Phil Jackson’s sly remarks0

So, if you were not expecting someone to step up and say what the fans have been thinking, you were dead wrong. Below are Phil Jackson’s comments on The Waddle and Silvy Show :

“The scenario that sits kind of behind the scene, is that eventually these guys that were recruited — Bosh and James — by Pat Riley and Micky Arison, the owner, are going to come in and say, ‘We feel you [Riley] can do a better job coaching the team. We came here on the hopes that this would work,’ and whatever, I don’t know,” Jackson said. “That’s kind of my take on it, is that eventually if things don’t straighten out here soon, it could be the Van Gundy thing all over again.”

He is of course drawing fire from these comments from Van Gundy :

“Phil has no idea what the Van Gundy situation was because, even though he coaches in our league, he certainly had no insight or knowledge of that. So an analogy he’d make to my situation would be totally useless because he doesn’t have any clue what the situation was in that case.”

Van Gundy also goes on to say :

“To second-guess another coach and comment on a situation he knows nothing about — it’s inappropriate. And it’s also ignorant. I don’t mean that commenting on Phil’s intelligence. He’s obviously a very smart guy. I mean it as ignorant he doesn’t know what that situation was and he doesn’t know what the situation is now.”

As intriguing this word of mouth is, I would have to agree with Phil Jackson on this one. The talent has been placed in all the right spots, but without a great coach to lead them, they will just be a bunch a good players running the court like chickens with their heads cut off. It is not the majority belief that he will be replaced tomorrow if Miami ends up 8-7 by the end of the night, but if their win loss record does not improve and quickly, Riley will more than likely feel the need to step in and throw some different and more effective views into the mix. They will not be great immediately, but they should be far better against certain teams that they have been defeated by (Celtics not included). Erik Spoelstra is not as effected by it as Van Gundy stating that he received some flack from the coaching staff about the comments and that he knows the team is drawing fire. Phil Jackson sure has earned the right to speak his peace. Both his hands are filled with reasons that he has this right and I highly doubt he will be putting his outspoken comments to rest anytime soon.

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