Western-Election-997 | Lakers

376 | 4 hours ago

Arguably the greatest coach

Particular_Bag_3424

382 | 4 hours ago

there have been 5 three-peats in nba history … phil has 3 of them

in any given year he was more likely to win the chip than to not win it (55%)

had a stretch from 96-03 where he won 25 consecutive playoff series in a row

easily the goat coach

LegendRazgriz | Supersonics

160 | 4 hours ago

It’s either him or Popovich and honestly on a pure accomplishment basis Phil has the measure. Sure, he had great players, but the players bought into his system and had success. As if convincing Michael fucking Jordan to listen to you, three-peating twice, and then going to LA with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and having to convince those two to listen to you and three-peat again is easy.

AwildYaners | Japan

82 | 2 hours ago

Pop is basically the Bron of coaching, while the Zen Master is like MJ.

Can’t go wrong with either choice, completely different and valid reasons to pick either of them.

LegendRazgriz | Supersonics

47 | 2 hours ago

That’s actually a really good comparison.

Longevity and notable successes vs the highest of peaks and consistently super high levels of performance.

TheMaskedDeuce | Spurs

20 | 2 hours ago

And we should ignore Phil’s stop in NY like MJ’s stop in Washington didn’t happen.

MahomesMccaffrey | Slovenia

13 | an hour ago

Phil wasn’t the coach in NY.

MJ was still good in Washington despite not playing ball for 3 years and approaching 40.

You’re acting like Pop didn’t have bad records with the spurs towards the end of his coaching tenure.

redditlvlanalysis

1 | 38 minutes ago

To be fair one of those bad records was pretty clearly intentional.

commiecat | Heat

13 | an hour ago

Pop is basically the Bron of coaching, while the Zen Master is like MJ.

Can’t go wrong with either choice, completely different and valid reasons to pick either of them.

How would this analogy sound if Jordan had eleven rings and was 4-1 in playoff series against LeBron?

PalantirImperator | Japan

1 | 32 minutes ago

This is going to be blasphemy to some, but I really think it undersells Phil’s accomplishments to put him and Pop in the same tier. Phil is in a tier all his own.

Winning a title in more than half the seasons you were a coach is batshit insane.

Everyone will point to him having Jordan, Pippen, Kobe, and Shaq, but those guys played a combined like 25 seasons without him and won a combined 1 title.

LordHussyPants | Celtics

11 | 2 hours ago

Sure, he had great players

anyone who says this to discredit a coach shouldn’t be taken seriously, because they just don’t understand coaching.

coaches need players and players need coaches. they all need to buy in, they all need to work together, and they all need to be credited with the outcomes.

MddlingAges | Knicks

5 | an hour ago

Red Auerbach?

MonsieurSlotho | Nuggets

42 | 4 hours ago

Technically the Celtics 3 peated 6 times in an 8 year span, 59-61, 60-62, 61-63, 62-64, 63-65, 64-66, but yeah Phil is still probably the best

AboutaDirk

23 | 2 hours ago

out of all the ways of counting threepeats, this sure is one of them

LordHussyPants | Celtics

21 | 2 hours ago

you wouldn’t count all those as threepeats though, there needs to be a reset date where no one season counts for multiple

Ch0ptimusPrime | Slovenia

10 | an hour ago

Yea, if a team won 4 straight titles you wouldn’t claim they threepeated twice. And if a team wins 3 straight you wouldn’t consider that going back-to-back twice.

I think it just gets weird bc the Celts won 8 in a row and that’s something that’s never been done again — and almost definitely never will be done again. Like the Cs can just claim anything they want for that because it’s so ridiculous

HotCom12 | Lakers

5 | an hour ago

Imo anything pre Nba/Aba merger should be put into a different category all together, it was essentially just a different sport

theskyopenedup | Knicks

1 | 30 minutes ago

Who upvoted this?? Lol

Bayelor | LAL

69 | 4 hours ago

It’s only arguably because his personality outside of basketball is abrasive and people prefer to give credit to his players.

harrowing-gale-2606 | Warriors

45 | 4 hours ago

Pop is also a much more likeable person, so some people prefer him as the GOAT coach even with less accomplishments compared to Phil

greatGoD67 | Spurs

26 | 3 hours ago

Phil jackson coaching tree/legacy vs Popovich is not even remotely close either.

