Zen serenade

Give Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert credit for starting at the top with his coach/general manager search. He is reportedly laying his franchise at the feet of Phil Jackson, he of the nine championships and Zen philosophy.
Jackson will soon step off the Path to True Wisdom and resume his walk on the Path to Knocking Red Auerbach Into Second Place. Auerbach, like Jackson, has nine rings as a coach, the most in NBA history.
The question is, where will he land? The Lakers, Knicks and Cavs (in that order) are probably the top three teams he could end up with.
But before we in Cleveland start getting our Pavlovian reflexes gurgling at the idea of Jackson patrolling the home bench at Gund Arena, let's get a dose of reality swallowed first.
Yes, the Cavs have LeBron James. Yes, he makes the Cavs an attractive destination for many coaches. But it is hard to believe Jackson will get starry-eyed about being LeBron's mentor, at least enough to turn down overtures from the Lakers and Knicks.
In Jackson's previous tours with the Bulls and Lakers, he took over teams that had most of the championship pieces in place. Doug Collins in Chicago and Del Harris in Los Angeles did most of the dirty work as the teams rounded into championship form. By the time Jackson arrived at the helm, the teams were already loaded with star power and needed someone to bring it all together.
Jackson is very good at that. He helped turn Michael Jordan into a man that putting winning somewhere between God and country on the importance scale. He helped make the rest of the roster accept that they were auxiliary pieces to Jordan.
In Los Angeles, he got Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, two petty, bickering, perpetual infants, to harmonize and pool their talents long enough to win three straight titles. Of course, that clock struck midnight last year when the Lakers were humiliated by the Pistons in the NBA Finals, leading to Jackson's ouster and the trade of Shaq.
The Cavs are in a vastly different situation than the Bulls and Lakers were when Jackson took them over. This roster has LeBron and not much else. A talented general manager needs to get the roster to the point where a coach like Jackson is willing to take it over.
One could counter by saying the Cavs could offer Jackson the coach and GM positions, something the Lakers and Knicks most likely would not do. It might work, but Jackson has never outwardly fancied himself a master basketball team architect; just a great manager of men.
Even if offering Jackson control of the entire organization appeals to him, it might not be enough to vault the Cavs past the attraction of New York and L.A.
Jackson parted the Lakers on less than good terms with Bryant. Published reports say their relationship has been mended, and Jackson would possibly like a second crack at coaching the Lakers.
The Knicks have no superstar and are bogged down with bad contracts, but it is still the team Jackson played for in the 1970s. He still has a soft spot in his heart for the Knicks.
It would be best to term the Cavs chances of landing Jackson as "outside." Possible, but not probable. Especially since the Lakers and Knicks both missed the playoffs this season and might be looking for a quick fix, and a way to make their fans open up their wallets at the ticket office.
Gilbert might want the same quick fix, and the same googly-eyed reaction from Cavs fans, but odds are, he'll have to build his front office the old-fashioned way: hire the GM, GM hires the coach, and everybody works together to try and build a winner.
The good news is, that method has been around in basketball much longer than Zen philosophy.