Cavs without Lebron

[hitmanyr2k]

Have Phil Jackson coach this year's Bobcats squad and they're 2nd to last in the Eastern Conference.

The guy sucks ass as a coach, but he got lucky with Jordan, smartly campaigned for the Lakers job when Shaq hit his prime, and then smartly stopped talking about Kobe when Jerry West promised to give him another championship caliber team via collusion.

Phil didn't get lucky with Jordan

Phil had to tame Jordan and make him play team ball. Jordan fought the triangle offense for a long time before he finally bought into the program. He also maximized Pippen's skillset and put him in a position to succeed.

My favorite Phil Jackson anecdote was him singling out Jordan in the huddle during the '91 Finals....

After Jordan goes one on three and ignores his open shooters Phil calls a timeout and singles Jordan out in front of his teammates.

Phil: "Who's open Michael?"
Jordan: silence
Phil: "Who's open?"
Jordan: silence
Phil: "Michael who's open?"
Jordan: Pax
Phil: "Then get him the in ball"

Mike feeds the out of Paxson in the final minutes and the rest is history. Jordan needed a coach who would stand up to him. Loughery and Doug Collins sure as didn't. No coach dared talk to Jordan like Phil did and that's why Jordan respected the man and bought into the program.

[pauls931]

Phil is a good coach, perhaps because he's not afraid of being fired for pissing off star players.

However, he has a knack for showing up on teams with star players peaking.

[Kamnik]

Phil is a good coach, perhaps because he's not afraid of being fired for pissing off star players.

However, he has a knack for showing up on teams with star players peaking.

Well if you got 6 rings with the Bulls you could also choose which team to coach.

[picc84]

Picc praying the Cavs destroy the Bucks like LA did UTA, SAS & POR without Kobe.

Not really fair though, because they are missing Shaq and Big Z as well.

I didnt even know the Cavs were playing last night. You were the one sitting at home on a saturday night with your hand on the refresh button praying the Cavs would lose.

[TampaDude]

No coach dared talk to Jordan like Phil did and that's why Jordan respected the man and bought into the program.

Phil Jackson ain't exactly a small guy, though. I don't think I'd argue with him unless my name was Shaquille O'Neal.