HotCom12 | Lakers

14 | 3 hours ago

Agreed he coached Steve Kerr who then went on to be become second only to him /s

Ok-Guidance116 | Rockets

7 | 2 hours ago

I think he was saying the other way around. There’s a lot of HC now who coached under pop

DidAnyoneElseJustCum | Cavaliers

38 | 4 hours ago

It gets a little easier when you have Jordan and Pippen and then Shaq and Kobe. The ability to get AAA superstars of this level to buy into a wonky offense system for as long as he did is a massive massive accomplishment that lead to his tangible accomplishments.

prfrnir

56 | 4 hours ago

Sure, but he had 3 separate 3 peats with those duos.

Even the combo of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh only managed got back-to-back titles. Curry and Durant only managed back-to-back titles too.

pick-and-hoop | Spurs

10 | 3 hours ago

KD Curry Warriors didn’t 3 peat only because of injuries, don’t get it twisted

LordHussyPants | Celtics

19 | 2 hours ago

they still didn’t do it

HotCom12 | Lakers

8 | 2 hours ago

They also got 2 huge breaks in the Kawhi injury when the Spurs looked incredible and the Cp3 injury when the Rockets really looked like the better team

commander_wong | Lakers

6 | an hour ago

CP3 I’ll give you but the Spurs weren’t winning that series regardless when their 3rd best player was a career G-league player Jonathan Simmons lol

HotCom12 | Lakers

3 | an hour ago

Watch that game 1 again then, they were locking them down and getting buckets. I’m not saying it’s a guarantee that they win that series but that would’ve been a war. Kawhi was playing at his peak, Danny Green, Dejounte, Manu, Patty, Lamarcus that was a great team

commander_wong | Lakers

3 | an hour ago

One game sample size really doesn’t mean much when it comes to a team that lost one game in the entire playoffs

Mavs beat Celtics by like 40 points in one of the games in 2024 finals and lost every other game

sriracha82

3 | an hour ago

Warriors always somehow simultaneously an unfair team that ruined the league and lose in every hypothetical lol

LordHussyPants | Celtics

1 | 17 minutes ago

conversely, they still won it

speculation’s fun and all, but the warriors very much earned their rings and they also didn’t threepeat

just like i think the bucks never should have won in 2022 (celtics, heat, nuggets, lakers all having a tiny offseason and being riddled with injury), but i’ll never deny that they won it fair and square against the opponents they had

persianx6_

2 | 34 minutes ago

There’s been 5 3 peats in NBA history and Phil Jackson was part of 3 of them.

Had he won in 2008 he would’ve been part of a 4th one.

ynomeye | Warriors

-27 | 4 hours ago

Wade and Bosh were washed and 2019 was a clusterfuck

chrisgcc

24 | 4 hours ago

They weren’t washed in 2011. Bosh wasn’t washed in 2014, only wade was. Bosh was an all star on 14, 15, and 16. Just really bad performance by you in this comment.

prfrnir

16 | 4 hours ago

He has more titles than both Spoelstra and Kerr combined. Which means if the LeBron Heat and the Curry Warriors were both coached by the same guy, Phil Jackson still has more titles than that hypothetical guy.

Heck, he has the same number of titles as that guy just with his Bulls tenure.

That is insane, no?

Common_Pangolin9809 | Thunder

1 | 4 hours ago

aka Kawhi and a worthy challenger from the East

Ok_Turn6757 | Lakers

7 | 4 hours ago

moreso injuries

LittlestWeapon | Lakers

16 | 4 hours ago

Those teams with those players didn’t win anything without Phil

__JimmyC__ | Spurs

15 | 3 hours ago

At that level, your job as a coach isnt to improve the individual skills of players. It’s to manage the egos of superstars, which Phil Jackson is undeniably the best of all time at.

Gargnel

8 | 3 hours ago

Yep Mike, Shaq and Kobe might just have the 3 biggest egos out of the top 10-12 players of all time and Phil managed them all to the tune of 11 chips. Also managing Rodman on top of all that, who so many coaches would easily mismanage as an outcast, unfocused type of player - all of that alone is a serious accomplishment.

