Monday, June 15, 2009

Perfect 10 for Coach Phil

Chris Robinson, former Sunday Times reporter now with the Stirling Times and Community Newsgroup, casts his expert eye across the LA Lakers' NBA triumph and more specifically the performance of their phenominal mentor Phil Jackson.

In the fickle, unrelenting world of the NBA, anything goes. Playing rosters get turned over so often they can look unrecognisable from one season to the next. General managers shift superstars and role players alike, trading them like commodities, loyalty counting for nothing. Personality clashes and competing egos can have as much bearing on a team’s output as the number of baskets they sink on the court.

And coaches, so often left to carry the blame for a franchise’s mediocre performance, get hired and fired like it is routine. It takes a special breed to last even half a decade as a head coach in this league. It is even rarer to string together several seasons of success, satisfying the fans’ ever-lofty expectations and keeping the players focused, harmonious, and in form. To lead a team to the title, through the twists and turns of the 82-game regular season and four playoff series, is nothing short of a marathon effort. It is something most coaches never even get close to.

Phil Jackson is not like most coaches. He knows how it feels to reach the summit.

He’s done it 10 times.

In a league showcasing the world’s most effective draft lottery and salary cap system, and where 29 other teams have their eyes on the same prize, this feat is nothing short of incredible. This is not the English Premier League, where the rich teams poach the world’s best players and only a handful of sides can realistically win the trophy in any given season. It’s a competition where mathematically, when everything is balanced as well as it can be, a franchise should win a championship once every 30 years.

How then, in an era of professionalism and where teams put more and more effort into emulating and stopping successful units, does this one man have 10 titles? In 18 seasons of coaching, no less?

Phil Jackson is not like most coaches.

On Monday morning (WA time), the Los Angeles Lakers mentor secured his place as the best coach in NBA history after a 99-86 victory over a gallant, but ultimately inferior, Orlando Magic. The championship win took Jackson past the great Red Auerbach, the man who won nine titles in charge of one of the greatest dynasties in world sport, the Boston Celtics of the 1950s and 60s. Jackson now stands alone, with a ring for each of his ten fingers. He has been the figurehead at the most feared teams of the last two decades.

It all started in Chicago, where he joined as an assistant in 1987 and assumed the top job two years later to help the Bulls maximise the potential of their young superstar, Michael Jordan. Up until that point, Jordan had established himself as one of the best players in the league, capturing a handful of scoring titles, but both he and the franchise were hungry for team success that had so far eluded the Bulls. Jackson knew a change in strategy from the Jordan-focused methods of the past half decade was required for the team to challenge the likes of Detroit, Portland, and the Lakers. Employing colleague Tex Winter’s triangle offence, which uses effective spacing to allow swift movement of the ball and one-on-one isolation of key players, the Bulls enjoyed immediate success. Jordan became a more complete player, Scottie Pippen blossomed as the offensive counter-threat, and the likes of John Paxson, Horace Grant, and BJ Armstrong helped the franchise record its maiden championship win. It would be the first of six for the Bulls – ‘repeat three-peats’ separated by a two-year hiatus which saw Jordan flirt with a baseball career.

The later years of the dynasty arguably produced Jackson’s biggest challenges, and yielded his most famous success. Jackson, an astute and deep thinker with a love of Zen philosophies, kept his players focused on their roles and on the ultimate prize. He had to negotiate flamboyant power forward Dennis Rodman, whose undisputed talent as a crash-and-bash rebounder was often overshadowed by his antics off the court. He was forced to deal with general manager Jerry Krause, a man scheming behind the scenes to remove Jackson from the job due to a personality clash between the two. And besides the internal balancing act, Jackson had to ensure his team stayed one step ahead of the contenders vying for the Bulls’ scalp – in particular, the desperate Utah Jazz. Jackson handled each task with aplomb, and by the time the 1997/98 season had come to an end, he was rightly considered one of the best coaches of his era.

