Jackson Passes on Honor

LA Times: DENVER — Phil Jackson knows who should be coach of the year: not him.

“I shouldn’t be there,” he said Thursday. “There’s so many other guys that have done a great job here this year.”

He mentioned Mike D’Antoni of Phoenix and Avery Johnson of Dallas as coaches of teams that are “surprising people.”

He also said Detroit’s Flip Saunders and New Orleans’ Byron Scott should be considered.

Jackson has won nine championships in 14 NBA seasons but has won coach of the year only once, in 1996.

“I think it’s an honor that I would be ashamed to win” this season, he said, before lightening his tone. “I would be hesitant to accept it because I believe it’s a kiss of death.”

It is?

“Every guy that wins it is fired in another year or two,” he said.

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