Saturday, 21 December 2024

Phil Jackson

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2024
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Sport(s): Basketball
Statistics: 11 NBA Championships (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 & 2010)
1 CBA Championship (1984)
1 NBA Coach of the Year Award (1996)
1 CBA Coach of the Year Award (1985)
1,155-485 NBA Record
Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

*2 NBA Championships (1970 & 1973)

*As a player
1,155-485. Yes, Phil Jackson had Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal, but in the NBA, stars of that magnitude also bring a unique set of challenges, and only a "zen master” can coach that long with that level of success.

Phil Jackson was already a winner before he went to coaching. A two-time NBA champion with New York, Jackson coached in Puerto Rico and the CBA, taking the Albany Patroons to a CBA title in 1984. Jackson became an assistant coach with the Bulls in 1987, and two years later, he was promoted to the top of the coaching chain for Chicago.

Jackson became an advocate of the triangle offense and earned the trust of the biggest star in sports, Michael Jordan. Every Bulls player knew what they were there to do, and he engineered six NBA championships, where even the top player (Jordan) was a Bull first. Jackson receives a lot of credit for that, but it will never be enough. Jordan retired after the 1997-98 season, and the tension between Jackson and Bulls owner, Jerry Krause, boiled over, and Jackson left Chicago.

After a year off, the Los Angeles Lakers hired Jackson, and with Bryant and O'Neal in tow, he immediately won three more titles with his third three-peat. It was not all sunshine as Bryant and O'Neal became enamored with each other, and Bryant and Jackson also feuded publicly and privately. Jackson left the team, possibly due to Bryant, and management also sided with Bryant in his spat with O’Neal, who was traded to Miami.

Jackson wrote a book detailing his tribulations with Bryant, and it painted the superstar in a selfish light. The Lakers were not the same without Jackson and O'Neal, and the man who replaced Jackson, Rudy Tomjanovich, had to leave after only 41 games due to bladder cancer. This led to Jackson coming back and the fence building of a century between Jackson and Bryant.

Jackson, Bryant, and the Lakers won two more titles together, accomplishments that seemed inconceivable in 2005. Jackson retired in 2011 with a winning percentage of .704, an astonishing number regardless of the talent he had.

We are proud to nominate Phil Jackson for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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