Happy Birthday Phil Jackson
If the evangelist had his way his son would have chosen something else, something that did not glorify the self. Basketball incorporated lust and greed. Charles Jackson who preached in the day and his wife Elizabeth Funk Jackson who preached at night dedicated their small world to worship and prayer. The Jacksons of Montana lived an austere religious life raising their children, all of whom played sports. But one of the Jackson boys, Phillip Douglas, was better than his brothers. He played basketball, baseball and ran track. He was scouted by the Atlanta Braves once upon a time but chose basketball over baseball when he attended the University of South Dakota.
Apr 5, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Phil Jackson court side at game between the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Phil Jackson, at 20 years old, played for legendary Bill Fitch and was taught the game the correct way: move the ball, involve your teammates, celebrate the team. The next five decades of Phil Jackson’s life would take him over here and over there and like his father, Phil Jackson extolled the virtues of patience, wisdom, intelligence and compassion. He believed in circle theology and because he knew no one was perfect forgiveness mattered.
In a display of vanity Phil Jackson likes to show his rings, all thirteen of them. Pride comes from the struggle to be the last one standing. He won two rings when he was a player for the New York Knicks but only the championship in 1973 had any sort of value. The 1970 championship was won without Phil’s input; he was injured and was more of an assistant coach, the eyes and ears of Red Holtzman, the Knicks beloved coach. Phil won one title when he coached the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) but they don’t give out rings for that. He coached in Puerto Rico. He won six rings when he coached in Chicago, a city framed by Lake Michigan and framed by violent crime. Phil Jackson, is still considered a Messiah there. Five more rings were earned when he coached the Lakers, a team that could be selfish one moment and selfless the next but they had a desperate appetite for success.
If coaching is an art, if all coaches are artists in the way Picasso was an artist and Salvador Dali was an artist, then Phil Jackson had a particular talent with his brush. He created a culture whereas his teams seemed to forget they were the champions of the NBA. They came back hungrier the next year as if the past year was erased from their brain. Phil three-peated three times, he repeated once. Other highlights: the Chicago Bulls never went to a 7th game in the NBA Finals. The Chicago Bulls won titles on the road; they did this three out of six years. The Chicago Bulls won the most regular season games in NBA history; this after they won a title. They never lost a NBA Finals series.
The Kobe/Shaq Lakers never went to a 7th game in the NBA Finals. The Kobe/Shaq Lakers won one championship in five games. They won another in a sweep. They won two of their three titles on the road.
Jan. 30, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) and forward Pau Gasol (16) against the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Kobe/Pau Lakers won one of their two titles on the road. They won a 7th game after they trailed by double digits.
Phil Jackson was drafted by the Knicks in 1967. Limited offensively he played the sort of game that his father would have been proud of. There was an absence of egocentrism just as there were a presence of pride. He authored his first book, a photo diary of the championship team of 1970 called Take It All. Other books would follow, books he would write and books he would pass out to his players because he wanted them to know that he was interested in their talent and their current job but he cared about who they were as human beings.
His 47 years in the NBA, in service to young men and not so young men, in teaching and guiding and pushing and celebrating has led Phil Jackson to be a dean on the subject of leadership. A leader above all else uses compassion as a foundation. A leader cultivates wisdom and from that particular branch he creates an environment of cooperation and protection.
Phil Jackson once described his job in the simplest of terms, “to erase selfishness”. Every team Phil Jackson has coached he has used Buddhist principles and Native American rituals to create within his “circle” of men, trust. Because trust is the only way a team navigates the hell and high water of adversity, both individual and collective. His meditation principles that many players found slightly ridiculous are highly valued years after they end their basketball careers. Phil Jackson knew what he was talking about when he said, “you need to get your mind right.”
More often than not Phil is asked about his accomplishments, specifically which of his championship rings is the most valued and it is one of those difficult answers, like asking a parent which child is their favorite. But Phil admits the title in 2010, the one that Doc Rivers still cannot bear to acknowledge so he covered up the banner, was Phil’s special one. If 1991 was for Jordan and 2000 was for Shaq and 2009 was for Kobe then 2010 was for Phil. It vaulted him into untouchable status, a genius at getting men to meet adversity and overcome it. To perform but also-and this was a Phil Jackson principle- to think.
It was a tough series against the hated Celtics whose legendary coach of yesteryear, the irascible and sometimes ridiculous and often pompous but great leader and ahead of his time general manager Red Auerbach, always dismissed Phil’s resume, pointing to his great players. Of the 10 best players in NBA history 3 of them were coached by Phil Jackson. So when the Lakers were down by 13 against the Celtics in game 7 of the NBA Finals of 2010 and Kobe was dreadful shooting the ball but Pau rebounded and Kobe rebounded and Metta World Peace made the biggest shot of his career, it was all for Phil. It was symbolic and said everything there was to say about his career.
Except it didn’t say how important faith is and how important love is and how important compassion is and that very few men have the talent to mold a group of peculiar personalities, to bring them to the mountain top and to stay there for a long as he has without falling down the ditch. His father the evangelist and his mother the preacher taught him this a long time ago, they taught him you can give something to men that is so special it stays attached to them forever. You can make them believe that whatever is inside of them, whether it be the talent of a champion or the intelligence of a teacher or the wisdom of a priest or the empathy of brother, all of it is extraordinary and special. Which basically sums up Phil Jackson’s basketball career.
Extraordinary. Special.