DidAnyoneElseJustCum | Cavaliers

3 | an hour ago

He let Dennis be Dennis. That approach would be torn to shreds these days. But it worked.

Ok_Masterpiece_6293

10 | 3 hours ago

Obviously it helps but the reason we talk about those players the way we do is because they won and they won with Phil. Jokic and Giannis only have one. The current 4 best players in the NBA only have 2 between them and outside of Wemby they’re all above 25.

persianx6_

1 | 33 minutes ago

One can easily say that Giannis would absolutely die for Doc Rivers to not be coaching him.

baconcheeseburgarian | Clippers

1 | 24 minutes ago

You gotta have an ego that can put alphas like MJ, Shaq and Kobe in place.

DidAnyoneElseJustCum | Cavaliers

1 | 22 minutes ago

Beyond an ego. Very few possess the poetry of the English language to talk those guys into your system and yet he did.

PoonGo0n | Spurs

19 | 4 hours ago

Phil is the best coach of all time.

persianx6_

2 | 40 minutes ago

It’s not arguable, sorry to San Antonio Spurs fans.

mathird | Spurs

210 | 4 hours ago

Ha, jokes on you. Coaches don’t shake hands after game 1 (usually not till after the last game).

chief1555 | Knicks

156 | 4 hours ago

It says a lot about how dysfunctional the Knicks got that New York was the only place he was unsuccessful in during his career (ignoring the championships he won here as a player)

NeedleGunMonkey

122 | 4 hours ago

Phil Jackson is a better coach than he is an executive. And even great coaches have half-lives.

YRwerunning

35 | 4 hours ago

His very first move as executive was to sign Lamar Odom..

sheJaMyMorant

28 | 4 hours ago

to a lottery ticket type contract lmao. if they got any production out of him it would’ve been a win.

that move isn’t really damning of Phil Jackson especially when there is numerous other reasons to why he was bad.

YRwerunning

36 | 4 hours ago

.. WHO WAS ON CRACK

sheJaMyMorant

7 | 4 hours ago

well yeah but it was literally a lottery ticket type move. if Odom had cleaned up it literally wouldn’t have been an issue lol.

jinxabcde | Tampa Bay Raptors

7 | 3 hours ago

.. WHO WAS ON CRACK

supersonicnat45 | Knicks

3 | 3 hours ago

it’s a reference to a steven a smith clip

sheJaMyMorant

1 | 3 hours ago

sorry I don’t watch that stuff

YRwerunning

2 | 2 hours ago

Present day me hates that shit too, but this was Stephen A’s one shining moment

nahnotthisone | Cavaliers

2 | 2 hours ago

The self-lob

MajlenovicFlori | Tim Duncan

4 | 4 hours ago

We’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived…

persianx6_

1 | 29 minutes ago

What can you say? Phil loved big men that can pass and defend and with a little edge to their personalities. He’d love coaching Draymond.

JorSimpson45 | Lakers

23 | 4 hours ago

It was a retirement gig for him, he was falling asleep during player workouts for the draft

Apprehensive-Rain601 | Lakers

11 | 4 hours ago

He was a big part of the reason it was like that

chief1555 | Knicks

9 | 4 hours ago

He definitely fucked up with how he treated Melo but the organization had been rotting from the inside since the Isaiah/Starbury era at the very least.

Morezingis | Timberwolves

10 | 4 hours ago

I don’t blame the Knicks as much as I blame him trying to force the triangle in the modern NBA with the wrong players, signing Noah to that contract, and, well, not having a top 10 player of all-time on his team.

I think Steve Mills was the biggest problem in that time tbh

SignalBed9998 | Bulls

7 | 3 hours ago

I have to jump in when anyone says “forced the triangle”. It works very well still. Just in smaller doses. It’s an effective option at times when it makes sense matchup wise. EVERY coach has triangle driven offensive plays. That “forced” idea is just narrative cause the Knicks sucked.

Morezingis | Timberwolves

1 | 3 hours ago

Fully agree provided you have the personnel for it, both in their playmaking ability and their mental focus to learn it. But when you have iso-oriented players that frankly don’t have an interest in playing it over basic pick n’roll offense, especially without a dominant post player, it’s obviously not going to work.

