Legacy of Kobe and Phil Can't Be Discounted

The Los Angeles Lakers finished off the Orlando Magic last night to win the franchise's 15th NBA championship. In the process, Kobe Bryant cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA while Phil Jackson did the same in his coaching career. Love him or hate him, there was very little doubt about Kobe's greatness as a basketball player. The man can literally do everything on a basketball court. The one knock on Kobe was that he did not have the ability to win a championship when he was the undisputed best player on his team. He was an All-Star on all three of his previous championships with the Lakers (2000, 2001, and 2002) but Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on all three of those teams. On his last two trips to the Finals -- in 2004 against the Pistons and 2008 against the Celtics -- Kobe was the Lakers best player but they lost both times. In spite of his certain Hall of Fame credentials, Kobe could not be considered an all-time great without being the MAN on a champion. With this championship, Kobe has now proven that he can be the alpha male and be a winner at the same time. He has elevated himself into the upper echelon of elite guards in NBA history. Kobe Bryant is now on level with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Oscar Robertson. This Lakers championship also made Phil Jackson the most successful coach in NBA history. This title was the tenth for Jackson as a head coach. He won six with Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (1991, '92, '93, '96, '97, and '98) and he now has four with Los Angeles (2000, '01, '02, and '09). He has finally surpassed Red Auerbach as the coach with the most championships. The Auerbach-Jackson comparison is very interesting. If this discussion were strictly about coaching, I would have to give Jackson a slight edge. Jackson has coached in an era that is dominated by selfish players who generally play more for the paycheck than for winning. Jackson also has coached in an era when X's and O's have become more necessary as the size, athleticism, and talent of the players have developed to such a great extent that the NBA is filled up with the best athletes in the world. Jackson has found a way to get his players motivated to win while also putting them into the best possible situation to do so every night. That is not to say Auerbach was an overrated coach. He got his great players to play hard every night and he built such a culture of winning that oppenents were forced to come up with stories about ghosts and other excuses for why they couldn't defeat the Celtics. Auerbach never tried to defend himself or the Celtics when people said they were lucky, instead he allowed the rest of the NBA to make excuses while his teams continued to pile up championships. In many ways, Jackson is just a more modern version of Auerbach. You could make a strong argument that if there were no Red Auerbach, there would have been no Phil Jackson. Think about it. Red was a master motivator who knew that he needed his best player, Bill Russell, to buy into his program so everyone else would fall in line. Auerbach gave Russell certain priviledges (Russ rarely scrimmaged with his teammates during practice) in return for his full effort on game nights. Jackson took a similar approach with Jordan and then later with Shaq and Kobe. Auerbach was also a visionary coach who emphasized an attacking defense that would lead to easy fast break points. Jackson also is great with strategy, employing the famous "Triangle Offense" to create dynasties with both the Bulls and Lakers. The big difference between the two men is that Auerbach was not just the coach of the Celtics, he was also the architect. He served as general manager while he was coaching the team and did most of the scouting as well. It was Auerbach who determined that Bill Russell was the missing piece for his team, he then traded All-Star Ed Machauley to St. Louis for the draft pick that would become Russell, and he finally was his coach from 1957 - 1966, winning nine championships. Auerbach was making basketball decisions for the Celtics championship teams in 1974, '76, '81, '84, and '86. Jackson has been able to strictly concentrate on the coaching. He became the head coach of a Bulls team that already had Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Horace Grant. It was Jerry Krausse who acquired Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoc for the Bulls. In Los Angeles, it was Jerry West who built the 2000 - 2002 championship teams and now it is Mitch Kupchak making the basketball decisions. In the big picture, this gives Auerbach the edge over Jackson because he was responsible for finding the players and then molding them into champions. Jackson only had to worry about coaching.