Just In Case You Get the Chance to Coach Superstars
On last night’s Lakers-Bulls telecast, they showed the “retired jersey” of Phil Jackson in the rafters at the United Center.  As always is the case, mention was made of Phil winning all those rings but . . . how he always had great players. First, Michael & Scottie, then Shaq & Kobe and then Kobe and the cast of characters from last year’s team (with the emphasis on Kobe).Â
It seems Phil Jackson’s championships can’t be mentioned without someone bringing up the “Yeah, but he had great players” line. While it is true, there have been many coaches with great players who have failed to win championships - at all levels (remember the Phi Slamma Jamma Houston Cougars of Guy Lewis)? It takes more than just great players. And the way championships are won differ with the different personalities of the coaches who lead those talented squads.
There’s Phil and his Zen approach. Imagine getting NBA players to understand Zen, much less embrace it? There was a story of how he tried it on one of his early championship Bulls’ teams. He told the guys to sit quietly and close their eyes. The legend goes that a few (or more) of the players peeked - and saw Michael Jordan sitting with his eyes closed - and that sealed the deal. Moral: Get your best player to buy into your philosophy and the others fall right into line.
Doc Rivers coached a team put together by Danny Ainge (with help from his best friend, Kevin McHale) which initially had perennial all-star, but perennial also ran (as far as his team went), Paul Pierce. Ainge added Ray Allen, one of the best shooters in NBA history (and in case you haven’t noticed, scoring is more important in basketball than any other team sport) and superstar, but also mired on a mediocre team, Kevin Garnett.
Doc knew he had an abundance of talent, but none of these guys had ever won. He came up with the rallying cry/mantra, “Ubuntu” which (some thought meant “Help me, I’m in my contract year”), but actually, according to none other than Nelson Mandela, meant a concept made up of traits like unselfishness, caring and enabling others. They rode it to a championship, to the point that when many of the Celtics were asked what their championship secret was, they claimed, “Ubuntu.” That’s buying in.
Speaking of the Celtics, Red Auerbach had his run of championship after championship. Bill Russell wound up with more rings than fingers. What Red did was clever. He made everybody else hate him, thus taking all the pressure off his guys. It’s not like he had a bunch of slouches, but the shenanigans he pulled at the old Boston Garden (dead spots in the floor, turning up the heat in the visitor’s locker room, no hot water, and the piece de resistance - the victory cigar). Plus, he did subtle things, like going to Big Russ and telling him not to pay attention when he yelled at him in practice, but if the rest of the players saw Russell getting an earful, they’d have no right to complain when Red jumped their cases.
The master of massaging egos (and in the NBA, there’s no shortage of that commodity) was the late Chuck Daly. He took a team and gave it an image. The “Bad Boys” aka the Detroit Pistons won back-to-back championships with nasty (dirty?) Bill Laimbeer; tough guy Rick Mahorn; bordering on lunatic, Dennis Rodman; if-you-need-a-score, call-me, Vinny Johnson; classy Joe Dumars (how did someone so respected, with so much class become a - vital - part of this team?) and Mr. Hidden Agenda, Isiah Thomas.Â
I was working at the University of Toledo (less than an hour from Detroit) during those championship years and a little known fact is that the Pistons’ owner, Bill Davidson, made his early (and big) money in glass - and Toledo was known as the Glass Capital of the World. We’d get choice seats (Mr. Davidson’s own - right behind the basket at the Pistons end of the floor) because there were many people in Toledo who were quite friendly with Mr. D.Â
One of his confidantes told me a story that was not allowed to be leaked (so how did I find out)? Mr. Davidson was so fond of Thomas that he pledged to him a million dollar bonus if the team won a championship. Imagine what that kind of dissent that would have caused if it got out.
That’s how good Chuck Daly was. Because he knew and, yet, had the ability to mold this apparent group of misfits into not one, but two championship teams. His main strength was that he possessed so little ego. Winning was his goal and he focused on working individually with each player on the team.Â
Many people have said he knew how to handle players, but as Wilt Chamberlain told his new coach, Alex Hannum, when the coach said to the Big Dipper, “I heard you’re hard to handle.”
“You don’t handle people. You handle animals,” said the player who caused more rule changes than any other in the history of the game. Talk about making a statement early in a relationship.
When it comes to winning championships, sure, great players are needed, but as the late & great coach Chuck Daly (coach of the Original Dream Team - talk about egos!) said:
“It’s harder to take a group of really talented players and make them a championship team than it is to take a group of average guys and make them competitive.”Â
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