ESPN: Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson used it as a running joke this season when asked if he was leaning one way or another regarding his coaching future. “I’m leaning against the wall,” Jackson said in a tunnel in Oklahoma City and later, “I’m leaning against the podium,” before a playoff game at Staples Center.
He dropped the joke and got serious about his decision Wednesday.
“I’m leaning towards retiring but I have not made up my mind,” Jackson said.
The 64 year old coach told Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss that he planned on completing a series of medical tests and evaluations by Thursday. He then plans to drive out to his summer home in Flathead Lake, Montana on Friday, spend a week checking in on the results of those tests and make his final decision a week from Friday.
“I’ll take a week after the medical tests are done,” Jackson said. “Some of it’s about health, some of it’s about that’s the way I feel right now. I’ve had vacillating feelings about it. It’s hard not to feel like coming back when you’re speaking to these players and have an opportunity to coach a team that’s this good. But, it’s what I feel like right now and what I feel like in the process that’s gone through. It’s just something I’m going to sit with and feel out and after I’m through talking about all the rest of it with the doctors, then I’ll make the final decision.”
Recent Comments