Steve Nash excited about prospect of working with legendary coach Phil Jackson – NBA News
After the Los Angeles Lakers fired their Head Coach Mike Brown following a dismal 1-4 start to their season, talk of the town has been surrounding the choices that the Lakers have for their new head coach. Previously, Jerry Sloan was considered as the top contender but in a matter of days, the top contenders list has been rewritten to include former Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, former New York Knicks Head Coach Mike D’Antoni as well as the legendary former Lakers and Chicago Bulls coach, Phil Jackson. The Lakers front office has accepted the fact that they have had conversations with Jackson about returning to the franchise as head coach, but have not given any more details. The return of Jackson is being heavily discussed in the media, as it will make the Lakers one of the strongest roster-coach combination in the NBA at the moment.
Although the arrival of Jackson is being anticipated as a step in the right direction for the Lakers, there are some who believe that with the addition of Steve Nash in the Lakers roster, Jackson’s triangle offence will not be much beneficial, or Nash will have to sacrifice and play a lesser role in order to let the offence work. Nash, however, seems to disagree and says that getting Jackson would be the best thing possible for the Lakers at this time.
“It’d be a coup for the franchise. His history with this club, with Pau [Gasol] and Kobe [Bryant] in particular, is fantastic. For me personally it would be a terrific experience. It’s won a lot of championships. It’s hard to argue against that. I look at it as a great opportunity for me to try something new at a different stage of my career,” said Nash while talking to Eric Pincus from the Los Angeles Times.
Many believe that Nash’s value to the team would be reduced in Jackson’s system, and he will be reduced to an outside shooter as Jackson does not apply a great deal of pick and roll, something Nash has mastered over the course of his long and illustrious career. Nash also has his own favourite for the vacant position, saying that he would go for Mike D’Antoni to take over.
“Obviously everyone knows how much I love Mike. If he were the coach it would be seamless and terrific for me and for the team as well. These are things that will be decided pretty soon so there’s not much point speculating,” added Nash.
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