Raptors want Phil Jackson
I actually heard some rumors of this a couple of weeks ago but thought it was just fluff.
Now it sounds much more legit.
From the sounds of what Kurt Rambis has been saying Toronto has most of what P Jax would want.
Strong ownership (but hands off). Good sized market team with money.
If you also think of some of the other management pieces they have picked up in the past couple seasons - Alex MacKechnie (former laker head of sports med/science etc) Ed Stephanski (could hold onto him even though BC would be out for sure). There is actually a pretty good list of guys like that who Phil could pick and choose from and discard the rest.
MLSE would give him cart blanche which is would demand.
For some reason I still find it hard to believe that Phil Jackson will opt to come work for Toronto, partially because historically it has been hard to build a winner in Toronto due to American players seemingly preferring to play in America (understandably so).
That being said, as a Raptors fan, I would be more than willing to give Phil his first management opportunity.
Like Brew Meister pointed out, Toronto could give him:
A. Complete autonomy in basketball decisions
B. An ownership group with deep pockets that is willing to spend into the luxury tax
C. A big market to work in
D. Familiar colleagues (ie. new President and CEO Tim Leiweke) to work with
So maybe Phil will seriously consider the opportunity.
Regardless, it is nice to see Leiweke be immediately aggressive in his efforts to turn around a Raptors franchise that has failed to make the playoffs for five straight years.
From what I understood those rumors were more tied to the Seattle group. Coulod be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that Toronto's chances of landing Phil have gone up quite a bit since the league recomended staying in Sacramento.
Either way I feel that both teams would be a great fit for Phil.
He has enough championships already and I feel like he's looking for a challenge to change the culture of one of these teams into a winning atmosphere.
I would be so happy if he came to the Raptors, we need a change. As much as I appreciate BC's efforts to shape the team, all of them flopped but I'm not blaming him for trying.
It would be refreshing with Jackson in the Toronto front office... only time will tell!
holy &$#%#&@!.. lets BC out of here and pick up the zen master if it's possible!
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9226337/toronto-raptors-ramp-push-phil...