Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jacksonis an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player, currently serving as president of the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association. Jackson was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 until 1998, during which Chicago won six NBA championships. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five championships from 2000 until 2010. In total, Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth17 September 1945
CityDeer Lodge, MT
CountryUnited States of America
Right now, we need to focus on who we are as a basketball club. I don't live with expectations, so there's nothing there I can say I expected. We're just out here kind of treading water as a basketball team right now. We're neither hot nor cold, neither fish nor fowl.
I have my hopes as to how we can grow as a basketball club,
It was a disappointing loss for us as a basketball team. We couldn't keep them off the free throw line in the fourth quarter. We just didn't have things go our way.
We're not even going to discuss it. It's a basketball team and we've got to focus on what we need to do.
That's not what basketball is about. Basketball is about playing as a team and finding a functioning level.
I think we are playing relatively good basketball. Tonight we were quick to the ball and did a good job on defense.
He was a great student and a really fine leader on the basketball court. He directed a lot of what happened, he was very much one of the reasons why we were successful over those six championships.
He is still a long ways from being smooth in what we anticipate will be a system that he'll take to and enjoy, ... It's going to take him a while, as it will everybody, especially a guy who's a lead guard in a situation like that. It takes some time.
His confidence grew as we kept going back in to him, and he got more productive from that. I think guys started relying on the fact that he could be counted on to catch the basketball and convert.
I'm not the panacea for this basketball club, ... It's going to take plenty of hard work and dedication over the course of the summer to change the face of this team.
I don't see how you're going to get value out of this player who, in my estimation, is one of the most valuable players in the league. Of course, I estimate him perhaps higher than other people. I think he's a terrific player. He adds a big dimension in every game he plays in.
Basketball, unlike football with its prescribed routes, is an improvisational game, similar to jazz. If someone drops a note, someone else must step into the vacuum and drive the beat that sustains the team.
I probably would have no capability of absorbing a 60-defeat season as a coach. It would be a foreign experience. My whole career, even as a player, has been on winning basketball clubs and it just seems to have been a part of the make-up of what’s been given me. That’s what I’ve been given and that’s what I’ve had to deal with. Some people can make fun of it or some people can have a good time with it, or some people can resent it. It’s just what it is.
The ideal way to win a championship is step by step.