Phil Jackson's comments on NBA and LeBron

[gamecockcat]

Admittedly, he comes off sounding like a whiner and a space cadet on the non-basketball items. But, I think there's a fair amount of insight into his comments. LeBron (and many others thoughout the NBA's history) does get away with walking and offensive fouls a lot (slow motion replay is no friend to NBA refs, imo). The superstars like LeBron also have to absorb a ton of uncalled contact so maybe it evens out. But, why not call the games correctly and the superstars would still be superstars but the game itself might actually be more pleasing to watch.

I agree with PJ that too many teams run iso pick-and-roll in the NBA for my taste. In the Finals, Cleveland really had no choice but I think I read where LeBron lead the league in iso possessions during the regular season and by a large margin. But the Thunder do it quite a bit, too, as do many other teams so it's not just LeBron.

Jackson basically stated that today's NBA game is not as aesthetically pleasing as the 80s and 90s. Guess he forgot about the Bad Boys and the Knicks. But, certainly Show Time was more of a flow, get everyone involved offense than today's high pick-and-roll, iso and pass to a shooter standing motionless at the 3-point line. He did mention the Warriors and Spurs as two teams that still play an interesting style and I agree with him.

Besides the crazy stuff, was there anything PJ said that was completely off base? I only watch NBA sporadically and find myself getting bored at watching guys go 1-on-5 too often (and it's probably confirmation bias that makes me feel like it's happening more often than it does). The Finals were pretty entertaining but I still couldn't stay engaged for the entire game. Seems like more times than not, I see stretches of offensive basketball that resemble UK vs. WI the last 5 minutes of the game (albeit at much higher skill level).

Or, are Phil's comments just too dumb to put any credence to?

 

[kentucky_wildcat_#1]

I don't get why he would want to single out LeBron when he coached the one susperstar in history that got away with murder on the court and you couldn't touch on defense.

 

[mebeblue2]

he did fail to mention that Lebron got beat to death in the playoffs

i do agree with him on the games being less enjoyable due to all the iso

 

[catillac32]

Just shows you how clueless and jealous that Phil currently is.

 

[.S&C.]

Phil Jackson and a host of other well informed people think the product was better in the 80's and 90's.

And we already have idiots claiming he knows nothing. Lol. Too funny to put into words some of the ignorance.

 

[Hoskins91]

It's weird he's complaining about it now, since he coached during the late 90's and early 2000's. Where the ugly, low scoring, ISO heavy ball was at its worst. Especially after coaching guys like Kobe, Shaq, and Jordan.

 

[Hoskins91]

Phil Jackson and a host of other well informed people think the product was better in the 80's and 90's.

And we already have idiots claiming he knows nothing. Lol. Too funny to put into words some of the ignorance.

That comes down to a matter of taste. What people were disagreeing with you in the other thread about was that somehow players aren't as good as they were back then.

 

[.S&C.]

That comes down to a matter of taste. What people were disagreeing with you in the other thread about was that somehow players aren't as good as they were back then.

I think the NBA as a whole was better then and it's an opinion that is everywhere. It's not as simple as players are just better, but I still think the players (especially the top 20) were better then. My main argument isn't that the players were necessarily better though. I've said from the start the "product" isn't as good. And Again, that opinion is everywhere.

 

[mj2k10]

Phil should give back at least 8 of his rings if he's really so against that style. Because 8 of his rings came via 2 guys who would be on the Mt Rushmore of iso players, Jordan and Kobe. Yeah, those teams ran Jackson's beloved triangle offense, but gee, that offense sure seemed to involve a hell of a lot of Jordan and Kobe just taking their guy off the dribble. And as far as I'm concerned, Phil's other 3 rings came via something even uglier- Shaq just overpowering everyone, because he was too big, too strong, and too quick for anyone to keep away from the rim.

Aside from that, Phil should also realize that LeBron doesn't even like playing that style. He found himself in a situation where he had no choice. Golden State, the actual winner, is not an iso-heavy team, and last year's champion Spurs played some of the most beautiful offense you could ever dream of seeing.

 

[DraftCat]

He singled out Lebron because it would bring the most attention to his point. It isn't a secret that the NBA never calls the "travel" or "palming".

Whether people like it or not the NBA is about ENTERTAINMENT. Not always about basketball unfortunately. That said I enjoyed GSW winning this season because I felt like they were a team.

 

[TruBluCatFan]

I don't get why he would want to single out LeBron when he coached the one susperstar in history that got away with murder on the court and you couldn't touch on defense.

I was thinking exact same thing when I read the OP. Bryon Russell and the Utah Jazz agree.