Category: In the News

We’re already missing Phil Jackson from the NBA

The most successful coach in NBA history retired earlier this summer, taking a creative and needling personality with him.

Phil Jackson could raise the hackles of Spurs Nation better than any opposing coach. Like the time he said the Spurs’ 1998-99 championship deserved an asterisk because it was played with only 50 regular-season games. Or when he called Gregg Popovich and his coaching staff “The Simulator Crew” because of their lack of NBA playing experience.

But it’s true that the NBA will be a little less interesting without Jackson around next season.

His old friend and one-time assistant on his Albany Patroons staff, Charley Rosen, had an about Jackson and his unique coaching style.

Jackson had a way of directing his team that was decidedly his own. Like using smoldering leaves of white sage to cleanse his locker room of negative energy. Or beating a tom-tom to attract positive energy. Or his meditation exercises that were meant to identify his team’s personal “safe” spots on a bench.

We won’t see any of this from Popovich, Doc Rivers, Rick Carlisle or Erik Spoelstra.

And the NBA will be less interesting because of it.

But in case any of Spurs Nation is wondering if Jackson has become a reclusive hermit at his Montana compound, fear not.

His girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, had a tweet over the Fourth of July that informed us all that Jackson is enjoying his retirement — at least so far. (Hat tip to Sports by Brooks.com)

“Wishing all a happy reflective 4th of July,” . “Phil sent this (picture) from MT. You can take the man out of Woodstock but…”

Actually, Jackson looked like he might be getting ready for the motorcycle rallies at Sturgis, S.D., next month .

And he was only missing the giant red, white and blue hat and the extended index finger to be mistaken for Uncle Sam.

NBA draft approaching and all is quiet on Spurs Lane

We’re still about 30 minutes away from the start of the NBA Draft.

The media has started arriving and there’s already a full parking lot of team employees who have been here all day.

If the Spurs pick in the 29th slot as they currently are slated, the pick likely won’t come off until about 9 p.m.

But the recent scuttlebutt has been that the Spurs are actively trying to trade up.

So it woud be advisable to stick close to the ESPN broadcast. 

Or an even better idea would be to monitor the Spurs Nation chat we’ll have beginning at 6 p.m.

Follow to join us. We’ll keep you up as best we can.

Spurs’ Bonner keeping hope of labor resolution alive

Spurs forward Matt Bonner spent Wednesday enjoying basketball in its purest form. He was the headliner at his eponymous youth camp in his hometown of Concord, N.H., where the average camper will never earn a dime playing the sport.

Today, Bonner — a vice president of the NBA Players Association — will be in New York for the kind of last-second shot he never practiced in his New Hampshire driveway. Principal negotiators from the NBA and union are scheduled for a final meeting this afternoon, eyeing one last chance to avert a lockout before the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight on the East Coast.

Somewhere between the Granite State and the Big Apple on Wednesday afternoon, Bonner began to channel John Lennon.

“Call me a dreamer,” Bonner said by telephone, “but I’m still hopeful we’ll be able to work something out.”

But Bonner admits what most NBA watchers are saying: The sport is on course for its first work stoppage since 1998-99.

“It doesn’t look good,” Bonner said. “There’s a lot of space between where the owners stand and where we stand.”

If that expanse cannot be bridged, owners are expected to impose a lockout, postponing the start of free agency and threatening the 2011-12 season. There is a chance, if headway is made today, both sides could agree to extend the current CBA a matter of days in order to continue negotiating.

Bonner said he did not know if the union would offer a counterproposal to the owners’ latest offer. He also would not speculate on whether the players, like their NFL counterparts, would vote to decertify the union in the event of a lockout.

The owners’ latest offer would guarantee players no less than $2 billion per year for the duration of a 10-year deal, at an average salary of $5 million per player. Union officials say that represents a pay cut of $7 billion over the life of the deal, compared with the system in place now.

Owners are also angling for a hard salary cap like the NHL’s, which players view as a nonstarter.

“They’re asking for a deal that is worse than hockey’s, which is considered to be the worst collective bargaining deal in sports history,” Bonner said. “If that’s their best offer, we don’t have much choice but to fight for something better.”

Could those differences be paved over at the 11th hour today? If Bonner is still a dreamer, he might be the only one.