Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson, Lakers Phil Jackson

Phil Jackson New York Knicks
In 1967, Phil Jackson was drafted by the Knicks, and found that the skills that served him well at the small-college level were all but useless in the NBA. While Phil Jackson was a good all-around athlete, with unusually long arms, Phil Jackson was limited as a shooter, and did not have great speed. Phil Jackson compensated for Phil Jackson physical limitations by sheer intelligence and extremely hard work, especially on defense, and eventually established himself as a fan favorite and one of the NBA's leading substitutes. Phil Jackson was a top reserve on the Knicks team that won the NBA title in 1973 (Jackson missed being part of New York's 1970 championship season due to spinal fusion surgery). Soon after the second title, several key starters of the championship teams retired, eventually forcing Jackson into the starting lineup, where Phil Jackson limitations were exposed. Phil Jackson retired from play in 1980.

Phil Jackson Coaching
In the following years, Phil Jackson mainly coached in lower-level leagues, notably the Continental Basketball Association and the BSN of Puerto Rico. While in the CBA, Phil Jackson won Phil Jackson first coaching championship, leading the Albany Patroons to their first CBA title. Phil Jackson regularly sought an NBA job, but was invariably turned down; during Phil Jackson playing years, Phil Jackson had acquired a reputation for being sympathetic to the counterculture, which may have scared off potential NBA employers.

Phil Jackson NBA Coaching
Jackson was the head coach of the NBA Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998, and of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2004 and again from 2005 to present. Phil Jackson has a total of 11 NBA championship rings: two as a player with the New York Knicks, six as coach of the Bulls, and three as coach of the Lakers. Phil Jackson nine NBA championships as a head coach ties him with Red Auerbach for the all-time lead in that category.

Phil Jackson The chicago Bulls
Phil Jackson finally earned an NBA job in 1987 as an assistant with the Bulls. It was at this time that Phil Jackson met Tex Winter and became a devotee of the triangle offense. In 1989, Jackson was elevated to the head coaching job, and the rest is history. In Phil Jackson nine years as Bulls coach, Phil Jackson won six championships, losing only in 1990 (Phil Jackson first season), and 1994 and 1995 (when Michael Jordan retired from basketball).

The chemistry between Jackson and Phil Jackson team was untouched and was on a level most coaches could only dream of and never could accomplish. The respect shared between the players and the coach was the key factor to the championships they've achieved, but regardless of the strengths Jackson shared with Phil Jackson team, the tension between Jackson and Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, who had originally hired him, had more of a negative impact than anyone could ever imagine. Some examples of the tension include:

During the summer of 1997, Krause's stepdaughter married. All of the Bulls assistant coaches and their wives were invited to gthe wedding, as was Tim Floyd, then the head coach at Iowa State, whom Krause was openly courting as Jackson's successor (and would eventually succeed Jackson). Jackson and Phil Jackson wife were not invited, and Krause did not tell them of the snub; they found out from the wife of assistant Bill Cartwright. During contract negotiations for Phil Jackson's final year with the Bulls, when the topic of a potential extension past the 1997-98 season came up, Krause reportedly told Jackson, "I don't care if you go 82-and-0, you're fucking gone." After the Bulls' final title of the Jordan era in 1998, Jackson left the team vowing never to coach again but after Phil Jackson took a year off Phil Jackson decided to give it another chance with the Lakers.

Phil Jackson The Lakers Phil Jackson took over a talented but underachieving Lakers team, and immediately produced results. In Phil Jackson first year in L.A., the Lakers went 67-15, and won the NBA championship. Titles in 2001 and 2002 followed, and many NBA observers believed that the Lakers were on the verge of becoming a dynasty. But injuries, weak bench play, and full-blown, public tension betweenKobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal slowed the team down, however, and they were beaten in the 2003 playoffs Western Conference Finals by the San Antonio Spurs.

Following the 2002-03 season, the LA Lakers signed future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton, leading some to predict that the team would finish with the best record in NBA history. But from the first day of training camp, however, the Los Angeles were beset by distractions. Bryant's rape trial, public sniping between Shaq and Kobe Bryant, and repeated disputes between Jackson and Kobe Bryant all affected the team during the season. Despite these distractions, the Los Angeles advanced to the NBA Finals, and were heavy favorites. However, they were stunned by the Detroit Pistons, losing 4 games to 1.

On June 18, 2004, three days after suffering Phil Jackson first ever loss in an NBA finals series, the Los Angeles announced that Jackson would leave Phil Jackson position as Los Angeles coach. That fall, Jackson released The Last Season, a book which describes Phil Jackson point of view of the tensions that surrounded the 2003-2004 Los Angeles team. As the book was written in the immediate aftermath of that season, it does not necessarily reflect Jackson's opinions today.

Without Phil Jackson and O'Neal, the Los Angeles Lakers struggled mightily, going 34-48 in 2004-05.Phil Jackson's successor as coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, resigned midway through the season, immediately leading to speculation that the Los Angeles might bring Jackson back. On June 15, 2005, The Los Angeles rehired Phil Jackson, after Phil Jackson one year off from coaching and from the NBA. Phil Jackson relationship with Bryant will be one of the most watched storylines in the NBA during the upcoming season.

Phil Jackson's main tactical contribution, both with the Bulls and with the Los Angeles, was the modernization of the triangle offense. Phil Jackson was also noted as a gifted handler of difficult players, notably Dennis Rodman.