I'm not just saying that because our site's named after him. I'm not saying Phil's a bad coach. He's a great coach. But he's not the greatest coach. Red's the best ever... and it's not even a discussion.
We've heard the arguments before... but they're worth reiterating. Phil Jackson had two players in the NBA's "Top 50" team... one of who was Jordan... at a time where the NBA talent pool was watered down because of expansion. Then, after he left Chicago, he hand-picked an LA team with Shaq and Kobe still on the squad.
So Phil walked into at least a few of his titles. That's not to take away from Phil. You have to be damn good to win that many titles in any era. But he's not Red. No one is. Red built and led a team whose domination spanned decades... plural. He didn't jump to another team after one team started to decline. And in the discussion of whether you are the GREATEST coach of all time... that matters.
I'm not trying to detract from the Lakers title. They were a good team this year and they deserved to win. Phil is a great coach and he needs to be discussed as one of the all-time greats. I'm not going to say that he's not.
But what I'm getting very sick of is the notion that somehow yesterday, Phil Jackson wasn't the greatest of all time... and today he is. It's such a typical mainstream media/sports talk radio overreaction. Eras are different. Would Phil have been great back then? Would Red have had the patience to be good now? Who knows. I'm just sick of this silly discussion.