Phil Jackson: The Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome

Phil Jackson, the Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, suffers from the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome. He receives ‘no respect’. Even after nine NBA championships, Phil Jackson’s coaching acumen still is being questioned.

As coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson won six championships. There are those who say that all that was needed with the Chicago Bulls was someone to roll out the basketballs and make sure the uniforms arrived on time. The reason was that those teams had Michael Jordan and his supporting cast. Some believe that anyone could have coached those teams to championships. People tend to forget the lack of success that the Jordan-led Bulls had before Phil Jackson became the coach.

At the next coaching job, Phil Jackson took the L.A. Lakers to three NBA championships. He has not received as much credit for those championships because of two reasons: Kobe and Shaq. Some contend that, with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, not much coaching was required.

Now, during this NBA season, Phil Jackson is taking the L. A. Lakers to the cusp of being an elite team. Credit is being given to Andrew Bynum’s improvement, Kobe Bryant’s intensity, Derek Fisher’s leadership and so on. Little mention is made of the stellar coaching. Phil Jackson must know what Rodney Dangerfield meant.

Catherine Forsythe

Tags: nba, phil jackson, chicago bulls, l.a.lakers, coaching, championships, respect