This Jacko is not wacko

Phil Jackson doesn't need your sympathy.\nHe's among the highest paid coaches in the National Basketball Association at over $7 million per season, and most are predicting his Los Angeles Lakers to beat the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Finals, er, Western Conference Finals.\nEven better, he is dating Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Well, that will prevent you from the ax just in case you slip up one of these decades.\nJackson doesn't slip up much though. He has coached the Lakers to the NBA title each of his two years in L.A. so far. He coached the Bulls to six championships during his run there, from 1989 to 1998. If he wins the title this year, that would make nine, which would mean he would start having to pick thumbs for his rings.\nOnly he and Alex Hannum have won rings with more than one team, and only he and Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach have won as many as eight championships. While the Celtics' eight-peat that Auerbach presided over from 1959-1966 probably won't ever be duplicated, what Jackson is doing might be just as impressive.\nSo why do Jackson's critics continue to argue that anybody could win championships with the players that he has had to coach? Now that I think about it, why does Phil Jackson have critics?\nWhen Jackson took the Lakers over, they were thought of as one of the dumbest teams in the league. Now they are one of the smartest. They find mismatches, protect the ball, and like most of Jackson's great Bulls teams, they are terrific at offensive rebounding, a team skill much more important in the NBA than college basketball.\nOf the Lakers big off-season acquisitions, Lindsey Hunter has been a disappointment, and Mitch Richmond has been a bust. The Lakers, however, roll on.\nJackson has won so many psychological wars with other teams and coaches, yet his competition still engages him. He chided the Kings for playing an illegal zone defense in the past. Then, he gave them a supremely backhanded compliment by saying that the adjustment to the NBA's new zone defense rules this year must have been easy for them.\nHe has always found a way to take a little jab at the opponent. His ulterior motive is to take pressure off his star players and put it on himself. He called Sacramento a "cowtown" and has ridiculed Portland so often that the Chamber of Commerce probably has a wanted poster of him in the lobby.\nJust ask an Indiana Pacer fan what they felt four years ago when Jackson's Bulls were put through the ringer in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals.\nDuring that series Jackson frequently made officiating an issue, flabbergasting the Pacers fans that thought that the NBA had some "conspiracy" in line to make sure the big-market Bulls won. Jackson thought Reggie Miller got away with a push to get open for his game-winning three-pointer in Game 4 of that series and then claimed Jordan got tripped on his way to the hoop for the potential winning basket in Game 6 of that series.\nJackson has had success despite indulging his players' egos the whole time. Before 1991, when Michael Jordan won the NBA scoring title and the Bulls the NBA title, it was thought that you could not have the league's leading scorer and win the championship. Jackson disproved that by convincing Jordan, who had little confidence in his teammates and a belief that Hanes Underwear doesn't give out endorsement deals based on him doing the unspectacular, to pass the ball.\nCoaching Pippen was no walk in the park either. Pippen was deathly afraid of suffering a career-ending injury and signed a ridiculous seven-year contract before the Bulls' first championship that underpaid him vastly, but guaranteed him the security to make his hypochondria more manageable. Pippen then got pouty repeatedly over the next seven years whenever his contract situation came up, totally unable to blame himself for agreeing to a horrible contract. Jackson, though, got Pippen to play, and as his so-so play since leaving the Bulls proves, he would not have been voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History without Jackson.\nHave I mentioned that Jackson coached Dennis Rodman for three years?\nWhen Jackson came to the Lakers, the task was daunting. The Lakers played no defense, O'Neal was out of shape and Bryant had no concept of shot selection. Critics questioned O'Neal's commitment to basketball, wondering how much time he had to improve his game during the summer when he was off making "Kazaam" (Hey, buddy, you have to make some sacrifices if you want to win an Oscar). Robert Horry was a coach's nightmare when he played for the Phoenix Suns and once threw a towel in his coach's face walking back to the bench. Now he is one of the best clutch playoff performers in the league.\nNow the Lakers play defense. Shaq came to training camp overweight, and Jackson called him on it publicly, motivating him to improve while having to work around a series of hampering injuries. Kobe attempts shots that many human beings actually can make, and he even passes more often that what you would see in a HPER pickup game, which is to say once or twice a game.\nSo don't give Phil Jackson any sympathy. Just call him the greatest coach in NBA history.