Coach Phil Jackson is overrated and Larry Brown PROVED it last night

[Phokus]

http://cgi.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061604/spf_15872355.shtml

See also:Lakers dynasty comes crashing down



Last modified Wed., June 16, 2004 - 01:00 AM
Originally created Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Inferior team, superior coach expose Jackson

The Detroit Pistons, especially coach Larry Brown, did us a large favor. They proved what the NBA has collectively whispered for years. Phil Jackson is a fraud.

Brown embarrassed him. Showed him what coaching is about, demonstrating what it is like to win without a cache of Hall of Famers at the ready. There has not been this kind of public undressing in L.A. since the last Joe Esterhaus flick.

Brown is on his third wife, as sure a sign as a fingerprint that he has been immersed in the NBA coaching life. All of that accumulated knowledge, the 10 head-coaching positions in 32 years, might not have allowed Brown to attend his kid's school plays, but it provided him with a collection of thoughts and principles and strategies about excelling in the NBA that could fill a dozen hard drives.

Brown has lived life the hard way, taking the NBA's great unwashed -- former dregs such as the Clippers, Nuggets and Nets -- on his back to the postseason. Jackson was born with the basketball equivalent of a silver spoon, a.k.a. Michael Jordan's jump shot, Scottie Pippen's defense, Shaquille O'Neal's girth and Kobe Bryant's athleticism.

Jackson has rarely flexed his coaching brain, what with having Shaq and all, why would he need to? How difficult it is to tell O'Neal to go dunk?

Jackson yells, "Give the ball to Kobe!" And considers his day done.

Coaching in the NBA is at times extremely overrated. Basketball is very much a game of athleticism, and coaching at times gets in the way.

This championship has been different. Jackson should have won this series in six games, tops. He had, by far, the superior squad. Don't buy into this revisionist thinking now spreading around the sports talk shows like a virus that Detroit is a great team after all.

It cannot be had both ways. The Lakers can't be unstoppable before the Finals, and then feeble just a few hours later. Shaq did not suddenly become old. Kobe's radar did not mysteriously go haywire. This was Brown taking a group of scrappy ballers and out-scheming Jackson.

The games were so ugly, they were beautiful. They emphasized defense and play-calling and smarts. In other words, they were Brown's kind of contests, where the pick-and-roll and halfcourt sets are the stars, not Jack or J. Lo.

There was a telling poll done at the beginning of the year by NBA.com, which surveyed league general managers and asked who was the best coach in the sport. Brown won in a landslide with 42.9 percent of the vote, followed by Gregg Popovich at 19 percent and Jackson at 14.3. If that is not a diss of Jackson and his nine titles (third behind Popovich!) nothing is.

What happened in the Finals only gave credence to general managers and coaches who have huffed for some time that they could coach Jackson's teams ... that their grandmas could ... that a three-legged donkey could.

"I think GMs have such a high opinion of Larry because he comes into situations and builds," former Brown assistant Gar Heard told The Washington Times. "A lot of coaches would like to come into Phil's situations, with the guys he's had. [But] look at Philly. They hadn't been to the playoffs in six years and [Brown] got them to the Finals."

The past two weeks, with Detroit, he put on one of the greatest coaching clinics of all time, in any sport. Jackson should set his Tivo, play it back, and breathe it all in.

Maybe he'll learn something.

 

[CRXican]

I'm not really a fan of either team or the NBA in general but living in Los Angeles and having friends as Laker fans makes me a Faker Laker fan. However I will be the first to admit that the Lakers got their asses handed to them. Each game seemed more pathetic as the lakers repeatedly missed 2 or 3 shots in a row and hardly ever got rebounds, even offensively. The Pistions truly put in the most effort and deserve the title they have earned. I'm glad to see the Lakers go down, should teach them a good lesson.

 

[maziwanka]

awesome

 

[Atomicus]

I'm more concerned about that milf , who cares about Bball right now.

 

[gwlam12]

A team that has won 3 championships in a row is not as hungry for a championship as one that has never won one.

Carlisle was the one who took the Pistons to the ECF last season. Brown was the one who finished it.

 

[95SS]

I stopped reading the article at "Inferior team". Detroit might not have the same superstar talent of the Lakers, but they are damn sure a far better team, and top to bottom they have guys who play team ball. (Unlike Kobe) Since basketball is still a team sport, they won the title easily.

 

[DanJ]

How people can still write that Detroit doesn't have a good team or the Lakers are the better squad is just unbelievable.

THE LAKERS GOT THEIR ASSES HANDED TO YOU EVERY GAME.

