P.J. and the Bull

If you've been reading his blog, Forum Blue and Gold, you'll know that Kurt is enjoying the return of coach Phil Jackson to his Lakers. But with that return has come the inevitable questions on Phil's true ability as a coach. I guess winning 9 championships isn't enough, so to further quell the critics Kurt goes back to the '93-'94 season, when Jackson coached up a Michael-less Bulls team to 55 wins and one bogus foul call away (curse you Hugh Hollins!) from the Eastern Conference Finals.

Read it and remember an interesting year in Bulls history. I know I was but a youngin back then, which is probably why my thoughts go to Scottie Pippen when regarding that season instead of Phil. But no doubt it proved at least he could have success with only one superstar instead of his customary two. Maybe the same will happen with Kobe:

The Eastern Conference of those Bulls was not as deep as the West the Lakers will have to face next year, and 55 wins is a mighty long way up. But better defense and some roster moves to bring in rebounders and defenders will move the Lakers back toward the league’s elite. It may take a few years, but a direction to build a team in the mold of the early 90s Bulls (with Kobe in the Jordan role) is what I think we’ll see.

I never really had much of an opinion on Jackson outside the norm: that he was a good coach with some great talent. Nevermind the fact that there are great teams every year that don't win the title (think Phil could've sent some of those Kings teams to a finals or two?), his stature in my mind grew even more after reading 'The Jordan Rules':

as described in the afterward section of the book, Phil Jackson would serve as the 'hero' in this story. His ability to come from basketball obscurity (an underrated Krause move) to accomplish with his team what former coach Doug Collins couldn't gave him this 'hero' title. Jordan's relationship with Jackson was always tense yet respectful, as Jackson tried to get Jordan to share the ball more in the team's now-famous triangle offense. This attempt to curtail Jordan within the offense did not always work, but, as Bulls fans can remember, came through in the title-clinching game when Jordan repeatedly found an open John Paxson who drove many a nail in the Lakers' coffin.

Today, Sam Smith (author of The Jordan Rules) went more in-depth to the roots of Phil Jackson:

This could be something of a rebirth for Jackson. Before those nine championships with the Bulls and Lakers and his record number of playoff victories, Jackson was a coach, not a Zenmaster. He loved the CBA, loved coaching in Puerto Rico. He long has savored that 1993-94 Bulls season when Jordan first left and the Bulls won 55 games. Yes, he would like that 10th title, but he's not really a philosopher and professor.

My Man Sam(tm) hits it right on the head here, cutting through Phil's extraordinary skill in handling egos to reveal the fact that the guy was first a coach through-and-through. He wasn't a former all-star that got his job by reputation (like Doc Rivers or Mo Cheeks), he worked and earned his place in the league.

I think people are already caught up in that notion of a 10th championship. I'm sure the slower-witted of that group thinks that if it doesn't come in this final coaching term he'll be outted as a fraud. But I am optimistic that while a championship may not come (the Spurs will have a lot to say about that, you know), Phil will have his Lakers competitive again, and that's a confidence that few coaches around the league can inspire.

Thoughts, interrupted watching Darko actually play

•  My Man Sam(tm) wasn't making much sense this weekend:
  

  Forget whoever wins this NBA Finals series being the world champion.
  
  The world continues to catch up with the NBA, as was evident when Game 1 ended Thursday night with the San Antonio Spurs beating the Detroit Pistons 84-69 and Argentinian Manu Ginobili the best and most exciting player on the floor.
  

  Wouldn't the ongoing internationalization of the NBA make the league champ more valid as world champion? I'd chalk it up to a mistake but he goes with a similar statement at the end of the column.

  Whatever, just found it odd, and the whole Olympic thing was on my mind after I commented on Crazy from the Heat regarding the same subject. In case you care what I think, original thoughts were posted in a much-longer rant back in February of 2004. (this reminds me, 2-year blog-iversary is approaching fast!)
   

• Want Finals blogging? I am watching the series but don't really have much to say. Basically, in my mind the Spurs have been the best team in basketball the past 3 seasons, and if one Derek Fisher 3-pointer goes down this could be a 3-peat for the Spurs. They're just in a different class right now. For Spurs blogging, go to Spurs Blog and Spur of the Moment. For the now-reeling defending champs, check out Motoring Pistons. Corey Petryschuk now writes there, ditching his site at blogspot, another good 'get' for MVN. And I just added his old link to the site, damnit...
   
• As far as the talk of this Finals being ABC's nightmare with the low-scoring games, I could care less if 'Joe NASCAR' wants to come back to the NBA for the first time since Jordan or not. These are the two best teams from each conference, and that's what the Finals are about, not ratings. I am no scientician, but I would assume that a particular year's Neilsen Rating has little effect on the overall health of the league (not saying that prolonged poor ratings isn't going to hurt). Now on the topic of whether these finals are actually boring, I ranted a bit on that as well over at Rising Suns. Also be sure to check out this column by J.A. Adande (via Off-Wing Opinion), which I think outstandingly addresses the 'problem'.
   
• Darko didn't do anything of interest, maybe because he himself acted disinterested. In his defense though it was garbage time, I wouldn't be interested much either. Or maybe I'm just a Darko apologist.
   
• I have just set a record for linking myself writing at other sites. I don't know if that counts as a real post, but why should my thoughts be restricted to readers of a different site :-)
   
• Carnival of the NBA #11 will be hosted at The End of the Bench. So again, if you have read or written anything that you feel the rest of the basketball blogosphere should pay attention to, send all posts to Joey.
   

That new logo smell

Check it out...it's so...graphical.

