Phil Jackson thinks he's a supreme-court justice.
He thinks coaching the Los Angeles Lakers is a lifetime appointment. But what he needs to realize is that he doesn't need to return to the Lakers. In fact, he shouldn't - for the betterment of his health and the organization's.
Jackson, after winning his 10th NBA title as a coach, has earned the right to hold the Lakers hostage. He alone can set the conditions for his return to coach L.A. next season.
That could include the possibility that Jackson won't travel with the team on road games, leaving assistant coach Kurt Rambis to fill in.
Now is the right time for Jackson to leave the organization. Even Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak admits it would be fitting if Jackson said sayonara.
"It seems to make sense, doesn't it?" Kupchak told reporters in Orlando, after L.A. clinched the 2009 NBA crown. "I don't think he'll (retire), but it seems to make sense."
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Don't hopscotch around the point, Kupchak. Phil Jackson needs to retire, not contemplate doing it. Just do it.
He's already accomplished what he set out to do when he opted for a reunion with the Lakers four years ago.
When Jackson returned to coach Kobe Bryant and the Lakers after being pointedly critical of Bryant, he did so only to cement his legacy as a coach.
After Los Angeles was washed in the NBA Finals by Detroit in five games, Jackson decided it was time to leave the game. Later, in his book, The Last Season, Jackson, citing irreconcilable differences, wrote that Bryant was "uncoachable" and that was one of his reasons for departing Lakerland.
But one year later, after new Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich resigned his post, Jackson had the itch to return to L.A. Sound familiar? Brett Favre? Wait, he was returning to coach the same player whose tantrums were at least partially responsible for his decision to leave?
At the time, the consensus was that Jackson's comeback was the result of his girlfriend, Jeannie Buss, who was a part of the Lakers' management. She had seemingly convinced him to return
That's what Jackson would have you believe, but he's actually as selfish as Kobe.
His re-emergence was based on a strand of Jordanian theory -ˇa premature retirement only to make a glorious and publicized return to grandeur. Still, Jackson was coming back to an immediate contender. The Lakers had partitioned much of their championship team. Kobe was the only mainstay left from the team that three-peated as NBA champions.
So what was Jackson's reason to unretire? Was it to prove a point to Bryant - that he couldn't win without the Zen Master's insight? That was only part of it. Jackson came back for many reasons, but mainly because if he didn't, all his detractors would have been right.
The enduring knock on Jackson was that he was a suspect strategist blessed with great players, the likes of Jordan and Pippen, Kobe and Shaq. Yet, what nobody could take away from him was the fact that he was a brilliant manager of egos, credited with convincing the greatest player of all time that autocracy wasn't the way to hang championship banners from the rafters.
But he had failed with Bryant.
The self-absorbed superstar had broken Jackson. He couldn't manage Bryant or his overbearing sense of self-worth. Instead of dealing with Kobe, though, Jackson had requested No. 8 be shipped to another team at the end of the season.
"I won't coach this team next year if (Bryant) is still here," Jackson reportedly told the Lakers' management. "He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid."
Having bungled his relationship with Bryant, Jackson also had another asterisk on his résumé: Jackson wasn't one to jump into tenuous reclamation projects. When he took over for Doug Collins in Chicago in 1989, the Bulls were already competitors, having made the playoffs the year before only to lose to the "Bad Boys" of Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals.
And after Jackson left the Bulls and later agreed to coach L.A., he inherited another favorable situation. Upon taking the reins, Jackson immediately produced, leading them to a 67-15 regular-season record and the 2000 NBA crown.
But the team he returned to in 2005 was in disarray - too inexperienced and reliant on Bryant. The 2005 Lakers weren't like any team Jackson had coached, and thus were his outlet to hush critics.
If he could take a team void of mega starts, except for Bryant, to the playoffs, and in a few years win a championship, he'd be legendary. No one could say that he wasn't the greatest coach of all time, that he only won because he had "great players" or only chose to coach contenders.
This year Jackson finally captured that elusive 10th title, the one to pass Red Auerbach. But now the ego flexing is done.
Does Jackson love to coach? Probably. But coaching isn't supposed to be a profession where dying in the line of duty is possible.
Please, Phil, retire.
