Jackson was an amazing coach. He got through to the players in a way that few coaches did and he hired assistants who were, for the time, true innovators. He was the ideal mold for the “players” coach – great with the players and smart enough to let his process guys do the process stuff.

Then he got old and either stopped learning or, I dunno, stopped giving a shit, maybe? I really don’t know why he was so, so bad as the Knicks President. I really don’t get it.

Phil Jackson was indeed a great coach, and the triangle offense worked wonders when it was run by elite players. I’m sure it would still work just fine if you had elite players running it.

Phil’s problem was that he couldn’t recognize which players were good and which players weren’t. He thought of player personnel in terms of “can this guy play in the triangle,” and that caused him to make a long series of bad decisions. I mean, gotta have a big who can really pass out of the pinch post, right? That 4/72 to Joakim Noah will look like a steal when he’s zinging around those sweet ass pinch post passes.

Phil was very good at coaching a talented roster over the hump, which is why he is hands-down one of the greatest head coaches who ever lived. Identifying and acquiring the talent, and doing so in a way that maximizes your win curve, is a completely different task, and he didn’t have the skillset for that.

If you told Boogie would play interested every game, stop shooting 6 3s a game and stop with the incessant whining / techs, I wouldn’t be so down on him. The guy has all the talent in the world but it’s his 8th season already and like Clyde likes to say, he just doesn’t play winning basketball. I know it’s one of those platitudes we generally hate around here but Boogie is the one case in which I agree with the statement. I just hate his shot selection, effort and constant whining and pouting.

http://bkref.com/tiny/fmMt3

Embiid has a higher ceiling, but Cousins has turned into a very productive player after a rocky start to his career.

Would be a great opportunity to get in on next year’s under for the Pels. People will assume that Cousins will add several wins to their playoff momentum, when they’ll probably be the same old team once he’s back.

Oh, wait, Boogie is signed through next year? I thought he was a free agent. Or are you just figuring that they are a lock to re-sign him?