Krause eventually got his way, with Jackson departing immediately after the Bulls’ sixth title, followed by Jordan, who swore he would never play under another coach. It sparked a mass exodus at the franchise; arguably the most dramatic dismantling of a title-winning side in history. Jackson swore he would never coach again, and spent the lockout-shortened 1998/1999 season away from the game and out of the spotlight.

But at the beginning of the following season, a new challenge loomed on the other side of the country. The Lakers, a storied franchise with a talented but troublesome nucleus led by bickering pair Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, were in need of a calm leader to steer the ship. It was a job involving a public feud between two of the game’s biggest players, a spotlight on one of the nation’s biggest markets, and fans with high expectations of Jackson and even higher expectations for their historically successful franchise. Most coaches would have at least taken some time to adjust, find the right chemistry, and calmly allay the fans’ demands of immediate success. A magic touch was required to bring everything together so seamlessly, under the immense weight of pressure and expectation. Not many would have been capable.

Again, Phil Jackson is not like most coaches.

The ‘Zen Master’ brought three championships to LA in his first three seasons in the job, managing to keep O’Neal and Bryant from each other’s throats for long enough to secure his third ‘three-peat’ in the space of 10 seasons coached. It was the stuff of fairytales. With his two superstars in tow, the Lakers dreamt of unparalleled team success that could go on through the remainder of the decade.

But fate was not going to hand Jackson his record-breaking 10th title that easily. The rift between Shaq and Kobe became so big not even television’s Dr Phil could have found a solution, let along Coach Phil. As the Spurs conquered the Lakers in the west, and a new power in Detroit rose in the east, something had to give. O’Neal left for Miami, and Jackson handed over the reins to Rudy Tomjanovich after finally losing patience with Bryant, at the time labeling the superstar ‘uncoachable’.

Once again, however, a year away from the sideline ignited Jackson’s passion to coach. After seeing the Lakers struggle through the 2004/05 season, missing the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, he decided to return for a fresh test of his ability – building a team from scratch around Bryant. Using the team’s rare lottery pick to secure young centre Andrew Bynum, Jackson and general manager Mitch Kupchak gradually pieced together a surrounding cast for a championship run. The additions of Pau Gasol and the returning Derek Fisher, along with established Lamar Odom, formed the nucleus of a title-calibre outfit. After a false start in their return to the Finals last season, losing to the rampaging Boston Celtics, the Lakers quietly went about their business in 2008/09.

The poise of Jackson, and how his influence has rubbed off on his team, was evident throughout the entire playoffs. The side never lost back-to-back games, constantly kept its composure in clutch situations, and found a way to balance all its stars. The plaudits from the team’s performance in June will go to Bryant for his shooting, Fisher for his late-game heroics, Trevor Ariza for his hustle, and Gasol and Bynum for their job in quelling Dwight Howard. Jackson will happily take a back seat, as he has done throughout his career.

But the entire season had the 63-year-old’s undeniable influence written all over it. For it was Jackson who found a way to turn Bryant’s ego into a steely resolve, make Odom understand his role coming off the bench may not be best for the small forward but was best for the team, and employ an effective double-team on the previously red-hot Howard without leaving the Magic’s outside shooters exposed. All three factors played a massive part in their Finals victory. In many ways, it was Jackson’s finest hour; a reward for persistence and confidence in the ability of the group – and himself – to again reach the summit.

He now stands alone at the top of the coaching tree, with more championships than all other coaches combined over the last 19 seasons. The ‘Zen Master’ has done it again. Show of hands – is anyone surprised? No, didn’t think so.

With the sweet taste of victory fresh in his mouth, Jackson is yet to decide his coaching future. Having assembled a unit that can challenge for at least another season or two, odds are he’ll stick around and see if he can do it all again. After all, in the same situation, there aren’t too many coaches who wouldn’t return to fend off another bunch of contenders to his team’s crown. So there’s a good chance basketball fans will see the measured, deep-thinking mentor prowling the sideline once more in 2009/10.

But just remember – Phil Jackson, the most successful mentor in NBA history, is not like most coaches.

Any feedback or questions for Chris can be directed to Chris.Robinson@communitynews.com.au

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