Also, I don’t like the sound of this quote of yours: “When Farmar and Brown are in the game they are usually playing with each other …”

I thought this was a heart-breaking sequence to watch, since I think Kobe would have found a way to finish on the first two as recently as last year. (Farmer and Brown still would have blown off the passes. The only saving grace was Collison’s decision to make a clean play on Brown.)

I never said he was a god. But he has a damn good track record.

And just for the record: saying that you are always right doesn’t make you a god either.

So, I came off as too strong and this is more nuanced than what I stated at first. But, I still think it’s a myth. People claim that he can’t do it, that he hasn’t done it, and that he struggles with it. To me, there’s too much evidence against that to make those claims. Is he the best? I don’t think so, but I’m not saying he’s the best. I’m just saying that he’s not bad at it. To me, that’s a low bar to clear, he clears it, and hence my absolutist stance.

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Now who’s being absolutist?

Also, I know you have tremendous admiration for Phil Jackson, but that does not make him perfect. You make good points, but you are being selective as well.

First, it may be, as is often the case, that his ability to connect with young players has declined as he has aged. Grant and Pippen are examples from 20 years ago. Other young guys on the Bulls–Hopson, Sellers, King–got run out of town by Jordan. Phil stuck with John Paxson for a long time after many thought he should’ve switched to BJ Armstrong (sound familiar?)

Second, as far as Parker and Kwame Brown, what happened there was Jackson had to play them since he had no alternatives. He famously called Brown a “pusssy” and of course got rid of Parker to replace him with a vet.

Third, Turiaf was a very mature guy with a great attitude. Walton is the son of a guy with a phenomenal basketball IQ–who stepped down on his own so Phil would play Ariza.

And yes, Vujacic helped the 2008 team. But how is he doing now? How did he do last year? And many here have commented on issues with Phil’s handling of Bynum and Farmar.

I really don’t know if Jackson has an issue working with young guys, but there is some evidence that indicates it might be true.

Show me a coach who can win championships without having great players on his team, and I’ll show you a flying pink unicorn…

…is what I usually say to that.

I agree, I do think that if Farmar was given consistent minutes and more of them, he would start to play a lot better. However, I can’t help feeling that with his age and experience we shouldn’t have to “bribe” him.
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That may be the attitude of the staff, and, if so, it would indicate that Jackson does in fact have a problem working with young players. The NBA is not an electrician’s union; seniority should not come into play. Powell and Mbenga may have great attitudes, but they still sit because the players in front of them are far more effective than they are on the “94 by 47 hunk of wood” as the great Chick Hearn used to say. The issue is whether Farmar will help the team to win more basketball games than Fisher will, given 30 minutes on the floor a game. If Jackson thinks the answer is “no”, so be it; but if he thinks it’s “Yes, but Farmar has to act a certain way first before I will play him” then I disagree with that approach. As Hollinger said “Everyone loves Fisher the man, but Fisher the player is killing them.”

Delving deeper into our fast breaking woes, I can’t help but notice that they lack the basic understanding of fast breaks in general. The reason for Magic’s success as the best fastbreak leading guard was due to the fact that he was such a great finisher himself. When Magic lead fast breaks, the defenders had to respect him finishing, so they would make the committment to stop him before they are near the hoop. With Fisher he has no such skill. He needs to be on the left side so he can finish strong with his left away from defender, but even then his lack of athleticism can lead to getting his layup blocked. Also, he doesn’t have that instinctive rhythm to deliver the pass at the right time so that the wingman can just go up and dunk or lay in without having to dribble he ball. Kobe, Shannon, and Farmar almost always take the worst angle or goes too fast. The lane fillers have to be running insync with the ball handler to create passing angles-meaning you can’t be too fast or too slow. Our guards tend to go too far ahead often leaving alley oop as the only option. Clearly, Brown excels at this but Kobe and Farmar haven’t been as reliable. Finally, Fisher’s greatest problem is that he’s not a great passer nor have great court vision. Brown also falls into the same category. Kobe and Farmar are better but their natural tendency or preference is scoring not passing. As others have said Pau and LO are the ones that possess he skills and qualities to be the most effective leaders in fastbreaks.

We’re not the Showtime nor the Lake Show Lakers now. We’re below average at fastbreaks now die to the fact that we’ve lost Ariza and aged rapidly in the last couple of seasons. Our best hopes of fastbreaks are now LO led ones or Brown finishing on breakaways.