Phil Jackson
Six NBA Titles with Jordan and now another two with Shaq leads me to belive that Phil Jackson must be the smartest man in basketball.
He has coached the two greatest players of this generation. And it is possible they were not even the best players on their own teams.
Kobe Bryant is so good and Scottie Pippen was so good when coached by Jackson, that some NBA experts felt they were better all around players than the big two.
Jordan proved he was the greatest during their second three-peat and Shaq may prove the same, but as for now, Phil Jackson is the luckiest man in NBA History.
Jackson is a great coach. He is a Hall of Fame coach. But I have a hard time believing that The Zen Master isn't glad Michael and Shaq are just so damn good.
Michael and Scottie and Shaq and Kobe are so alike in their domination on the court, that Phil is able to do the exact same things with both teams in his coaching.
He has brought in the same types of players in Los Angeles that he had in Chicago. The only difference in the two teams are the position the big guy plays.
Because Jordan could play the 1,2, or 3, he ran the show and bangers like Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman grabbed every brick.
Because Shaq is a center, he cannot bring the ball down court, and becomes the first option once in the half court.
This poses the problem Phil has had in L.A. because Kobe plays well enough to immitate Jordan at times and wants the glory of Jordan and his six titles.
Neither wants the savior role of Pippen. Both want the attention and that has caused the only headache Phil has had during his 8 titles since 1991.
But Jackson is a great coach. I won't pretend for a second that his coaching ability is all luck. No coach can win just with luck. So I do take my hat off to what Jackson has done in the 90's and now here in the 2000 era.
Doug Collins didn't win in Chicago with Jordan. Shaquille did not win one title in Orlando. He didn't even make it back to the finals until Jackson showed up in Los Angeles.
And of course, we can't forget how well Dennis Rodman played for Phil when nobody else could get Rodman to fit in with their ballclub.
But of all the success Phil Jackson has had, nothing defines him more than making stars out of John Paxson and Steve Kerr when he was given so much talent in the last decade.
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