[King Mayan]

What?? KingMayan adding nothing to a discussion?? Noooo??

What?? You nuthugging the celts, and you're adding something...

[rsnnh12]

What?? You nuthugging the celts, and you're adding something...

Have you been drinking? That makes no sense.

How'd the Lakers do today?

[EaglesPhan36]

So, we should judge his status as the greatest coach ever by one playoff series rather than his full body of work?

I'm not simply judging on this series, but even in the Hornets series - he did not coach well & I honestly don't know what he did against the Mavericks. They could have lost just as bad with a bucket of water sitting in Jackson's seat and made as many adjustments. Tex Winter made Phil Jackson.

[HoulihansTX]

He, along with thw players went through the motions this year. They picked their spots, and never really played @ an elite level for an extended period of time. That l lackadasical strategy didn't work in this series, b/c the team they were playing was equal of greater than them. Also Mavs were the more motivated team.


While Phil was churning out those championships, his coaching acumen could not be denied.

[Soon2BRich]

Unbelievable! U have one particularly bad year and all of a sudden everyone forgets wat
you have previously achieved

[rapidfire5]

so why didn't you post this the 11 times when he has won a ring?

[Ca$hfloW]

11 rings, enough said

[QuantumLeap]

There's much more to coaching than winning rings. Are you saying that any coach without a ring is a bad coach? I want to know what Phil contributed to the game of basketball, because rings alone aren't enough to claim the 'Best Coach Ever' title. See-

Red Auerbach. 9 rings in 10 years (also won 2 of the next 3 years, when Red moved to GM and Russell was coach). Built the team himself, didn't just switch to a stacked team like Phil. Total of 16 rings as a coach and GM/President. Could've had more if Len Bias hadn't died.

Innovated the fast break as a weapon. Made defense and team play successful and an important part of a strategy, rather than just offense. Pretty much invented the 6th man and the idea of a role player.

THAT is the resume of a great coach. What does Phil have?

Phil has 11 rings when it's harder to concentrate talent on one team like Red did.

[QuantumLeap]

Let's clarify: you do play a sport professionally with the goal of winning the most important title in said sport?



Thought so.

Plenty of players in the NBA have the opportunity to be great. It takes a great coach to harness greatness. Kobe and Michael will be remembered forever, FOREVER, as truly great players, and part of that is Phil Jackson's doing.

Larry Brown? Did he push AI to THAT elite plateau? The PPG numbers say yes, but nearly every other statistic/metric/team accomplishments say no.
Don Nelson? Did he push Nowitzki and/or Nash to THAT elite plateau? Considering that Nash won 2 MVP's after leaving for Phoenix that speaks for itself. Dirk is only now taking over and showing the leadership on a possible championship team, sans Nelson....

point is, even the coaches known as great couldn't do what jackson did. Call it luck or whatever you want to, mad props on a legendary career Phillip.

People talk about Phil winning because he had good players but you make an excellent point. What about all the other coaches that had good players like Jerry Sloan in Utah, Don Nelson, Larry Brown? How many rings do they have?

[Deuce]

This is the greatest coach ever...

[CanuckG]

This is the greatest coach ever...

Agreed.

[rsnnh12]

Phil has 11 rings when it's harder to concentrate talent on one team like Red did.

Phil had arguably the 2 greatest collections of talent ever, and he did nothing to get those guys together...

[Enkhbat]

It was great to see Phil Jackson get swept

[Soon2BRich]

This is the greatest coach ever...

no, this is the greatest coach ever