jackson v riley

[smazza]

Who's the best coach in the NBA?  

Updated 10/31/2006 6:14 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this  

Pat Riley or Phil Jackson? Using the criteria of having won at least five NBA titles, the argument of who is the best coach in the NBA comes down to these two. Riley has won five as a coach and one as a player; Jackson has nine titles as a coach and one as a player. David DuPree and Roscoe Nance make their cases for the better bench guru. DuPree argues Jackson's case; Nance defends Riley

JUST WIN, BABY WINNING WAYS

Pat Riley might have patented the phrase "three-peat," but Phil Jackson has done it, three times, in fact. He did it twice with the Chicago Bulls and again in his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. His overall regular-season winning percentage of .713 is the best of all time, and his .709 winning percentage in the playoffs is the best in NBA history. He coached the Bulls to the two best regular-season records in league history, 72-10 in the 1995-96 season and 69-13 (tied with the 1971-72 Lakers) the next season. He also led the Lakers to the best postseason record ever, 15-1 in the 2001 playoffs. His nine NBA titles tie him with the late Red Auerbach for the most all time. Pat Riley is unequaled when it comes to winning. As he says in his motivational talks, "Giving yourself permission to lose guarantees a loss." As a player, as a head coach, take your pick. Riley is the only active coach to win NBA titles in a uniform or in a suit with the same organization (as a Los Angeles Lakers player in 1972; as Lakers coach in 1982, '85, '87 and '88). His teams have finished first in their division an unprecedented 17 times during his 22-year coaching career. He had a streak of 12  nine with the Lakers (1981-90) and three with the New York Knicks (1991-94).

BROTHERLY LOVE

Not even Jackson's peacemaking panache could soothe the rift between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, which led to O'Neal wanting out and subsequently getting traded to the Miami Heat and Jackson retiring. Jackson's book, The Last Season, A Team In Search Of Its Soul, was about as uncomplimentary of Bryant as a coach has ever been in print, yet Jackson was able to come back to coach the team when it needed him and forge a new and different relationship with Bryant, re-establishing a mutual trust.

TROPHY COLLECTION

Phil Jackson Pat Riley

AS PLAYER

1 - Knicks, 1973 1 - Lakers 1972

AS COACH

6 Bulls1991-93, '96-98 4 Lakers 1982, '85, '87 '8

3 Lakers 2000-02 1 Heat 2006

PSYCHOLOGY 101 NOT ONE STYLE

He takes a sincere interest in players. Jackson gets to know and understand what makes them tick and looks for ways they can become better players and happier people. A voracious reader, he often gives players books on road trips: novels, non-fiction, classics and some obscure titles. Each is specifically picked out for that player, but always with a reason that is apparent most often only to giver and the recipient. Riley has won using a variety of players and different styles. His Showtime Lakers of the 1980s won with a running game that featured Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. The Knicks won three Atlantic Division titles and made one NBA Finals appearance by playing with force and Patrick Ewing, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, as their only bona fide All-Star. The Heat won the 2006 NBA title with a two-star system of Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal while playing a style that's a hybrid of Riley's Lakers and Knicks teams' styles.

THE JORDAN FACTOR MAXIMUM RETURNS

Michael Jordan never won a title before Jackson became his coach and never won one afterward. He is unquestionably the greatest player of all time, but he credits Jackson for helping him achieve it all.

He was a father figure, a confidant, an adviser and a friend as well as his coach. The only coach-player relationship in NBA history that compares to it is the one between Red Auerbach and Bill Russell.  Riley is a masterful motivator, on the court and off. His knack is his ability to reach players in a way few coaches can. Ike Austin, the NBA's Most Improved Player with the Heat in 1997 after bouncing around the league for three seasons and playing overseas for two more, is a classic example of Riley's magical way with unheralded players. Austin averaged 10.8 points and 6.0 rebounds for 134 games during his season and a half with Miami. He never averaged more than 9.7 points or 4.8 points after leaving Miami in the middle of the 1997-98 season, and he was out of the league five years later. John Starks, Voshon Lenard, Anthony Mason, Rafer Alston and Damon Jones are other fringe players who flourished in Riley's system.

[smazza]

Both Jackson and Riley coached superstars in Jordan, left with Jackson, and Johnson, with Riley, along the way to creating back-to-back champions.

TRIANGULATED THREE-PEAT

Jackson runs the most complicated offense in the NBA, the triangle. One reason for that is that it keeps the floor balanced, the ball is always moving and players learn to depend on and trust one another. Jordan hated it at first, and Bryant was never in love with it. Both grew to cherish it. Of course, both abandoned it at times, but Jackson uses it to keep his teams grounded. Riley is the only coach in league history to win NBA Coach of the Year with three franchises. He won in 1990 with the Lakers as they had the league's best record (63-19); in 1993 with the Knicks, who had the best record in the Eastern Conference; and in 1997 with the Heat, who won a franchise-record 61 games.

ALL IN THE FAMILY OFF THE RACK

It has nothing to do with making him a good coach, but he's been in a long-term relationship with the owner's daughter, Jeannie Buss, the team's executive vice president of business operations. He didn't use that relationship to get the job, and she didn't use undue influence to persuade him to come out of retirement and return. In many respects, the relationship may add pressure to the job. Don't think so for Riley. No one looks better winning on the sidelines, with his slicked-back hairstyle and Giorgio Armani suits.  

NEW CHALLENGES ELITE COACHING GROUP

Jackson had always said he wasn't the kind of coach who was best in a rebuilding situation, but much preferred a team that was pretty much in place, a veteran team that just needed leadership, a firm hand and tweaking to get to the next level. He went out on a limb when he returned to the Lakers after O'Neal left.He knew he was going to a bad team that had no chance of winning a title anytime soon, yet he took the plunge, a gutsy move. Pat Riley is one of four NBA coaches with 1,000 victories, and he is the only one to win more than 60% of those games:

Coach Wins Win. Pct.

Pat Riley 1,151 .661

Larry Brown 1,239 .577

Don Nelson 1,190 .575

Lenny Wilkens 1,332 .536

[smazza]

riley took over what 2 other coaches started

i give the nod to jackson

[Triple B]

Who's the best coach in the NBA?

Whichever coach DIDN'T get blown out by 42 point last night ....