Waiting for Jackson

Jeff Van Gundy is gone, and one name, rest assured, will echo and re-echo through the streets of New York over the next few months, maybe for the next few years. Put your ear to the sidewalk, Manhattanites, and see if you can hear it:

Phil Jackson! PHIL JACKSON! PHILLLLLLLLLLLLL JACKSONNNNNNNNNN!

Three thousand miles away from Madison Square Garden, Jackson already is on record, denying that the Knicks' head job is in his future. Well, sort of denying it. "I'm never going to say never about a situation, but I don't see myself coaching any place else besides here, and for the rest of my career," the Lakers coach said on Monday. One of the last big names to utter "never going to say never," you might remember, was a former shooting guard who played for Jackson in Chicago and is now plying his trade in Washington.

This is not to suggest that Jackson is going to walk out on the Lakers soon or even before his $6 million-per-year contract expires in 2004. Hey, you got Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, the sunshine and leggy starlets (I've always wanted to fit that phrase into a basketball piece), and Jax is well aware of the degree to which that beats Allan Houston, Marcus Camby, cursing cabbies, a hoarse-throated fan base that will analyze the triangle offense (most Lakers fans think the "triangle" is something you wear around your neck to induce positive karma) and a tabloid press whose aggressiveness would scare off a pack of wolverines. But I have to believe that somewhere in the back of Jax's complex mind is the idea that returning in triumph to Manhattan, a city that he loves and one that once loved him as a player, would be the fitting punctuation mark to his career. And it's so close to Woodstock!

Anyway, speculation about Jackson will be nonstop no matter how many semi-denials he offers. The No. 1 problem with Van Gundy, no matter how you slice it, was that he was Van Gundy -- mousy, pale, unadorned, a man "with a hairline and face for radio" as he once offered in one of his many self-deprecating (albeit polished) remarks. The Knicks want -- and the Knicks need -- a celebrity coach, and there aren't that many of them around anymore. In fact, there might be one: Phil Jackson.

Larry Brown is in Jackson's august class as a coach, but even Ol' Suitcase Larry wouldn't consider Gotham when Philadelphia is driving him half nuts (would he?). Mike Fratello? He's a name, but his day has passed. Mike Dunleavy, who already has expressed interest? Maybe. But though he has the height, his hairline is suspiciously Van Gundy-like, and there is that PORTLAND blight on his résumé. Flip Saunders, widely recognized as the most underrated coach in the league (if, indeed, you can be widely recognized for being underrated)? Doesn't seem New York enough. Pat Riley? Tried that. (And don't be surprised eventually to see Van Gundy on the Heat bench -- perhaps alongside his brother, Stan, currently a Miami assistant -- with Riley upstairs calling the shots.) Don Nelson? Tried that. Don Chaney, the Knicks assistant who was named interim coach for the rest of the season? Well, if New York Knicks continues on its positive course and wins a playoff round or two, Chaney will almost certainly be re-upped for a season or two, but you can't start being a celebrity coach at age 55. Here's a name to consider, though: Orlando coach Doc Rivers, an ex-Knick who is savvy, personable and tough.

But Jackson is in a class of his own right now. Even O'Neal, who has exchanged public salvos with Jackson over fines and physical conditioning, said a few days ago that when Jackson leaves he will also hang it up, sentiments expressed by Michael Jordan a few years ago. Jackson has succeeded in being both a players' coach, an owner's coach and a fan's coach for the simplest and most complex of reasons: He wins.

Van Gundy won, too, more than he should have as the Knicks' cupboard grew increasingly bare over the last few seasons. At least two Knicks, Houston and Camby, breathed public sighs of relief at Van Gundy's departure (their common theme was: Whee! Basketball is fun again!), but the one true warrior on that roster, Latrell Sprewell, praised Van Gundy's intensity, spirit and knowledge, and worries that the team won't be as good without the frowning elf on the sidelines. Well, the Knicks don't want a frowning elf now. They would love to have someone about a foot taller, and my guess is, they won't be happy until he either turns them down flat or decides, Well, I've done it in Chicago and I've done it in L.A. That leaves only the biggest challenge of all.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his NBA Mailbag.

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