LOS ANGELES – Whether the Lakers win or lose these NBA Finals, Bill Bradley said he thinks his former Knicks roommate, Phil Jackson, will return as a coach.
There’s been speculation Jackson could call it quits if the Lakers do not repeat, and he’s left the door open. The Lakers trail the Celtics, 3-2, facing elimination Tuesday night at Staples Center.
“When I think of his competitiveness and his intensity, I think he’ll coach a couple more years,” Bradley told The Post on Monday. “Being in The Finals and championship again, that’s what he lives for. So I see him coaching three more years. He’ll have to determine that, and it’s a function of health. But he’s done a good job at pacing himself.”
Bradley, part of both Knicks’ championship teams with Jackson, still talks with the Zen Master regularly and attended Game 3 of The Finals in Boston.
Bradley made an appearance at a soccer camp at Ward’s Island in New York on Monday as ambassador to Beyond Sport, which uses sports to promote social change globally.
Bradley would not predict a Finals series winner, but he’s rooting like heck for Jackson.
“Whoever plays with the most collective intensity wins,” said the former Rhodes scholar from Princeton. “It’s not just intensity. It’s got to be intensity together.”