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Regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Phil Jackson has won six rings with the Chicago Bulls and five rings with the Los Angeles Lakers. For NBA coaches to reach that prolonged level of success, they had their ways of galvanizing their teams to accomplish their best selves.
According to former Chicago Bulls player Scott Williams, former Bulls coach Phil Jackson had his own unique ways of coaching the team.
"Phil Jackson would fine Stacey King, myself, and Will Purdue if we shot 3-pointers in a game ... if we missed," Williams said. "If we made them, there was no fine. If we missed, we got fined $100."
Alongside Stacey King and Will Purdue, Scott Williams was one of the backup bigs for Bill Cartwright. At the time, centers like Williams were not allowed to dribble and shoot the ball as much as how the game is played today.
Nowadays, the league is dominated by superstar centers like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid who are comfortable handling the basketball and stepping from beyond the arc.
Back in Phil Jackson's coaching days, centers were more used for rim protection, securing boards, and low-post scoring. Also, centers were not trained as much with shooting and even ball handling, except standouts such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
As the elite teams during that era were focused on perfecting their craft and identity as a basketball unit, Phil Jackson utilized his creative coaching methods.
Jackson was not for everyone but he was able to establish a dynasty during his time coaching the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his tenure as head coach of the Bulls, Jackson has the most number of wins for a coach in the franchise's history. He has a coaching record of 545 wins and 193 losses with a .738 winning percentage. Meanwhile, in the playoffs, Phil Jackson has a record of 111 wins and 41 losses with a .730 winning percentage.
During his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, Jackson has a record of 610 wins and 292 losses with a .676 winning percentage. In the playoffs, he has a record of 118 wins and 63 losses with a .652 winning percentage.
Even with his unique approach to coaching, it can't be denied that Phil Jackson delivers when it comes to winning basketball games.
Looking back on Michael Jordan's comments regarding Phil Jackson's coaching style
Back in a 2008 interview with ESPN, Michael Jordan talked about Jackson's interesting spin on coaching.
"It helps so much having Phil as our coach," Jordan said. "He goes around and burns sage in front of our lockers, and when we're playing bad in practice, he'll beat on a war drum to wake us up. It comes from his meditating, gaining the ability to stay in touch with your body and inner self, calming yourself when tension is around."
Jordan added that Jackson's style helped him in being present in the moment, similar to remaining poised in high-pressure ball games. It translated in the same manner to the rest of the team as they picked up on what their coach was getting across.
As his career went on, Michael Jordan became more mature in how he would perform on the court. Besides his tremendous skillset as an athlete, he was able to reach the next step in his craft under Jackson's tutelage.
