Kobe gave his approval and Phil actually said he would "mull it over" via an e-mail from Australia.
If this actually happens, the Lakers will officially have become a daytime soap opera, eligible for ratings comparisons and daytime Emmys. If Phil comes back, Laker Nation will throw up its collective hands and smile a collective grin of surprise that even after last summer, the Lakers still have the ability to shock us.
Oddly enough, I think Phil Jackson is the best man for the job. Even after Kobe and last year's team nearly drove the Zenmaster to therapy, who would be better suited to taking command of this team and getting this runaway franchise back on track? For this job, there is Phil Jackson and no one else. I just hope Dr. Buss can do his best impression of a wife-beating alcoholic and convince Dr. Phil (I'm giving Jackson an honorary doctorate in the science of team psychology) to "just give him one more chance to make it right." Maybe he should actually wear a wifebeater to the meeting just to really get "method" with the whole thing. I can see the trailers now....Jerry Buss is Stanley Kowalski in "A Laker Coach Named Must-Hire."
Would Dr. Phil do it? If you really think about it, he just might. What are his other options? Retirement? No way, you can bet your budha he's not gonna give up yet on topping Red Auerbach for the most championships. The Knicks? I seriously doubt the homecoming factor is enough to cancel out the fact that Stephon Marbury is still on the roster. Plus, how well would Phil's ho-hum sideline demeanor hold up with the New York media and fanbase when the Knicks still suck next year? Portland? Jackson may have coached Kobe and The Worm, but he's not brave enough to try coaching a whole team of Rodmans and Bryants. L.A. with its yoga, juicebar lifestyle is the best fit for the Zenmaster. Not to mention that, of the teams thought to have coaching vacancies, the Lakers give him the best chance to win that elusive tenth title. Maybe not this year, but if they get a couple free agents to sacrifice like Payton and Malone did and if the team actually listens to Phil, the Lakers could easily contend next season. And what of the pride factor you say? Why would Phil return to a team that practically told him he was no longer their best option and to coach the player that was supposedly whispering that fact in the owner's ear? Because it would prove he was right all along.
Can you imagine how Shaq would react to Phil coming back? He might act blase at first, but he's never been known as The Big Restraint when it came to voicing his feelings. Sooner or later he would crack. Shaq seems to have put himself and Phil on the same bus out of Lakerland last summer, unifying the blame against Bryant for his and Jackson's departures as if they were two parts of the same decision. Shaq would crap a size-22 Reebok if Phil sided up with his (and as he presumes their) archnemesis again. Aside from the positive outlook it will give the Lakers, I'm pulling for Phil to return just to see Shaq's bravado taken down a peg.
Sports matchups are really peeking these days. We've seen Pedro vs. Clemens in a Game 7, and now we have the potential to see Schilling vs. The Big Unit, and Kobe and Phil vs. Shaq. Now if we could only find a way for USC and the Patriots to square off...
Laker fans get a bad rap as being soft because they show up late and don't make much noise, but I think it's time to come clean, the truth is we're all on Ritilin. It's the only way we could have survived this long. Can you imagine those wimpy suburbanite San Antonio fans enduring this kind of constant controversy and upheaval?
The real gem in this whole story is that Phil Jackson is vacationing with Luc Longley and when asked if he would consider returning to the Lakers, Phil said he's "mulling it over" and then followed by saying "Luc and I are going swimming in the Indian Ocean this p.m. (afternoon)"
Only Phil.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:48 PM 
