On the one hand, he has 9 titles. Only Red Auerbach can match that. He also got Michael Jordan to make himself part of the team. The main part of the team, sure (after all, this is the guy who, when told there's no 'I' in team, replied, "Yeah, but there is one in 'win'"), but part of the team. The 1993 finals? Won on a shot by John Paxson. The 1997 finals? Won on a shot by Steve Kerr. He also took a Bulls team without Jordan to within 1 game of the conference finals. He was able to coax 3 titles out of the massive egos of Shaq and Kobe. The triangle offense owes its place in NBA lore to Jackson, at least indirectly.
On the other hand, Jackson's 9 titles have all come with either the best player in the game (Jordan), or the best duo in the game (Shaq and Kobe). You can argue that Jackson should have 2 more titles, as he had the best 2 players on the floor against Detroit in 2004 and the best player in the 2008 Celtics series. You can count the number of times he's taken the lesser team in the matchup to an upset win on one hand (maybe even 1 thumb).
Why ask this now?
These finals are being looked at as a referendum on not just Kobe Bryant, but Phil Jackson as well. The Lakers should win this series, and they most likely will. Failure to do so, however, puts a dent in both of their legacies, as it would mark the 3rd time they've fallen in the finals with the best player on the floor.
And there's this, an interview Alonzo Mourning gave in which he said:
"To tell you the truth, Phil doesn't have to do anything but call time outs," said Mourning, the former NBA star who helped lead the Miami Heat to the 2006 championship and twice was the league's defensive player of the year.
"Kobe is the facilitator. He is the one driving the mission of this particular team right now," Mourning said. "The communication level he has with his teammates out there, you can just see it."
"I think Phil is just showing up, to tell you the truth, and Kobe is doing all the work to make this team successful."
Is he right? Who knows. But Jackson has spent these finals looking oddly detached from it all. Seeing Jackson spend 30 seconds working up the energy to put a scowl on his face after a call that goes against one of his players has been very strange to watch. Seeing him almosy chuckling when Kobe sat down near him on the bench absolutely fuming after his game-winning attempt was blocked from behind in game 2 of these finals was hilarious. And listening to Jackson's "motivational sayings" during timeouts has put me to sleep.
Jackson wrote a book blasting Bryant after the 2004 season when Bryant won his power struggle with Shaq and left coaching, only to be drawn back 2 seasons last to the tune of $10 million a year. He has hip and knee problems, and probably isn't much more enamored with his star player than he was when he wrote the book. Maybe he's just going through the motions for a paycheck...
...But he dearly wants the 10th finals win, would love to surpass Auerbach's total, at least partly because it would make Red spin in his grave. He's still playing mind games with the officials between games (saying his team should have lost game 2 on a goaltending call to psych out the Magic and concentrate the referee's gaze a little harder on Dwight Howard, for example). And for that reason, Jackson, like Bryant, needs to rise up to protect his legacy. Needs to silence the Mournings wondering how he got outcoached by Doc Rivers last year. Needs to pass Red so he can enjoy retirement without leaving unfinished business in the league.
Jackson isn't the best coach in the league's history, but he's great at what he does. He can take a talented team and make them reach their potential in ways that many coaches cannot. He won't build something from the ground up, but he will take an established foundation and raise it all the way to the top. He needs this finals, otherwise his second tour of duyt with the Lakers risks being compared to MJ's Wizards tenure: A guy who came back one too many times, and just didn't have the magic anymore.
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