Sunday, May 8, 2011

Phil Jackson. Champ or chump?

Between the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers, Phil Jackson has 11 NBA championship rings. On the surface, that would seem to be very impressive. But is it really? Let's look deeper.

I wonder how much it had to do with him being in the right place at the right time, and the talent he inherited in both places, versus his own abilities. How many rings do you think he'd have if he'd been coaching, say, the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards during those years?

Phil's not alone. Take George "Sparky" Anderson, for example. He's in the baseball Hall of Fame, and was generally regarded as a great manager, for a long time. But was he? With the Big Red Machine he managed in Cincinnati during the 70's, he had 6 or 7 position players that eventually went into the Hall of Fame themselves. All Sparky had to do was put a different pitcher on the mound every day and turn them loose. You and I could have done that. When the players got older, the team started losing, and Sparky got fired. About that time, the Detroit Tigers had several up and coming young players that were extremely talented. Like Jackson, Sparky fell into another rose garden. Right place at the right time.

There's other such examples in the sports world, if you think about it. Here's a quickie.... Most Tiger fans think Jim Leyland is terrific. Maybe. He won the World Series with the Florida Marlins, which was basically an All-Star team at that time, and made it to the Fall Classic with the Tigers. Yet if you look at his career stats, he's actually a sub .500 manager. That means he was pretty lousy somewhere else along the line.

But Phil Jackson is a unique sort of guy. He lives in a mansion in la-la land, gets paid bazillions of dollars, and dates the owner's daughter. In laymen's terms, this is commonly referred to as a pretty sweet gig. He's credited with creating the "triangle" offense, but I'm not sure anybody understands what that is. Ever read or hear a sports writer or talking head explain it? Not me.

Phil has been known as the "Zen Master". An interesting thought, indeed. First, Zen, has to do with Buddhism. Is he a Buddhist? I don't know, and to each their own, but Jackson doesn't act like it.

Consider some of the Buddhist precepts:

Wisdom. Regarding basketball, I suppose Phil gets a pass on that one.

Suffering. Most of us would stand in line to suffer like Phil has -- so that's a no.

Humbleness. Michael Jordan? The Lakers? Need I say more?

Reincarnation. He goes to sleep in Chicago on the down-swing and wakes up in LA on the up-swing? Buddha or not, a basketball god somewhere was smiling on him.

Nirvana. The state of absolute peace and bliss. Maybe that comes with winning those rings.

Beats me. The only thing I know about rings is you stand in front of a preacher to put one on, and you stand in front of a judge to take it off a few years later.

Yet there's another precept. Discipline. It appears Jackson forgot about that one, and, as the master, he surely didn't pass it along to his players. As long as he and they were winning, everything was hunky-dory, but when it came time to lose, the above mentioned suffering and humbleness went out the window.

As a clearly superior playoff team (the Dallas Mavericks) was completing their sweep of the Lakers, and winning by a large margin late in the game, Phil's boys reverted to goon-squad tactics. Namely, if you can't beat em, maim em.

Perhaps it's understandable that one player might do something stupid out of frustration, but to have another one resort to thuggery mere minutes later is inexcusable. There's only two ways that could happen. Either Phil sanctioned such behavior, or he had no control over his players. Neither one speaks well for a supposed "Zen Master". When it was over, Jackson came across with his usual aloof attitude, as if he is on some mental/spiritual level that us mortals will never comprehend. It's not working here.

Phil Jackson. Started out a champ. Now looks like a chump.

Some folks fret and stew this may be the last year Jackson coaches. I hope not, but for different reasons. Winning another ring is not one of them. It would be nice to see him come back for one more year. Maybe then, on a farewell tour, he can finally get the humbleness and discipline things right.

The suffering? That will never happen in Phil's world, but like Meatloaf once sang -- 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

(A couple hours later)  Damn, almost forgot. It's Mother's day. Hope all the mothers and muthas had a great day today. Pretty sure I don't have to get into the differences. You know who you are......

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