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Earning his money Despite appearances, Jackson worked his way to the topPosted: Tuesday June 11, 2002 11:39 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- He sits there on the bench, legs crossed, paring his fingernails. How tough can it be for Lakers coach Phil Jackson? Just roll out the basketball and let Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant go to work, right? Maybe burn some incense before the game to ward off evil spirits. Drop a haiku on the players every now and then to make them think you're really deep. Practice some Zen. Splice Three Stooges clips into game film. Hand out books as gifts. Forget the Grateful Dead. To some NBA figures, the soundtrack for Jackson's amazing success as a coach really should come from Dire Straits: "That ain't working. That's the way you do it. ... Get your money for nothing; get your chicks for free." This is Jackson's curse. No matter what he does, no matter how much he accomplishes, the critics will still say he was lucky. Give any coach Shaq and Kobe -- or Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen -- and he'd have as many Larry O'Brien trophies. "Most of your great coaches do some teaching and developing of players," said former Celtics great Red Auerbach, whose record of nine NBA titles is on the verge of being tied by Jackson. "Phil may be able to do it, but he hasn't shown it. His teams have been ready-made." For Jackson, a man of considerable ego, the sniping must be hard to take. But the 56-year-old veteran coach swears he's not looking to make any statements. "That's for you guys to write," he said. "I've been blessed to coach great players." The Zen Master might not want to toke his own peace pipe, but as Kobe notes, "His record speaks for itself." Indeed, Jackson's resume puts him with Vince Lombardi, Scotty Bowman, Joe McCarthy and anybody else on pro sports' pantheon of all-time great coaches. With the Lakers' Game 4 victory that wrapped up their third consecutive title, he not only tied Auerbach, but he also surpassed Pat Riley for most career playoff wins (156). Consider the rest of Jackson's resume:
Throw in the fact that Jackson has never lost in the Finals, and it's easy to see why even opposing players are impressed. "You've got to give him a lot of credit, because year after year they're the favorite," Nets guard Jason Kidd said. "Sometimes it's hard to be the favorite because everybody's chasing you. "Everybody can say, 'Well, he's had the best players in the world,' but it takes a philosophy and it also takes a coach to be able to get those guys to coexist." Jackson's arrogant bearing and penchant for mind games might rub some the wrong way, but even his critics would agree with Kidd. Throughout his 11 seasons coaching in the NBA, Jackson has shown a deft ability to manage superstar egos like Jordan, Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Shaq and Kobe. His insistence on defense and team play, sharing the ball in the triangle offense also draw praise from most basketball purists. However, Jackson's Xs and Os often get overlooked in the process. Even with Shaq and Kobe, the Lakers didn't win anything until Jackson got there. And many critics forget that his 1993-94 Bulls team, the first after Jordan retired, went 55-27 and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals. During that season, the Bulls put on nightly clinics in sharing the basketball, even with Pete Myers as Jordan's replacement at shooting guard. Jackson also has come up with many astute strategic moves, such as putting Pippen on Magic Johnson in the 1991 Finals, letting Bobby Hansen and the bench ignite a comeback against the Blazers in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals, assigning Rodman to frustrate Shaq in the 1996 Eastern Conference finals and using Kobe to set up the offense against the Spurs in last year's Western Conference finals. "We basically took the ball out of [Derek Fisher's] hands and made Kobe the point guard," Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons recalls of that last strategem. "Then we killed them with the screen-and-roll, because we knew they didn't want to come out and cover. We hadn't shown it all year, but it was an adjustment we made for that series. "That's one of Phil's strengths. He's good at making adjustments, analyzing games and seeing the strengths and weaknesses, both on our side and our opponents'." During this year's Western Conference finals, Jackson navigated his team through the harrowing waters of a 3-2 deficit. With the Kings' big men successfully bottling up Shaq early in the series, he subtly changed the passing angles to get his big man the ball on the move. Shaq responded with two monster games to help the Lakers escape. Even before this year's Finals, which featured more precision execution by L.A.'s offense, Nets coach Byron Scott knew first-hand about Jackson's quirky strategies. In the 1991 Finals, the Bulls routinely left Scott open to double team Magic and James Worthy. Seemingly thrown off by the strategy, the normally sharp-shooting Scott hit just 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) and was a non-factor. No wonder Scott has empathy for Lucious Harris. "You can say, 'Yeah, [he's had] Michael and Scottie and Shaq and Kobe," Bryant noted. "But you look at some of the teams in the past, teams that three-peated, look at all the players they had. They had three All-Stars, four All-Stars, four or five Hall of Famers. Phil has been able to do it with the system that he believes in; he's been able to get players to play together. Having an opportunity to three-peat three different times, I mean, that's unbelievable." For his part, Jackson seems content to just sit back, cross his legs and let his place in history fall where it will. Maybe later he'll put on a Grateful Dead CD, fire up some incense and meditate over it. For now he's just enjoying the journey. "It's great. But it's all about those teams that won it," Jackson said. "I've got a mentor in [assistant coach] Tex Winter. He says, 'You're only a success at the time you perform a successful task. After that, you can't get a cup of coffee on it.'" And does he expect a call from Auerbach after the title-clinching victory? "I expect a cigar," Jackson quipped. "Not lit, hopefully."
Marty Burns covers pro basketball for CNNSI.com. Click here to send Marty a question or comment.
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