To me, in a way, he kind of is. He was telling the truth last year about not considering himself the greatest coach ever. I know he doesn't want to admit that even if he thinks he is, but in a way he's right. If he was a great coach, why did they not make it out of the first round in the years after the Shaq-Kobe era before Pau Gasol came in? As soon as they got the "steal of the century in Pau", they go to the Finals three straight years. Same for the Bulls Championship years where he had most likely the greatest player whoever lived and Scottie Pippen. This guy gets too much credit than he deserves and having the name "Zen Master". Like some of you say, he's been riding coattails of some of the greatest players of all time. I personally think Phil Jackson is overrated and do not think he's the "greatest coach that ever lived". What do ya'll think?
He certainly isn't overrated on this forum. PJ is an all-time great coach. I think he gets short-changed regarding "Xs and Os" and gets too much credit for his player relationship "magic".
Kobe didn't win anything when Jackson came back. The Bulls didn't win a championship in the first year Phil Jackson was coach. Doug Collins might have won a championship if they'd given him another two years.
This. Say what you will, but you need your best players to buy into what you're selling, and Phil did that when Doug Collins and Del Harris/all the other Lakers coaches that had Kobe/Shaq didn't. The x's and o's of basketball isn't some new fangled thing, the (intelligent) players know the basics and the triangle offense has been around. What's important is that your best players play hard for you and believe what you're saying. Everyone else will fall in line.
He's a great coach and that's never debatable. But you know what's NOT overrated? Guarding and closing out on three point shooters. That's NEVER overrated. You can't expect to win a series (much less ONE game) if you're letting the opposition drain wide open 3 pointers every other possession.
Kiss the Rings... not that I'm a LA or Chicago fan in the slightest, but to say a guy with 11 rings is overrated, is idiotic.
But if he's the greatest coach, he would be able to at least make it out of the first round if he's making the play-offs. They had a 3-1 series lead against the Suns in 2006 and lost in 7 games. Would the "greatest coach of all time" let that happen? Or would they have closed it out?
According to the book The Jordan Rules, MJ didn't respect Doug Collins anymore when he let MJ slide on things that the other players could not. MJ needed someone to give him a hard line and channel his competitive mentality for the good of the team. Kobe personally asked for PJ back when Rudy officially stepped down for health reasons. Personally I think Kobe didn't think much of Rudy.
I've always felt like that Pistons series loss was on him. He also had Tex Winter helping out quite a bit with that offense. He's a little overrated. I mean the guy had the greatest player in team sports history and later had the most dominant player in NBA history to go along with the best perimeter player in the league. Plenty of coaches could have won with that. What he did manage to build in Chicago was very special though. Those were his best days.
This. When you have guys like Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Luke Walton, Brian Cook, Chris Mihm, Devean George in your rotation, the fact that you are even making the playoffs is impressive. And why do you disagree with him deserving the name of "Zen Master"? It isn't easy to manage multiple superstars on a single roster. Guys with alot of ego and nobody managed egos better than he did. Also look at how cool/calm/composed he looked on the sidelines.
I think it's more of a 'right place right time' thing. The teams he took over were already primed to make a leap. I will say though that at least Phil won a playoff series w/o Jordan, which is more than you can say for Pop/Duncan.
But they still bowed out in the first round. I'm not saying he isn't a great coach. I'm simply saying that they give this man too much credit in being the greatest coach ever. Is he seriously the only man on the face of the planet who could have gotten 11 rings out of the players he had?
It isn't easy. Okay then, Doc Rivers had losing seasons with Boston and Orlando before getting the new Big 3. Erik Spoelstra might be considered the next "best coach in history" if he manages to get alot of rings out of these guys. I feel people are staring too much at Phil's rings before looking at the help he got to get those rings.
So who's the greatest coach in your opinion? Red Auerbach? The 9 time champion coach who had a few teams of his own bowing out way before the NBA Finals? You're taking one series among MANY series Jackson's team has been in as the DE FACTO reason why Jackson isn't the greatest coach in NBA history *golf clap*