BIG BIG thanks to JChance for doing the logo you see at the top of the page now. I honestly went way too long with just the text on top. I like this much better. While I was too lazy (and too...not proficient in photoshop) to create another logo, that didn't stop me from making countless suggestions and requests during the time he worked on this for me. While some may notice the lack of Bulls players and logos this, that is entirely by design. Who knows when Jerry Reinsdorf is gonna wander down the street and yell at me like I'm a coach's agent or something.

There are also some new links on the left. I didn't take the time to arrange them in any sort of order, so the new ones are scattered around (some replacing the dead links that were there). No real new sites, they are ones that I've mentioned in an NBA Carnival or elsewhere that I've been meaning to put up in a while. Check em out, bookmark em.

The one newbie I'll name is True Hoop, which is written by Henry Abbott, an actual sportswriter. His great writing puts me (and a lot of others) to shame, but despite that I'll link him anyway. Today I found this link though his site, which is basically what a Bill Simmons' game 7 diary would be if he wasn't employed by ESPN (i.e. way funnier).

See?

No reason to get all excited.

Now lets all take a deep breath....and exhale.

ahh...

Man, what a crazy day in Chicago though. I don't think I've seen a crazier contract negotiation fit in so short a time. It ran the gamut from dead to done in about 24 hours.

But Skiles is here to stay, although with the job security NBA coaches enjoy who knows what we'll be saying a year or two from now.

Skiles fever: avoid it!

Ok, I feel shamed by the fellas at goGPonus.com since they are blogging up a storm about the Scott Skiles contract negotiations and here I am twiddling my thumbs enjoying playoff basketball without a care in the world.

I've already directed you toward their site, but since then there have been 2 more developments since that post. The first was in response to  MyManSam(tm)'s take on the subject, equating Skiles to..Larry Brown?

Skiles is something of a Larry Brown lite, a knowledgeable, hard-working motivator who'll make your team better almost immediately, but who is destined to leave before his time. Skiles and Brown are even represented by the same agents, the Glass family of Joe and Keith.

goGPonus writers have their go at it, questioning Sam's motives (in my opinion I think he's just shooting from the hip), and cautioning the idea of the Bulls management thinking the team is ready for another coach:

I am not sure if we are talking about a Collins to Jackson style jump for the team. For one thing, this team is not sitting on the cusp of greatness like that team was with Michael, Scottie, and Horace. Sure this team is pretty good, and is sitting on the step ready to make the next step, but I do not think the next step they make is an NBA Championship; it is winning a playoff series.

So while Skiles job was to take them from Point A to Point B and hopefully to Point C, I don’t know if they are sitting at Point B where they can reasonably think they have the talent to win a Championship (though they may have the talent, it just is too young and immature) and a coaching move can take them from Point B to Point C. Right now, they are probably sitting just underneath Point B, and Point B would happen when they win a playoff series.

This hits it right on the head. For those not fully versed in Chicago Bulls lore (and that pretty much includes me, as I was but a spry young boy back then), the day Phil Jackson replaced Doug Collins is widely seen as the day the Bulls became a championship level team. But while Collins' last team had the same record as the 04-05 Bulls, that team made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. As noted in the selection above, this team isn't there yet.

Skiles' agent (the aforementioned Keith Glass) was on WSCR this afternoon, and again goGPonus was all over it. They link the .mp3 clip of the interview, and transcribe the juicy parts. Basically...the man is very pessimistic that an extension will be signed before the season. Skiles has already said that he will not negotiate during next season, so it's looking possible he will soon be wearing the scarlet 'L' for lame-duck coach.

Glass gives very few specifics on why the negotiations go sour, and that leads to speculation (and get ready for another Mariotti column) that Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is the one souring the deal.

But until we know the specifics, I will play devil's advocate. I know its easy to expect Skiles to get whatever he asks for, but Reinsdorf can't just hand over a blank check. If he wants more money, how much? If he wants more security, how many years? Would you sign Skiles to a 5 year deal at $4m per? I sure wouldn't if I were Reinsdorf. This may be interpreted as cheap, but try and not be naive about the nature of contract negotiations. Reinsdorf is also the guy who paid out millions of dollars to players who didn't suit up for the team (E-Rob, Pippen, Mike Wilks) because they no longer fit into what Paxson wanted on his ballclub.

I'm sure GM John Paxson wants Skiles around, based on their shared philosophies and the importance of continuity on a young team. Reinsdorf has a track record of spending money and believing in Paxson's judgement.

Skiles seems like he wants to be around. Being head coach of this young, talented, and soon to be under-the-cap team is a hell of a situation, and Skiles has mentioned numerous times how this job lets him be closer to his family in Indiana. And also, I would think he'd like to take the next step with the young players he's successfully groomed over the past 2 years.

But in contract negotiations, sometimes the situation can get heated. Things are said only later to be taken back, and deadlines are made only later to be extended. Figures and details compromise. The parties involved compromise.

So this is why I'm not hanging on every word of the Skiles negotiations. One reason being that other bloggers are providing top-notch coverage. The other is that while I have no inside formation, I am still confident that something will get worked out. Nobody (even the print media it seems) knows how close or far Skiles and management are to achieving a deal. Stories that come out hours from eachother are contradictory in tone and content. So who am I to pretend I can guess what is happening behind the scenes?

At the very least Scott Skiles will be head coach of the Bulls for the 2005-06 season. And if the team falls apart because of his lame-duck status, then he must not be that fantastic of a coach anyway. I do think he's a great coach, though, so I would prefer he sticks around. But negotiations are never easy. Trying to cover them might be just as tough.