“Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader.” General Motti from Star Wars
Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach are universally regarded as the two best basketball coaches in NBA history. While they are both known as good teachers and tactically proficient, the majority of their successes can be attributed to their motivational techniques (and of course, always coaching teams with multiple Hall of Famers). Jackson and Auerbach always put their players in a position to succeed while doing their best to disrupt their opponents' focus. Auerbach literally fought opposing players and fans in defense of his team. Jackson has never actually gone Van Gundy on the opposition but he has been manipulating referees and opponents through the media for the past twenty years. Most of the first thousand reasons why P-Jax is awesome involve getting Jordan, Kobe and Shaq to all embrace the triangle offense during their respective primes. Many of the rest touch on his player management skills and unmatched ability to wage psychological warfare on an opponent. If there is any doubt about his success there is only one thing to do...Count The Rings (but you'll need more than two hands to do it)! Earlier this week, Jackson added to his reputation as a master manipulator by offering his thoughts on Pat Riley and the Legion of Doom's rough start.
Jackson revealed that he foresees the Legion of Doom insisting that "'Pat Riley can do a better job coaching the team.We came here on the hopes that this would work'...That’s kind of my take on it, is that eventually if things don’t straighten out here soon, it could be the Van Gundy thing all over again.” Well played, Phil! In only thirty seconds of airtime with a Chicago radio station, he added to the already significant turmoil in Miami and brought Orlando's head coach into the discussion, too. If he had only shared his thoughts on Tony Parker's divorce and Kevin Garnett's trash talking, he would have touched on all (other) four title contenders in a three minute segment! Does Phil really believe that Riley will take over? Perhaps. But even if he does, the only reason he shared that information was an attempt to feed the media frenzy over the Legion's rocky start (which already has NBA writers suggesting Riles may step in) and possibly create division in a team that he sees as a potential threat down the road. LeBron James and Chris Bosh already appear somewhat overwhelmed by their new roles and a general public hatred and now they will be answering questions about Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra for the next month. The rumors are already circulating but now a Riles head coaching takeover seems very possible since the idea has been given weight by the Zen Master, himself. And he must be right. I mean...did you count those rings???
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