Comments on: Congratulations, Phil

By: Employee Conflict

Employee Conflict — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:09:49 +0000

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By: Not Qualified To Comment » Qualified Links

Not Qualified To Comment » Qualified Links — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:18:56 +0000

[…] Congratulations to Phil Jackson. He is the greatest manipulator in NBA history (in terms of coaches). [By The Horns] […]

By: Czernobog

Czernobog — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:02:37 +0000

Phil has been pretty horrible through these playoffs, he was lucky, as far as that goes, to have faced an even more destructive coach in Van-Gundy in the finals. And those are two of the best coaches in the league. I mean, everyone was expecting him to face Mike freakin’ Brown.

I don’t want to belittle Phil’s Basketball acumen, but this is a players’ league.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:10:14 +0000

Jordan: 0 titles without Phil.
Pippen: 0 titles without Phil.
Kobe: 0 titles without Phil.
Pau: 0 playoff victories without Phil.
Shaq: 1 title without Phil (thank you Dwayne Wade).

As a huge basketball fan who lived in Chicago from 1982-1999 and has lived in in L.A. since 2000, I have had the joy of watching Phil Jackson’s teams dominate the NBA for almost 20 years. Thanks Phil!

By: Wormboy

Wormboy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:22:35 +0000

I also am not sure this is the least talented squad. Gasol is a small step down from Pippen or the early Kobe, and as Yams points out, 3-12 are arguably better than many of those others. I think a lot of people are neglecting Gasol. The guy put together a fantastic playoff run, and his efficiency was astonishing. I happen to be one who places a very high value on efficiency compared to star power. After all, Iverson has always been able to put up big numbers, right? What is that really worth? So let’s not insult Gasol further (the talking heads have done so enough).

Phil deserves huge credit. I’ve always thought that his skill is not the Xs and Os so much as getting crazy prima donnas to pull in the same direction. I’d argue that getting Kobe to play ball with teammates is as great an achievement as getting Rodman to play ball.

By: steven c

steven c — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:12:15 +0000

of course pj had great players…guess what, you don’t win championships without. as casey stengelonce said when the yankees came back to win a world series: “i couldn’ta done it without the players”! but in this age of multimillionaire superstars, the most important skill is man-management, since all coaches (well, almost all)know the Xs and Os, and you have assistants to help you.
as stated elsewher, phil’s greatest year may be the first year post-MJ, and any coach who can rein in Rodman would automatically be great in my book.
i’m a laker fan, but appreciate the job he did in chi, (and ps with albany). ya think auerbach didn’t have one or two (or five or six!) good players (and all together for most of his time there!) in a smaller league!

By: WildYams

WildYams — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:44:21 +0000

I would disagree that this was the least talented team that Phil ever coached to a title. While Gasol is nowhere near as good as the team’s second best player as Pippen or Kobe were, the 3-12 players surely might be better than we saw on some of those other teams.

The amount of titles Phil has is really staggering. It hit me last night that Phil has now won as many championships as a Laker coach as Pat Riley did, and he’s won as many championships as a Laker coach as Greg Popovich has with the Spurs. Just Phil’s work with the Lakers would put him up among the all time greats, and that’s leaving out the six he won with the Bulls! Just crazy.

By: Chitown_MyKe

Chitown_MyKe — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:35:47 +0000

He’s a Bulls for life. LA is just a resting spot.