Posted on: Thursday, May 24, 2001

Jackson's a little lucky, but also good

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

As the Los Angeles Lakers close in on back-to-back NBA championships — and it seems more a case of when, not if — what are we to now make of their coach and resident zen master, Phil Jackson?

Is he on the verge of finally certifying his status as among the best in the pro game — or just the luckiest?

At one time it would have been blasphemy to even compare Jackson — or anybody else — to Red Auerbach. If Auerbach, he of the trademark victory cigar, didn't write the book on coaching in the NBA, Jackson could have.

In 16 seasons as coach of the greatest dynasty the NBA has known, the Boston Celtics, Auerbach had a .589 winning percentage and won nine championships, including eight in a row between 1959 and '66. Numbers that had seemed all but untouchable.

At least until Jackson came along. Between stints with the Chicago Bulls and, now, Lakers, Jackson has seven titles — and counting — and a 74 percent winning percentage.

Entering tomorrow's Game 3, admittedly with a way to go, he has a shot at being the coach of the first team to go 15-0 in the playoffs. And an undefeated playoff run is something even Auerbach's storied Celtics were never able to pull off.

Still, there has been a tendency to attach an asterisk to Jackson's accomplishments, discounting his body of work for the superstars he has fortuitously been surrounded with. At first, as the Bulls piled up championships, the disclaimer was that anybody could have won with Michael Jordan. That Chicago's run was exclusively an MJ production.

Now, as the Lakers roll on, much of the sentiment is that with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant on the floor how much genius is really required from the bench?

Yet, there are no great coaches in the NBA without great players. Auerbach certainly had Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, etc., just as Chuck Daly benefitted from Isiah Thomas. Pat Riley had Magic Johnson and, not by coincidence, has been without a title since their parting.

As we have seen this year when the Kobe-Shaq cold war raged, these days teams are a collection of corporations as much as players and coaches have to be able to deal with that. There is more than just filling out the lineup to winning, even with this team. If talent were all there was to it, Kurt Rambis or Del Harris would still be running the Lakers and, perhaps, dating owner Jerry Buss' daughter.

The Lakers have come to realize what they have in their eclectic leader. As Shaq put it a while back, "To be the best, you have to listen to the best."

If the Lakers continue to hoist championship banners, especially if they manage a 15-0 run, it would be hard not to finally give Jackson his due as one of the best.