But yes Brown is by far the better coach.

 

[CrazyApe]

By this writer's inane logic, Red Auerbach is overrated.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: gwlam12
A team that has won 3 championships in a row is not as hungry for a championship as one that has never won one.

Carlisle was the one who took the Pistons to the ECF last season. Brown was the one who finished it.

and brown gave him credit too. like others have said, he's a class act.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
By this writer's inane logic, Red Auerbach is overrated.

There's some credibility to the article. When's the last time you saw phil jackson rebuild a sh*tty team from scratch? He depends on having lots of superstars already there when he hops to another team. He sucks.

 

[cronos]

Originally posted by: Atomicus
I'm more concerned about that milf , who cares about Bball right now.

o yeah...

 

[CrazyApe]

I'm sorry. He doesn't suck. He has 9 championship rings. You don't get there without being good. The problem with these Lakers is that he has two feuding superstars who hate each other. It boiled over after their third championship and they haven't won one since.

 

[LuckyTaxi]

Originally posted by: saxguy

Originally posted by: Atomicus
I'm more concerned about that milf , who cares about Bball right now.

o yeah...

yea ... we need some pics

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
By this writer's inane logic, Red Auerbach is overrated.

There are many that argue that he was.

 

[royaldank]

Phil Jackson is useless. Ray Charles would have the same number of rings if he was hired instead of Jackson. Jackson had Jordan, Pippen et al and could have called in the from road to win those titles. Then, he goes to LA and gets front row seats and a few rings to be the face of the Lakers. He didn't do one bit of coaching in the finals and the final scores and game tapes prove it.

I'm a long time Laker fan and I'm very disgusted right now. The team is in disarry and the wheels are falling off. Jerry, why did you have to leave? Unless there's some drastic changes, I'm not going to be watching much Laker bball in the coming years.

 

[CrazyApe]

Here's a question to all you Jackson haters:

What could he have done differently to make the Lakers win???

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
Here's a question to all you Jackson haters:

What could he have done differently to make the Lakers win???

Coached all season. Made changes to the O. Made D changes. Try to mix up the offense when the triangle struggled all year. Better player rotations and more gametime for the bench during the season. Restricted Kobe's minutes or number of shots. I'm not a coach, but I bet if you give Larry Brown the Lakers, and Phil Jackson the Pistons at the beginning of this year, you wouldn't be seeing Phil kissing the trophy right now.

 

[LordSnailz]

Originally posted by: royaldank

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
Here's a question to all you Jackson haters:

What could he have done differently to make the Lakers win???

Coached all season. Made changes to the O. Made D changes. Try to mix up the offense when the triangle struggled all year. Better player rotations and more gametime for the bench during the season. Restricted Kobe's minutes or number of shots. I'm not a coach, but I bet if you give Larry Brown the Lakers, and Phil Jackson the Pistons at the beginning of this year, you wouldn't be seeing Phil kissing the trophy right now.

I'm not sure if those are even good coaching suggestions ... I think their player rotation was good and no way in hell woudl I restrict Kobe's minutes. Kobe only starts taking many shots when the teams is struggling to get a basket or when shaq's not on the floor.

I think some things Phil could've done was improve the team's Defense and mainly sit Payton's @ss down. During the playoffs he was getting killed ... a hurt fisher played way better than he did. He cannot stop the drive and that's one thign that has killed the Lakers.

::edited for typos::

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: royaldank

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
Here's a question to all you Jackson haters:

What could he have done differently to make the Lakers win???

Coached all season. Made changes to the O. Made D changes. Try to mix up the offense when the triangle struggled all year. Better player rotations and more gametime for the bench during the season. Restricted Kobe's minutes or number of shots. I'm not a coach, but I bet if you give Larry Brown the Lakers, and Phil Jackson the Pistons at the beginning of this year, you wouldn't be seeing Phil kissing the trophy right now.

 

[preslove]

Uhm... weren't Kobe and Shaq in LA before Jackson got there? How many rings did they have before he got there? How many rings did Shaq have before Jackson arrived? How many rings did Jordan have before Jackson became head coach?

Why did Orlando never get a title with Shaq, Penny Hardaway (who was about as good as Kobe), and Grant? That was a hugely talented team, but they got jumped on in the finals. There have been TONS of talented teams who haven't won campionships. What about the Rockets with Drexler, Barkley, and Olajuwon? Talent all around, no rings. What about Brown in philly?

