<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES - The three shiny Larry O'Brien championship trophies that Phil Jackson won as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers sat on a table at the team's practice court, props for a season-ticket-holder event in late October. Answering a fan's question, Jackson broke down his signature triangle offense in two minutes. Then, as fans lined up for photographs with the trophies, he walked gingerly to the film room to actually teach his system, which can confound even the most talented of players. These Lakers, who went 34-48 last season and tumbled to the lottery, are almost certainly not the most talented Jackson has coached. One day after the Lakers' owner, Jerry Buss, predicted a playoff berth for his team, Jackson, who had been gone for only a year, compared the Lakers to an expansion team. He criticized the defense and spoke of conducting sixth-grade-level drills on offense. Only the franchise player knows the triangle inside out. And in a most unlikely remarriage, that player, Kobe Bryant, is now Jackson's ally - for the moment, at least - for an N.B.A. season that begins tonight with the Lakers ranking high in intrigue but little else. "We've been allies for a long time," Bryant said. "We've had our public battles, but we know each other so well. When pressure situations came, he knew I'd be able to orchestrate the offense exactly how he wanted it."</div> Full article
If it were any coach other than Phil Jax, tonight's game wouldn't be as interesting. I will be watching tonight. Lamar Odom is the one I'm curious about, espeically in the triangle offense.
The Lakers aren't playing until tomorrow, against the Nuggets who fortunately for us will be playing the second game of a back-to-back, the first of which is against the world champ spurs. God I would love to see the nuggets start the season 0-2.
