Kobe Endorses Phil Jackson Return

While he has ties to several of the coaches that are said to be in the mix for the Lakers job, Kobe Bryant gave a little extra support to one in particular.  The guard told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that he is pulling for the return of his former coach Phil Jackson.

"We have a good enough relationship where he knows where I stand," Bryant said. "He's realistically the greatest coach to ever coach in any sport. It's as simple as that. He's that for a reason. When you have the greatest coach of all time in any profession out there available you have to reach out to him."

Other candidates for the job include Mike D'Antoni, Brian Shaw, Nate McMillan, and Mike Dunleavy.  While Bryant's preferred choice would be Jackson, he said that he wouldn't be disappointed if the Lakers went in another direction.  As Spears notes, Bryant watched D'Antoni play basketball in Italy growing up and also threw his support behind Shaw to take the Lakers job following Jackson's departure.

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