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March 2010

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10

July 10, 1989 – Bulls Fire Collins, Hire Hippie Jackson

Filed Under On This Day . . ., Loose Balls

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Cutting off his curly brown locks after failing to get Michael Jordan and his fellow teammates past the Detroit Pistons in the previous two playoffs, the Chicago Bulls fired popular and fiery Head Coach Doug Collins 19 years ago today and replaced him with an assistant coach with head coaching experience in Puerto Rico and CBA but not the NBA

That would be Phil Jackson, a self-described “Maverick” during his playing days with the New York Knicks in the sixties and seventies and an odd bird to say the least.

Prior to becoming an assistant with Chicago in 1987 at the strong urging of General Manager Jerry Krause (who would eventually become a bitter enemy and source of division), Jackson flunked an interview for a similar position with the Bulls earlier in the eighties when he committed a business etiquette no-no and showed up with an eccentric beard, long hair and a fedora on his head (foreshadowing how he would be able to relate to and handle cross-dressing, fashion aficionado Dennis Rodman so well years later).

Nearly twenty years after his unlikely ascension to the throne of a budding Chicago Bulls dynasty, Jackson has nine championship rings to speak for, has appeared in 11 of the last 19 NBA Finals (a whopping 58.79 percent of the NBA Championship Series as they used to call it in the old days), and has seen his image transform from a product of the counterculture to all things Zen to the Hollywood sellout.

Regardless of whether you love or hate Phil Jackson – few Chicago fans can relate to what he’s become since taking over the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 1999 – and regardless of what you think of him as a coach – many have pointed out that it’s easy to win championships with superstars like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in their prime – one thing is certain about Jackson: the guy is a master motivator and manipulator who knows and visualizes the game like few others.

While Jackson’s basketball and worldly knowledge oftentimes borders on arrogance and elitism, it has also been his biggest plus as a head coach, especially in terms of his ability to evaluate current situations with the bigger picture in mind and get points across to his players, whether through subtlety, education or brutal honesty:

• Able to recognize the brilliance of a young Michael Jordan yet headstrong enough to convey to Jordan that he would never win anything without letting his teammates share some of the spoils, Jackson ultimately helped transform Jordan from a once-in-a-lifetime, individual basketball talent to a once-in-a-lifetime team player who made his surrounding cast better and richer.

• Capable of brushing off or finding the humor in Rodman’s crazy antics with the Bulls and knowing the flaky rebounder’s value to the last three Chicago title teams, Jackson was able to let Dennis the Menace wander on a longer leash without alienating the rest of the team and still corral him back in when it mattered most, for 48 minutes on the hardwood.

• Never one to shy away from using the media to voice his problems with officiating, Jackson cares less about coming off as a whiner and what others think of him, and has ultimately been able to swing playoff series to his team’s advantage as a result of his psychological ploys.

While it has been nice to see Jackson eat his fair share of humble pie while losing in his last two Finals appearances with the Lakers, it’s hard to debate the success and intrigue of his methods to madness.

In short, Jackson proved himself to be the perfect head coach at the perfect time for superstars like Jordan and O’Neal, who may have dominated the game like few others early in their careers but still didn’t have the ultimate knowledge required to become champions, that is until the master teacher took them under his wings.

chris@hoops4thesoul.com