Am I crazy or does this whole Lakers thing come apart at the seams when Phil is gone? It is pretty obvious that his biggest strength is managing egos.

A) does he leave at the end of the season like he's threatening, and

B) do the wheels pretty much come off at that point?

He will not leave as long as Kobe/Gasol/Odom/Bynum are all under contract. They are all tied up for at least a couple years and they have as good a shot as anyone to keep winning as long as this is the case. He goes through this game every year.

...and will it fall apart when he does leave? Absolutely. Kobe may as well retire at that point.

kobe's championship cookies leave with phil jackson. IMO id say that kobe winning more championships is more dependent on phil jackson than lebron james.


oh, and according to Wilbon, the Lakers will not be paying Phil the 12MM he's due next year. they're capping it at 5MM.

this seems a little bit low to me. i'd be willing to bet 8-9 tops.

[This message has been edited by Simplebay (edited 5/18/2010 9:06a).]

Since we're talking hypotheticals, this would be the perfect time for Coach K to jump to the NBA (which he won't).

This team is not that hard to manage. There are no bad attitudes on it. Kobe's the only one with an obvious big ego, but that's to be expected with someone that great. If you can't handle one ego for a great chance to win a championship, you don't need to be coaching in the NBA.

I say make Simplebay the new head coach.

do i get to bang a current playboy playmate??

i accept.

bring back rudy!!!!!