LONGTIME students of Phil Jacksonian philosophy say Cleveland is too much of a basketball backwater for someone as deep and debonair as the renowned Zen Coach. It is routinely dismissed from serious contention in the current Jackson sweepstakes as an intellectual washout and industrial wasteland, but Dean Williams believes otherwise, and he ought to know.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
Phil Jackson during his tour with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Will he re-up for a second or move to New York or Cleveland?
"I think Phil would find this to be a very comfortable place, culturally and spiritually," Williams said yesterday in a telephone interview from the office of his company, which underwrites workers compensation.
Insurance facilitates Williams's living, but he makes more profound sense of it as priest and leader of the Jijuyu-ji Zen Group of Cleveland, and he would like Jackson to know that the city that fancies itself as the North Coast, a scaled-down Chicago with affordable housing, has many spiritual outlets that are chanting for him to come coach LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
"To have him come here, using his Zen principles in the basketball arena, would be a wonderful thing for the spiritual community, for the whole city," Williams said. "People are talking about it, the conditions exist and the karma is pointing in that direction."
Except for the fact that Jackson seems trapped in a meditative midlife trance, unconvinced that he wants to coach again and seemingly unable to see New York and Los Angeles, albeit onetime sacred N.B.A. temples, for what they have become: desecrated franchises with dim foreseeable futures.
Even Cleveland bashers have to admit that the northern Ohio city has more to offer Jackson in terms of coaching curb appeal, starting with James, a young and unspoiled star, and the likelihood of salary-cap flexibility to attract complementary talent.
"Jackson could build a powerhouse here," said Williams, 54, a Buddhist since 1997, a Zen priest since early 2004 and a religiously committed basketball fan going back to the mysticism of Jackson's first professional team, the - let us bow - championship Knicks of 1970 and 1973.
Williams also happens to be a devout admirer of James. "In LeBron's case, he is astonishingly mature for his age," he said. "He is not a head case, he takes on the role of leader and he doesn't have the agenda that Kobe Bryant has. He's ideal for a guy like Phil Jackson."
