
‘Phil or Pill?’ (Lisa Blumenfeld - NBAE/Getty Images)
If there were an award for the most arrogant person in professional basketball, Coach Phil Jackson (or Coach Pill, as I like to call him, because he’s such a bitter pill to swallow), would certainly be high on the list of nominees. He distorts, denigrates and defiles players, opponents, arenas, cities and groups of people. Pill is just not a positive, he’s positively negative.
His list of bitter remarks are too long to list here, but let’s take his latest.
Said Jackson, who once took some well-documented verbal jabs at Sacramento fans: “Of course, you have to take into account the patrons in Utah — the type of people you’re dealing with.” (Orange County Register)
Oh, those Utahans! Scum of the earth.
Can you imagine coaches like Gregg Popovich or Jerry Sloan making such degrading remarks? They take blame, frequently when it’s not their fault, instead of blaming others. They don’t pontificate or take a holier than thou position, but make their comments as they see them, giving credit to other teams, players or fans. They both have a dry humor, frequently self-deprecating, unlike Poison Pill.
Pill has come into “his” championships on teams with the best players in the world already in place, and rode them to all those rings. He started coaching the Bulls with Michael in place, got his rings and left the team decimated. The Bulls have yet to recover from the Poison Pill. Shaq and Kobe were there when Pill started milking his 10 (now 12) million a year from the Lakers. After a few rings, and chasing Shaq off, Kobe is ready to leave. Pill seems to be right on course to leave the Lakers in as chaotic a condition as he left the Bulls.
And my nomination for the Arrogance Award is…Poison Pill!
Jazzaholic
Haastyl on December 03, 2007 said:
Awsome… I am not the only one who sees Phill as not the greatest NBA coach, but the absolute worse. I couldn’t agree more about his “Cherry Picking” Championship rings. And, I have to be honest I am looking forward to his leaving the Lakers as he did the Bulls, sucked dry by him, a deflated shell of their former greatness. It couldn’t happen to a better organisation.