Phil an easy Hall call; where's the love for players?

	Phil Jackson has won a record-tying nine NBA championships as a coach and has the league's all-time best winning percentage. John W. McDonough/SI

SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum to talk about Monday's Hall of Fame announcement. Phil Jackson was one of seven selected for the Class of 2007.

SI.com: What is your reaction to Jackson's selection to the Hall of Fame?

Jack McCallum: Phil was a slam dunk. It would have been terrible if he didn't get in. There is this eternal argument that he's always had talent, which is true, and Phil's been an easy target around the NBA because of that, plus the fact that he has a healthy ego. But I think he's great for the league and everyone thinks he's a great coach. He's a great game coach; it's not like he's just a guy who manages talent. He's not a guy who has his assistants do everything. If any coach does deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, it's Phil.

SI.com: Where would rank Jackson all time among NBA coaches?

McCallum: He's top three. Red Auerbach, Pat Riley and Phil in some kind of order. It might be a different order depending on whether you ask me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

SI.com: Phil often has lobbied on behalf of his longtime assistant Tex Winters to be selected for the Hall. Does he have a good chance of ever being honored?

McCallum: Unfortunately, no. Because as the years go by, Tex's contributions and fame -- despite Phil's appropriate lobbying -- are overlooked more and more. The height of Tex's fame is not now. It was when Chicago was winning six championships and when the Lakers won their titles with Kobe and Shaq. It's a shame because if you look back at Tex's career, he's made significant contributions to the college and pro game. He definitely deserves to be in there, but his chances are getting slimmer.

SI.com: Adrian Dantley and Chris Mullin were among the former NBA players who didn't receive enough votes this year. You surprised?

McCallum: Not amazing surprises, because I think they were probably borderline guys. But as I wrote last week, the Hall of Fame has to be primarily about players. I like the idea of having a player get in every year. I just think it adds something to the Hall. Who's more worthy between A.D. and Mullin? I honestly don't know. The fact that they're not slam dunks doesn't mean they shouldn't be in.

In Mullin, you're talking about a guy who was on the first Dream Team and a guy who was almost an immortal college player [at St. John's] and helped make the Big East -- which should factor in. As for Dantley, he was never a magnetic personality, but he was one of the greatest low-post scorers there ever was and a real low-post perfectionist.

SI.com: International coaches Pedro Ferrandiz of Spain and Mirko Novosel of Yugoslavia made the cut. Let's get down to business then: Your team has one game to win -- who's your coach among these two?

McCallum: I've never seen them pick up a piece of chalk, and I'm sure most of the voters haven't. Which doesn't mean they're not worthy. With the international candidates, you don't want to exclude them based on the fact you don't know them as well. So the tendency is to overcompensate: "Well, I don't want to leave anyone out. This guy sounds good."

You don't have any frame of reference and you want to be fair, so therefore you overdo them. Meanwhile, with the NBA guys, you've had 15 years to study them and nitpick them, so it's definitely more difficult.

SI.com: Lastly, former NBA referee Mendy Rudolph also made the Class of 2007. Come on, you have to have a favorite Rudolph anecdote.

McCallum: I just know that whenever I'm talking to an old coach, he'll tell some story and it'll inevitably be, "Yeah, I think Mendy Rudolph worked that game." He seemed to be woven into the fabric of the game the way referees aren't now.