Melo himself said: ”The game is getting faster. Guys are getting quicker. Guys are jumping out the gym. It’s like, ‘No, we can’t slow it down when we got a fast break. We can’t play in the two-guard front when we got Derrick Rose and Raymond Felton’—you can’t do that

HokageEzio | Knicks

4 | 4 hours ago

It says he’s a dogshit executive.

tripleyothreat

1 | 36 minutes ago

I totally forgot about that stint

persianx6_

1 | 30 minutes ago

You’re correct but also that 2011 Mavs team dismantled every one of Phil’s coaching quirks. That team showed the game finally caught up to Phil because everyone could pass just like how Phil loved. But then suddenly guys could hit 3s in the corner and Phil would instruct his defense to not cover for it.

Carlisle is in his own right, a hall of fame coach. He absolutely outcoached Phil that series

TheCrazedFlasher | Knicks

-7 | 4 hours ago

I hate Phil Jackson. I’m very happy his executive career is memorable because of how much of a loser he was. Thanks for nothing clown.

brandoi | Lakers

31 | 4 hours ago

Only 27 other coaches in the history of the league have more than 48 playoff game wins.

glen_ko_ko | Pistons

3 | an hour ago

I will never forget 04

SignalBed9998 | Bulls

22 | 4 hours ago

Greatest coach ever

aspiring1accountant | Lakers

5 | 3 hours ago

Yup, not even debatable tbh.

WoweeZoweeDeluxe | Spurs

24 | 3 hours ago

MJ has never ever lost a series with HCA

Hot-Character9592

10 | 2 hours ago

24-0 with homecourt. Insane.

[deleted]

1 | an hour ago

[deleted]

Hot-Character9592

1 | an hour ago

Talking MJ, not Phil.

MahomesMccaffrey | Slovenia

2 | 42 minutes ago

My bad

[deleted]

1 | an hour ago

[deleted]

Kay-Knox | Kings

1 | an hour ago

He said MJ, not Phil.

jayelecfan | Lakers

17 | 4 hours ago

fire your coach after you go up 1-0

HotCom12 | Lakers

2 | 3 hours ago

*Down but yeah pretty much

Accurate-Standard998 | Timberwolves

6 | 2 hours ago

Coach of team that lost game 1: “I think we can handle one little loss.”

Phil Jackson: “No, Coach, your postseason is already dead.”

420_69_Fake_Account

4 | 3 hours ago

I remember when Jeanie was getting that Phil glaze, wild pull for that man…

jarvis_says_cocker | Lakers

2 | an hour ago

Even wilder pull for Jay Mohr IMO.

doa-xyz

3 | 2 hours ago

He is also 1-11 in series where he lost the first game.

BcuzRacecar

3 | 43 minutes ago

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0fu2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ce40332-f3b7-4c45-affa-e60d749587c6_882x1330.png

Pjax has the most wins over expected of any coach.

Drak_is_Right | Pacers

2 | 34 minutes ago

Winning 48 series alone is very impressive

froggycbl4 | Nets Bandwagon

-4 | 3 hours ago

look up what modern means

Acrobatic_Quarter465

-3 | 3 hours ago

It’s crazy how the best coaches tend to have teams that would win without them even being there lol. Ppl place way too much emphasis on coaching in the NBA. Also kings got robbed game 6

Ok_Explanation1697

6 | 2 hours ago

Those players won so much without Phil.

persianx6_

1 | 27 minutes ago

The kings choked in game 7

JoeBiden2020FTW | Lakers

-5 | 4 hours ago

I think that’s just downstream of Phil Jackson being 55-7 in Playoff Series overall

So his overall Playoff Series win rate is around equal to the win rate of a normal team being up 2-0

That says more about his ability to get good coaching jobs, less so than his coaching ability.

HotCom12 | Lakers

23 | 4 hours ago

You’re out of your mind if you say that, how many great teams underachieve year in and year out. He 3 peated 3 times and nearly did it a forth time (only coach in modern history to 3 peat even once btw)

NoMoreHoarding69

-7 | 3 hours ago

Title should be “more stupid modern insane stats that mean absolutely nothing “

Educational-Yard-158 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

syfm

Insane modern nba stats: Phil Jackson is 48-0 in series in which his teams won game 1