Phil Jackson and his 13 NBA championship rings. Jackson who many around the game likes to call the Zen Master finished his career with more rings than fingers to put them on. Now many of us know about the eleven he won as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls. The too many forget about where the two he won when he played in the NBA.
Jackson’s got his NBA career started in 1967 when the New York Knicks drafted him in the second round of the NBA draft. Jackson wasn’t very athletic but used his intelligence to become one of the NBA’s best reserves. He was the Knicks top reserve during the 1973 title run. The other Championship came in the 1970 season in which he could not play due to surgery.
After retiring in 1980 he floated around coaching in the CBA as well as Puerto Rico’s National Superior Basketball league. Jackson struggled to land a coaching position in the NBA with many believing this was due to his use of marijuana and LSD as a player. In 1987 Jackson landed his first gig in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls under Doug Collins. After the Bulls lost in the Conference Finals in 1989 the team would let Collins go and promote Jackson as the head coach.
Jackson who met Tex Winter when he was hired by the Bulls fell in love with Winter’s triangle offense. This system works by placing the center at the low post, the guard at the corner and the forward at the wing. The teams other two position players at the guard and forward position played at the top of the key and the weak-side high post. This offense created good space between each player and allowed each player to pass to the other four teammates. Every time a player made a pass or cut it was created by the opposing team's defense. Jackson also developed a reputation of the way he coached as well as the master of mind games.
The mind games are what eventually led to him being called the Zen Master. He studied not only his own team but the opposing teams as well as the referees around the league. This helped him know exactly what would derail a team, get under the skin of a ref and even get his team to play better. He would speak to the media as a way to get his team motivated as well as creating a stir for the opposing team.
Phil would use his mind tricks, motivational ways of coaching and the triangle to build not one but two dynasties. This started when he took over the Bulls and had a team of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The Bulls would win three straight championships before Jordan would retire. Jordan returned a year later and the Bulls would win three more championships. Jackson would leave the Bulls after the 1998 Championship and said he wouldn’t ever coach again. That changed a year later as he took a Los Angeles Lakers team that had a young Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Jackson would lead the Lakers to a three peat from 2000-2002 and two more in back to back years in 2009-10 NBA seasons.
He left the game he loved and changed after the 2011 NBA season after the Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks. One thing is for certain and that is there will never be another Phil Jackson. If you look at Jackson’s use drug use, the way he motivated his players and the mind games he would play on opposing teams.
This is what made Phil Jackson and helped him get those 13 Rings!
Jackson’s got his NBA career started in 1967 when the New York Knicks drafted him in the second round of the NBA draft. Jackson wasn’t very athletic but used his intelligence to become one of the NBA’s best reserves. He was the Knicks top reserve during the 1973 title run. The other Championship came in the 1970 season in which he could not play due to surgery.
After retiring in 1980 he floated around coaching in the CBA as well as Puerto Rico’s National Superior Basketball league. Jackson struggled to land a coaching position in the NBA with many believing this was due to his use of marijuana and LSD as a player. In 1987 Jackson landed his first gig in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls under Doug Collins. After the Bulls lost in the Conference Finals in 1989 the team would let Collins go and promote Jackson as the head coach.
Jackson who met Tex Winter when he was hired by the Bulls fell in love with Winter’s triangle offense. This system works by placing the center at the low post, the guard at the corner and the forward at the wing. The teams other two position players at the guard and forward position played at the top of the key and the weak-side high post. This offense created good space between each player and allowed each player to pass to the other four teammates. Every time a player made a pass or cut it was created by the opposing team's defense. Jackson also developed a reputation of the way he coached as well as the master of mind games.
The mind games are what eventually led to him being called the Zen Master. He studied not only his own team but the opposing teams as well as the referees around the league. This helped him know exactly what would derail a team, get under the skin of a ref and even get his team to play better. He would speak to the media as a way to get his team motivated as well as creating a stir for the opposing team.
Phil would use his mind tricks, motivational ways of coaching and the triangle to build not one but two dynasties. This started when he took over the Bulls and had a team of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The Bulls would win three straight championships before Jordan would retire. Jordan returned a year later and the Bulls would win three more championships. Jackson would leave the Bulls after the 1998 Championship and said he wouldn’t ever coach again. That changed a year later as he took a Los Angeles Lakers team that had a young Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Jackson would lead the Lakers to a three peat from 2000-2002 and two more in back to back years in 2009-10 NBA seasons.
He left the game he loved and changed after the 2011 NBA season after the Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks. One thing is for certain and that is there will never be another Phil Jackson. If you look at Jackson’s use drug use, the way he motivated his players and the mind games he would play on opposing teams.
This is what made Phil Jackson and helped him get those 13 Rings!
