It was only a few days ago that reports started to surface of former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson showing interest in joining the Orlando Magic’s front office. As quickly as the report started to hit the newswire around the country, Jackson decided not to take the job in Orlando for another undisclosed opportunity in the league.
Now it appears that the talks with the Magic might be back on according to Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated:
“And as if Jackson’s potential price tag wasn’t daunting enough (he earned $12 million in his last year with the Lakers), one of the sources said he is asking for a slice of minority ownership in the franchise as well. The hope, of course, would be for Jackson to use his cachet to convince Dwight Howard to remain in Orlando for the long-term. Jackson’s agent, Todd Musburger, did not return a call for comment.”
Along with the Zen Master potentially getting back to work in the NBA for the Magic, Orlando has made Jackson’s decision whether or not to take the job that much easier with some familiar faces added to the equation.
Apparently, the Magic intend to make former player and assistant Brian Shaw the new head coach and six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen the lead assistant alongside Shaw on the sidelines. It seems as though the a mixture of the Lakers and Chicago Bulls winning style of basketball (Triangle offense) might be headed to Orlando in order to convince Jackson to come out of retirement and help rebuild this team around Dwight Howard.
It is uncertain whether or not Howard will buy into Jackson, Shaw and Pippen coming to Orlando, but there’s no question that the Magic’s front office is doing everything within their power to create a winning formula in Orlando once again with the Zen Master as the key piece to the puzzle.
