Graycap23 said:

I see your point. I even think phil has done a better coaching job
with this edition of the lakers minus shaq but he has kobe still with
odom, gasol, and fisher. Like i said he's always seem to walk
into a good situation. I would've like to seen Phil build a team from
the ground up.

phunkdaddy said:

U don't hire Phil 2 do that. U hire Phil 2 win titles.....NOW.
[Edited 6/5/09 12:02pm]

totally pointless post...but unintentional NBA Finals porn is always funny!!

JellyBean said:

Because I'm aa Knick fan with a long memory. Fuck Big Chief Triangle. Everything phunkdaddy said is right on. Larry Brown >>> Phil Jackson. He did more with less - shit, he made the freaking Clippers a playoff team.

uPtoWnNY said:

1 title greater than 9? Get real.

Let Phil do what Larry Brown did(turn struggling franchises into winners/Clippers, Pacers, Sixers, Pistons, even the Bobcats are improved), then I'll be impressed. Phil Jackson's overrated, IMO.

reneGade20 said:

uPtoWnNY said:

After 2 weeks.....10 rings speak 4 themselves.

Has Shaq lost his mind? Now he wants to come back to LA.

phunkdaddy said:

Thas the real test. Lakers been a solid franchise and Phil does his thing but i wanna see some black coaches get some.

uPtoWnNY said:

Shaq is a punk man and he cant shoot free throws and cant win that ring without Colby but Colby gets it without him...Colby a punk too but he gets it done yo.

uPtoWnNY said:

Shaq is a punk and he cant shoot free throws for nothing...he cant win that championship without Colby but Colby gets it done without Shaq WORD

Colby a punk too but he gets it done.

phunkdaddy said:

I love when people say "It is easy to win titles when you have that much talent around you like; Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe." What a crock.

If it was so easy, Phil would have won 12 or more titles by now. Doug Collins, had the same team that Phil Jackson had, but could not win a title. Del Harris (Lakers coach before Phil arrived), was in the same boat as Doug Collins, and did not win a title. Doc Rivers had to gel all of that talent into a team winning mindset in order for the Celtics to win a title last season. Phil Jackson had; Karl Malone, Shaq, Kobe, Gary Payton, and did not win a title. They got to the Finals but team chemistry wasn't there, so that is why the Lakers lost to the Pistons that season. If the Lakers would have had a team that season, with total commitment to being a team, there aint no way in the world they would have lost to the Pistons. Phil would be going for title 13 now. But again, the Lakers lacked team chemistry and in the end the suffered.


What Jackson did with the Bulls seems easy, in retrospect. However, few seem to remember that before the first title, it was a common opinion that a team simply couldn't win with Jordan because he wouldn't share the ball. It was common to believe that a team couldn't win it all without a great center, and no disrespect to Bill Cartwright who filled his role admirably, he was not a great center in the mold that people were thinking of.

Jackson took a team whose primary talent was at SG and SF and turned it into the most impressive sports dynasty in NBA history. Don't overlook the difficulty in that task as it's the pairing that most occupies the same space on the floor possible. It's the pairing that makes creating matchup problems least likely, and it's the pairing that gives you no semblance of a natural inside/outside game to open up the floor for each other.

It's often been said that Jackson always had talent to work with. Jackson never built teams. Note to the naysayers, coaches aren't the ones building teams and acquiring talent. That is the job of the executive. Until someone puts Jackson up for the executive of the year award, this doesn't need to enter the discussion. Coaches do the most with what they're given, yet the most successful ones are then shot down for having so much to work with.

If Jackson coached the Utah Jazz and had the second best PF of all time and a top five PG of all time on his roster for over a decade would the Jazz had won a title? And if they did, would you still say he just "of course he won, he had two all time greats on his team for a decade"? Such comparisons are obviously impossible.

