The Association

Hey Jerry Buss... Get Over the 80's!!!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Jerry Buss, put down your Atari 2600, hit the stop button on your walkman (Paula Abdul, They Way That You Love Me, right?), remove your "Where's the Beef?" hat, stop saying "Totally tubular!!"... the 80's are lone gone my man.  Gone.  Rubik's Cube... gone.  Ronald Reagan... gone.  Pacman... gone...

The Showtime Era.... GONE!!!!!

Let it go Jerry.  Seriously LET...IT...GO!!  I get that you made you bones while Phil Jackson was dating cheerleaders, but it's time to move on.

Earlier today Roland Lazenby tweeted:

So is now the time to have a pissing contest between the greatest owner and greatest coach in NBA history?  Why can't these two guys ever get on the same page?  Is this some kind of future-son-in-law grudge match?  You guys share the common bond of the Lakers, championships, Jeannie Buss and the City of Angels... isn't there some kind of common ground?

In a simple answer: NO!

The reason?  Jerry Buss's high school crush on the Showtime Era. No matter how many titles Phil wins, in Jerry's mind it's still all Showtime all day. Instead of publicly courting Phil Jackson I keep hearing that Jerry wants to bring back the high-octane offense of the 80's with Byron Scott calling the shots. You have the most successful coach in professional sports and yet Jerry isn't fully committed in bringing him back.

Yeah that makes sense. Sure, let's run the most successful coach in professional sports. After all he didn't save the Shaq-Kobe era or even revive the Lakers after the dismal Rudy Tomjanovich year (It wasn't even a year, the dude skipped town after 4 months for "health reasons" code for "I give up! You coach this shit!"). Yep, we forget just how terrible the Lakers were the last time Phil was "let go" by Buss. You can talk about terrible rosters, but Phil took the team that Rudy completely destroyed with his chuck-and-duck all threes and no defense schemes, organized it, reigned it in and got them within one game of eliminating the #2 seed. Yes Kobe had a ricockulous season, but Phil got the entire roster all believing in the system and took a VERY untalented team back into the playoffs.

No really, that was a terrible team.  Take a look here.  Phil Jackson deserved a retro Coach of the Year just based on the "where are they now?" factor.  Smush Parker, Brian Cook, Chris Mihm and...wait for it... Kwame Brown were all starters.  They made the playoffs with THAT team! 

Yet Jerry completely forgets the chaos of 2005 and is willing to once again pursue Showtime. You know who this reminds you of, right? Yep, Al Davis. We're on year 76 of the Raiders playing the vertical passing game. Yes, it worked in the 70's and 80's but the NFL also moved on to more complex schemes and the game evolved. But Al didn't and the Raiders failed. In fact, the only time the Raiders mattered was with Jon Gruden and the West Coast offense. They became contenders yet Davis still wanted the Vertical Passing game and ran Gruden out of town.... much like Jerry Buss with Jackson and his love for Showtime.

Replace the Raiders tracksuits with 18-year olds and suddenly you have...Jerry Buss?

Let it the 80's go. Put away your Cabbage Patch dolls, your Beta copy of Rambo and tapes of Dr. Demento. The year is 2010, you're fresh off a fifth title with Phil Jackson (BTW - as many titles as your beloved Showtime) and you have the talent to finally catch your rivals the Boston Celtics. Reward Phil for winning title number 16 against your biggest rival.. give Phil his due and bring him back!

Could A Storybook Ending Motivate Phil Jackson for One More Year?

By Craig Kwasniewski
We all agree that the greatest non-ending of a professional career was Jordan's game winner over Utah in the '98 Finals. The follow-thru, the crowd with "OH NO!!!" looks on their faces... the championship. Simply the perfect ending... if only the DC years didn't exist. 

So what's the perfect ending to a coaching legend that has literally done it all? Phil Jackson has 11 titles, is the franchise leader in coaching titles for TWO franchises, is the only coach to ever take two franchises to threepeats, has finally won one over the storied Boston Celtics and has finally cliched a title in a Game 7. Except for a shot an an unprecedented quad threepeat, seriously what's left for Phil Jackson to do?

Maybe win title number 12 over LeBron and the Chicago Bulls? 

Look, if the rumors are true and LeBron James and Chris Bosh are headed to Chicago (and it's a big if because NOBODY knows where LeBron is headed), with that talent and coaching the Bulls become the odds on favorite to win the East. And if LA re-signs Fisher and finds a suitable back-up point guard the Lakers are the favorites to win the West. What better way to end a magnificent career than to lead Kobe and the Lakers over LeBron James your former team? The series alone finally signifies a passing (or denial) of the torch to the next generation. And anyone who's read about or knows Phil Jackson understands his competitive fire. Beneath the many layers of Zen Buddha is a will to win just like all the other greats. He just hides it better that most... but he still wants to win just as much as Jordan, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Riley, Daly, Auerbach, etc. 

(Plus let's be honest here, I'm absolutely dreading the prospect of Byron Scott taking the reins of the defending champs. They're too good to be driven into the ground by a twice fired, in-way-over-his-head, one-dimensional coach. I'm looking for any angle here... Phil has to stay, he just does. If not for himself, for me dammit!) 

Anyway, the chance is there for the rare perfect ending for a coach that has done it all. Ride towards Montana with a title in hand after vanquishing LeBron and the Bulls... 

PERFECT!

Ring number 13 against Chicago would be nice!