A Systematic Solution Is on Jackson Agenda

A stroll through the psyche of Phil Jackson, as narrated by Phil Jackson:

“Sean Elliott came into the locker room [as part of] the ESPN crew [Friday]. He was talking to the coaching staff about the [Philadelphia] game with the other reporters. They were talking about the role players. [Elliott] said, ‘One time I was guarding Michael [Jordan], he flashed to the post, and Steve Kerr didn’t pass him the ball. [Kerr] went away, back to the other side of the offense. After the game I asked why he didn’t give it to Michael. He said, ‘If we throw the ball too much to him, Phil gets mad at us and takes us out of the game because we’re not supposed to toss him the ball so much. We’re supposed to stay inside of the offense.’

“So, it kind of reminded me of when I was probably a more disciplined coach, how I used to make the team stay inside the system a little bit more than relying on the superstars in the offense. They’re going to find their own way to score without it. They don’t need an offensive system to score. But the other players do need a system to score and if they run the system then they’re going to find a way to score inside the system. If Shaq and Kobe break it down and play too much one on one, if the ball stops when it hits their hands, then it destroys the rhythm for those guys to score.”

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That being said, Jackson said, his players have asked him to be harder on them. He sighed.

“They can’t ask me to hold their feet to the fire all the time,” he said. “You hate to have to be a [jerk] all the time when you’re a coach. It just bothers you.”

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Devean George did not play Sunday because of a sprained right ankle, suffered early in Friday night’s loss in Philadelphia.

The team said it is not as severe as the sprain that kept him out of 10 games in November.