Phil Jackson Paid Mike Brown a Visit

Phil Jackson recently swung by the Lakers’ headquarters, and had a brief chat with the guy replacing him on the bench in LA. From Yahoo! Sports: “New Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown was in the middle of a meeting with his staff last week when a familiar face suddenly appeared in the doorway of the coaches’ conference room. Phil Jackson was at the Lakers offices to see his girlfriend, Jeannie Buss, and stopped by to greet Brown. ‘We just talked shop about some of the guys on the team,’ Brown said of his 15-minute conversation with Jackson. ‘But we talked more about what he’s got going right now, and where each one of us is living, and where he still has a place and all that other stuff. We talked about that more than really getting into talking about basketball.’ Jackson retired as the Lakers coach at the end of a season that saw the two-time defending champions swept by the Dallas Mavericks. He left with a record 11 NBA coaching championships, a .704 career winning percentage and the reputation as the game’s greatest coach. Players respected Jackson, the fans loved him, and his presence still hangs over the franchise. Brown now steps into this void, charged with steering one of the league’s most fabled franchises back onto the championship track. ‘In no way, shape or form am I trying to be Phil Jackson,’ Brown said. ‘I understand that. I’m pretty secure in who I am. I welcome him stopping by any time he wants.’ Brown doesn’t appear intimidated by the challenge of following Jackson. In the season he spent away from coaching after the Cleveland Cavaliers let him go, Brown says he daydreamed about what it would be like to coach a star-studded team like the Lakers.”