Phil Jackson Turned Down the Brooklyn Nets


As expected, Phil Jackson told the Brooklyn Nets to take a hike when they came calling. With an eye towards a powerful front-office position, the Zen Master still doesn’t want to get back into coaching, and let the Nets know that they’ll have to look elsewhere. Per the NY Post: “The Nets had contacted Jackson in order to gauge his interest in possibly returning to the sidelines and taking over as coach after deciding not to bring back interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. It was a call that the Nets had to make, and one that Nets general manager Billy King said he would make Sunday when announcing the search had commenced. Given Jackson’s pedigree, including his 11 championship rings from his work with the Bulls and Lakers, it would be foolish to conduct a coaching search and not see if he’d be willing to take the job. […] Instead, it’s been expected that Jackson would prefer some kind of role in the front office with a team, either as a team president like Pat Riley in Miami or as an advisor to an organization like Jerry West with Golden State. Jackson is currently serving as an unpaid advisor to Detroit, as the Pistons conduct their own search for a head coach after firing Lawrence Frank after the season ended. A league source said, however, that the Nets have only discussed the possibility of coaching with Jackson. With Jackson officially out of the picture, the focus will now shift to the next level of candidates for the position, which Nets general manager Billy King said in a radio interview Tuesday had officially gotten underway.”