Jackson's break came on Dec. 17, 1988. The Bulls trailed by 14 points when the high-strung Collins was ejected early in the game. Jackson took over in what normally is a placeholder role, tinkered with the team's defense and told the players to just go out and play. Forward Horace Grant later told The New York Times, "It was like we were let out of a cage. We won the game because we were so relaxed -- and we knew that Phil should become a head coach." The following spring the Bulls lost to Detroit in the conference finals. Two months later Collins was out and Jackson was in.

Big changes were quick in coming. First came an emphasis on defense. Jackson unleashed Jordan and Scottie Pippen ("the Dobermans") on opposing teams through relentless presses, traps and double-teams. Then Jackson threw out the isolation plays that had been designed for Jordan and worked Winter on implementing the triple-post or triangle offense, in which constantly moving players have a variety of passing and scoring options at their disposal. It took a while for Jordan to buy into the new scheme, but once he did, the Bulls were unstoppable.

By 1990-91 Jordan's scoring was down to 31.5 points per game, but the Bulls finished the season at 61-21 and brought home the 25-year-old franchise's first title with a five-game spanking of the Lakers in the NBA Finals. In 1991-92 the Bulls repeated as champions, and the following year, despite a spate of injuries and a weakened bench, the Bulls established themselves as one of the league's all-time great teams by taking their third straight title.

Jackson did something that many coaches have struggled to do -- build a consistently winning team around a megastar. With help from his assistants, notably Tex Winter, the chief proponent of the triangle offense, Jackson designed complex offensive and defensive strategies that actually enhanced Jordan's greatness by making his teammates better players. A court full of competent performers, Jackson reasoned, would make it tougher for opposing teams to stop Jordan. He was right. Jordan's scoring dropped slightly after Jackson took over, but the superstar's all-around effectiveness soared.

Whether or not Jackson or Brown are better coaches (I actually like Brown more because he is usually the underdog) you can't seriously deny the fact that Jackson took talented teams and turned them into unstoppable behemoths that would sodomize any foolish mortals to get in their way. Most other coaches would just turn them into teams with a good shot at winning a title.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Phil had no control over the Malone injury. If that guy was healthy then you Lakers fans might not be whining about Phil's ineptitude.

 

[gwlam12]

Originally posted by: royaldank

Originally posted by: CrazyApe
Here's a question to all you Jackson haters:

What could he have done differently to make the Lakers win???

Coached all season. Made changes to the O. Made D changes. Try to mix up the offense when the triangle struggled all year. Better player rotations and more gametime for the bench during the season. Restricted Kobe's minutes or number of shots. I'm not a coach, but I bet if you give Larry Brown the Lakers, and Phil Jackson the Pistons at the beginning of this year, you wouldn't be seeing Phil kissing the trophy right now.

Not easy when you've got Malone, Kobe, Shaq, and Fox out for different periods of the season.

 

[royaldank]

I'm not sure if those are even good coaching suggestions ... I think their player rotation was good and no way in hell woudl I restrict Kobe's minutes. Kobe only starts taking many shots when the teams is struggling to get a basket or when shaq's not on the floor.

I think some things Phil could've done was improve the team's Defense and mainly sit Payton's @ss down. During the playoffs he was getting killed ... a hurt fisher played way better than he did. He cannot stop the drive and that's one thign that has killed the Lakers.

Yeah, the triangle worked like a charm this year. Payton should have been sent home, I'll agree. But, when Shaq is hitting 60-70% of his shots, you'd be an idiot not to restrict Kobe's shots and have the ball dumped inside.

 

[LordSnailz]

Originally posted by: royaldank

I'm not sure if those are even good coaching suggestions ... I think their player rotation was good and no way in hell woudl I restrict Kobe's minutes. Kobe only starts taking many shots when the teams is struggling to get a basket or when shaq's not on the floor.

I think some things Phil could've done was improve the team's Defense and mainly sit Payton's @ss down. During the playoffs he was getting killed ... a hurt fisher played way better than he did. He cannot stop the drive and that's one thign that has killed the Lakers.

Yeah, the triangle worked like a charm this year. Payton should have been sent home, I'll agree. But, when Shaq is hitting 60-70% of his shots, you'd be an idiot not to restrict Kobe's shots and have the ball dumped inside.

From what I saw in the finals, that's what the lakers have been doing all the time ... dump the ball down the shaq. I don't see Kobe's shot taking as the reason why they lost. I like the idea where Shaq is the first go to person if not then Kobe does his thing. It was good to have him change things up, drive pick up the foul or drive and ditch.

Although, I have to agree he was trying way too hard yesterday, too many forced shots and trying to split two defenders ...