Look at Jackson's history though, and it doesn't show someone who was gifted magical rosters. First he won the coach of the year and a title in the CBA. I'm not going to lecture you about the Albany Patroons, but they won a title in their second year of existence with Jackson at the helm.

Next, when he became the head coach of the Bulls they immediately made it to the ECF (one round father than before) then followed that up by three titles. When Jordan left, the Bulls still deserved to make it back to the ECF (losing to the Knicks on one of the worst calls in the history of the sport). When Jordan returned, Jackson had to meld together a team with near 100% roster turnover to rattle off three more titles.

The Lakers immediately got better with Jackson winning three titles and in the year Jackson was out Rudy T took a team with Odom/Butler/Kobe to 38 wins while Jackson took the team with Odom/Kwame/Kobe to 45 wins improving the record by seven games with a far worse roster. With one legitimate all star added on to the team Jackson is back in the finals for his second consecutive year.

It's clear Jackson has succeeded with great talent, but it's just as clear that he's succeed more than others were able to do with that similar talent. He was able to keep clashing megastar personalities at bay enough to form dynasties out of teams that could have easily collapsed on themselves otherwise.

Beyond personality management and team improvement, Jackson's also shown great versatility. If the Lakers go on to win a title he'll have won titles with three separate players being clearly the dominant player on the team. He'll have done so with teams that have talent in very different places as well. Two wing players, a wing player and a low post center, and a wing player and a face up power forward.

Jackson's shown the ability to do it all. It's a sham that the man has only won coach of the year once making a mockery of the award. Give the man his due, because there's been no one better, and feel blessed that he did it here for nine years.

uPtoWnNY said:

Get the ---- outta here. Even Larry Brown considers Phil Jackson the greatest coach ever. Also, if Larry was so great, why can't he seem to get another title?

uPtoWnNY said:

Again, the rings speak for themselves. 9 to 1...Phil is the Greatest.

JellyBean said:

Give Larry the players Phil had year after year, then we'll talk. There were no superstars on the '04 Pistons, and the '01 Sixers only had one.


Go Magic!!!

uPtoWnNY said:

I doubt it. The players have alwways checked out on Larry after 1-2 years. Phil is a players coach. Larry just messes them over.

Brown is a player...i know what that is ... do you

Jackson is a soul man...i know what that is ...do you

Courtney Lee

Moonbeam said:

Kobe losing him

If u can't make freethrowns in a tight playoff game, U deserve 2 lose. If u can't make an 8 inch shot with the game on the line, u deserve 2 lose. The magic choked last night.

2 down, 2 to go.

Did any of you see Kobe's interview after the game? Kobe simply stated that they have to go to Orlando and not let up. But the eyes of Kobe....this cat is on a mission.




Lakers!!

JellyBean said:

The magic gave away that game last night.

Graycap23 said:

Yeah. They choked away a split. Now, they are in trouble.

JellyBean said:

I think they get this series tied up.....

Moonbeam said:

More so JJ Reddick. What does Van Gundy see in this guy
to give him pt in the most crucial minutes of a playoff
game. When he got critical minutes in the game 5 loss
to boston he looked loss out there as well.

JellyBean said:

Despite your long synopsis which i truly don't have time to read,
i still stand by what i said. It's obvious you are a laker homer and
you probably felt the same way i did before he became lakers coach.

I have always been a Phl Jackson fan, even before the Bulls or the Lakers days. I like to way to coaches. The dude is smooth. He rarely walks the sidelines. He just sits back and chills. I love the triangle offense, which I run for my freshmen girl's basketball team. He is a players coach.

phunkdaddy said:

Absolutely! I wasn't able to watch the game, but I pin this loss on the coach. In the last 3 minutes of regulation, I didn't see the Magic go down to Dwight Howard once. But JJ Redick certainly got some shots, with playing time at the expense of others who aren't such scrubs.

july said:

And soon it'll be...

- It was 70, 80, 90, 100 years ago tonight the Seattle Supersonics won the 1979 Championship