nytimes:Given the chance to coach the team that drafted him, Phil Jackson turned down the Knicks last summer when Isiah Thomas contacted him. Jackson instead returned to the Los Angeles Lakers, who play host to the Knicks on Wednesday. Jackson told reporters in Los Angeles that he liked what Thomas had done with the roster.
"They've strengthened their team a lot," he said Monday. Jackson said it was too early to judge the Knicks' trade for Eddy Curry, however. "You can't tell in basketball for a half-dozen years or so whether the move was correct, because there's always other things that weigh in there," he said. "But he is talented."
Although Jackson was intrigued by the idea of returning to New York, he said he had reservations about the intense news media scrutiny. "The people that cover the team are like double you guys and twice as nasty," Jackson told the Los Angeles reporters. "They're snakes, just nasty, and the innuendos. Those things, I knew I was going to be able to live without."
