[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by Rajmahal33

Since talking about the Redskins (and football in general) hurts my head these days...

Phil Jackson was/is a great coach b/c not only is he a great X's and O's guy, but he is also a great game manager and player's coach. The fact that he could do all those 3 things is what won him/them all those championships. The triangle offense (and the level of execution of it that he instills in his players) has revolutionalized basketball. Whether teams use it outright or not, most NBA teams emulate it in some way. As far as game management, Phil Jackson was the first person who was able to make MJ buy into the fact that he needs to manage his minutes. He marvelously managed Shaq's minutes/fouls for their early 2000's championships. As far as being a player's coach, he was able to keep Scotty's ego in check to play 2nd stage to MJ but still make all star game appearances. He was able to keep Rodman's personality in the building and not allow it to be a distraction. He was able to manage Eddie Jones ego and keep a impetuous young Kobe Bryant on the bench. He was even able to keep the Shaq/Kobe feud under wraps for most of the their time together.

Think about it this way, the man almost took a Jordan-less Bulls team to the finals and the Laker's team he won with this year was probably his biggest coaching achievement. Now if only, the Redskins could overperform for their next coach...

I've got a biased view on Jackson....go Celtics