May 30 2008
Steamrolling to another Championship
This post is really hard for me to write. I’ve long been one of the detractors of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant.
I’ve always been on the side of the Jackson debate, which concluded that he was an overrated coach who built his resume off the backs of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Bryant and Shaq. Jackson has never taken a really bad team and turned them into a championship. I always tried to knock him on that fact.
After what I’ve seen over the past season though, I’ve switched sides. Phil Jackson is the greatest coach in NBA history (or at least during the 30 years or so I’ve been alive). Some coaches may have been better teachers, or have gotten more out of less. However, when you really look at the performance of his teams with him as the coach versus either his predecessor or successor, he deserves a lot more credit then he’s been given.
Throughout this post-season, the media coverage has continued to call this collection of Lakers players as supremely talented. Aside from Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, where is this talent? They are all decent to average pros. For the 6-9 months leading up to the season, the talk was Andrew Bynum stinks (mostly out of the mouth of Bryant) or this roster needs an upgrade. Jackson and Mitch Kupchek did nothing, and were mostly blasted for such.
Through all of Bryant’s whining about wanting to be traded and the lack of quality around him, Jackson and his coaching staff worked to develop guys like Bynum, Farmar, Ronnie Turiaf and Sasha Vujacic.
The reason the Lakers are in the finals, is not because Bryant changed or improved his game. He’s the same dominating presence who is the superstar every team needs to win a championship.
Jackson has always had the reputation of managing the egos of his stars or high maintenance players (Dennis Rodman for one). However, it should be noted that at the same time, he gets a lot out of lesser players. Do these names ring a bell? Luc Longley, BJ Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Jud Buechler, Randy Myers, Stacy King, Craig Hodges, Devean George, John Salley, Tyronn Lue, Brian Shaw…. The list could go on and on of guys who really didn’t have much pro success, but when they played under Phil Jackson, they were not only successful but key cogs in a championship team.
As far as knocking Jackson for winning with superstars, look at the NBA Finals MVPs for the past 30 years or so. Other than a few players, all are considered not only superstars, but all-time greats. And really only the 2004 Detroit Pistons have won a championship without a great player.
The difference is, while many have tried and failed with various great players, Phil Jackson has pulled it off again and again. Now he’s on the cusp of his 10th title as a coach, with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and a cast of never have beens/never will be’s. Say what you will about the talent of Gasol and Odom, but they never were able to do much of anything in the NBA prior to this season with Jackson.
Write it down, if Jackson retires after this season, the talk of the Lakers dynasty will prove to be premature, as Bynum will never become “the next great center” which he is now being called. Gasol will return to being just another soft European, and Odom will again look like a talented player with no direction. Bryant? He’ll dominate, but he’ll go back to whining and not winning.
I must give Phil Jackson his due.
