Jackson turns coy

Coach Phil Jackson returned from his annual summer vacation in Montana with a close-cropped white beard and a renewed determination to win one last championship in his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Except it might not be Jackson’s last stand after all. The 11-time NBA champion coach acknowledged Friday he’s still uncertain whether he’ll retire after the upcoming season, as he repeatedly vowed earlier this summer when he agreed to return with a pay cut for a shot at an unprecedented fourth threepeat. “I can’t tell,” Jackson said at the Lakers’ training complex at El Segundo, Calif. “Every year, I like to go into a season (thinking) this is it, putting everything into it.”

– Associated Press