Phil Jackson is luckier than catching a drunken leprechaun holding a four leaf clover while sitting on a pot of gold

Bob on 06 11, 2009

It is tough to argue against a head coach when you simply take a glance at the 9 NBA Championship wins under his belt, but Phil Jackson is not worthy of all the praise he receives. Sure he’s got plenty of hardware, but when you take a look at his successful career more meticulously, you will find that it is extremely deceptive.

Jackson’s first title came in the 1990-’91 season with the Chicago Bulls, which paved the way for his first ‘three-peat.’ It didn’t hurt being blessed with a team that consisted of the one and only Michael Jordan, along with players like Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. Jordan ‘retired’ after the Bulls three-peat, and guess what happened? No more titles for Phil and his Chicago Bulls squad.

After he gave his baseball career a shot and realized America’s pastime was not his forte, Air Jordan came out of retirement to pick up where he left off, this time with virtually an All-Star team. His Airness wasted no time in putting a 4th championship ring on Phil’s hand. Now that his star was back, Jackson could hop back on the train which Michael Jordan conducted and let MJ and crew carry him to greatness. The Bulls three-peated for the second time in the decade, with the first title coming in the 1995-96 season. Are all these championship wins a result of spectacular coaching? No way! Let’s take a look at this Chicago Bulls Roster which Phil had for his second three-peat and break it down:

Michael Jordan – Hands down the greatest player of all time
Scottie Pippen – Overshadowed by Jordan, but was a true all-star himself (named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history)
Dennis Rodman – Arguably the best defending/rebounding forward of all time
Toni Kukoc – Could play any position on the floor besides PG. Won the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1995-‘96
Steve Kerr – Retired with the best 3 point field goal percentage of all time (45.4%)
Along with Luc Longley and a productive bench.

God damn! Talk about a stacked team. Anyone with a pulse could lead this team to a championship!

With Pippen and Rodman’s departures from Chi town pending and Jordan retiring, Phil Jackson decided to hang it up. What’s the matter Phil? Don’t want to coach without a ridiculously stacked team?

It didn’t take long for Jackson to change his mind about retiring. The former Bulls coach took over head coaching duties for the Los Angeles Lakers prior to the 1999-‘00 season.

Without Jordan and the gang, Phil had to settle for Kobe Bryant and a Shaquille O’Neal in his prime. Bummer huh? Some argue Kobe may be the best since Jordan, and Shaqalicious is perhaps the most dominant big man ever. With yet another unbelievable team, Jackson and the Lakers three-peated for the third time in his coaching career.

Starting to sense a trend here?

Similar to the Bulls in ‘94, the Lakers acquired even more outrageous talent, signing Karl ‘The Mailman’ Malone and Gary ‘The Glove’ Payton prior to the ’03-’04 season. LA made it back to the Finals to face the Detroit Pistons, and were obviously the significant favorites to win it all. However, the Pistons handed the stacked Los Angeles team a spanking, defeating them 4 games to 1. How you get spanked in the Finals with a team that was predicted to finish with the best record in NBA history is beyond me.

The Zen Master has one naked finger, and for the second season in a row, his Laker team is in position to fill that void. Jackson, like the majority of his coaching career, has another stacked team. Following the trade with the Memphis Grizzlies which sent Spaniard Pau Gasol to the West Coast (which was an unbelievably unbalanced trade), the Los Angeles Lakers have arguably the most talented roster from top to bottom (I mean, Lamar Odom is coming off the bench).

Let’s be real; the talent that Phil Jackson has had to work with for his 9 championship teams has been absolutely ridiculous. He has had a handful of some of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history to work with. Jackson has established he can’t win a championship without Michael Jordan or Shaq (and that he could lose with Kobe, Shaq, The Mailman and The Glove).

So is Phil Jackson truly a great coach? I’m not so sure about that. He certainly has plenty of hardware, but like I stated previously; give me his former Bulls team with Jordan and crew or Kobe and Shaq in their primes, and I’ll be hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy above my head 9 times. I take that back, 10 times (I wouldn’t have lost in the ’03-’04 season). If he fails to win the ‘ship for the second consecutive season with this Laker team, his coaching legacy should undeniably be questioned. Personally, regardless of the outcome in these NBA Finals, I believe Phil Jackson’s coaching aptitude throughout his stint in the league is extremely puffed up and overvalued.