Phil Jackson Inducted Into Basketball Hall of Fame
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame today (along with Phoenix Suns announcer Al McCoy, among others). Phil Jackson has an impressive 919-393 regular season coaching record (70% winning percentage) and 179-77 postseason record (69.9% winning percentage). He has won nine NBA championships - six with the Chicago Bulls, three with the Lakers.
Despite his monumental success, his detractors note that his years as an NBA head coach have always involved some of the very best players ever: Jordan and Pippen in Chicago and Shaq and Kobe in LA. And he has never won a championship without two superstars. During Jordan's two-year retirement in the mid-90s, the Bulls made the playoffs both years but never made it past the conference semi-finals. And without Shaq to anchor the front court lineup, the Kobe-led Lakers haven't gotten out of the first round of the playoffs.
Regardless, Phil Jackson has a knack for making the most of his talent and keeping the peace between his talented players. While he was unable to smooth out the growing rift between Shaq and Kobe, he did manage to keep a lid on it for several years before it boiled over. And he skillfully handled Dennis Rodman's craziness in Chicago, something many other coaches were incapable of doing (ask San Antonio, Dallas Maverick, or Lakers fans). But his most impressive and rewarding task was in convincing Michael Jordan to ditch his me-first attitude and to trust in his teammates. Without that, Chicago may still have won one or two championships, but there certainly would have been no three-peat, let alone two.
Congratulations on your induction into the HoF, Coach Jackson.