Phil Jackson has alreadyseen his team lose more this year than any other season during his 15-year career. Jackson's Los Angeles Lakers, after back-to-back losses on Thursday and Friday, are 40-37 — for a .526 percentage. His first 14 NBA teams, by comparison, won at a combined .725 rate.
But this may be Jackson's best coaching job ever.
Then again, it certainly might not be, too. He's had plenty of outstanding seasons and his team's record this year is just mediocre.
Still, those expecting Jackson to fall on his face in his return to the Lakers were wrong. He's been able to co-exist with Kobe Bryant and lead the team to a winning record and — in all likelihood — a spot in the playoffs.
The Lakers went 34-48 last season without Jackson. They'll be improved by at least eight games or more by the end of this season — without any better personnel on the court.
Jackson's coaching ability has been up for debate for years — especially by those put off by his arrogance and the media's insistence on calling him "the Zen Master" due to his beliefs in Eastern philosophy. Many NBA observers have been quick to point out that Jackson has always had the best talent to work with.
"Who couldn't win with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen when they were in their prime," Jackson critics contend — with some validity. Jordan, simply, was the best player of the 1990s and maybe ever. M.J., more than Jackson, of course, was the reason the Bulls dominated by winning six NBA titles.
Jordan retired after the 1998 season and Bulls executive Jerry Krause disbanded the team and Jackson wasn't maintained for the rebuilding job. Iowa State's Tim Floyd, instead, got that thankless role.
After a year off, Jackson took over in Los Angeles where he once again had the chance to coach the league's most dominant player — Shaquille O'Neal — along with an up-and-coming young star in Bryant. The result was three more NBA titles along with a 10th trip to the NBA Finals after the 2003-04 season, although the Lakers got upset by the Pistons two years ago in that series.
How much of the Lakers' success was due to Jackson and how much was because he had two of the league's best players in Shaq and Kobe? It was a question that was certainly open for debate. It should be pointed out, however, that Del Harris and Kurt Rambis, who both coached O'Neal and Bryant together with the Lakers before Jackson, never won a Western Conference title — let alone an NBA championship.
Jackson, after the soap opera that was the 2003-04 season, "retired." He even wrote a book about the experience that final year entitled, "The Last Season" in which he was highly critical of Bryant's selfishness. Even though he had a long-time relationship with team owner Jerry Buss' daughter Jeannie, it appeared like his days with the Lakers was over — especially when Kobe stayed and it was Shaq who was sent packing to Miami.
But, surprisingly, Jackson was back this year. And for the first time in his career, he took over a non-playoff team when he returned. Despite the harsh criticisms in print of the Lakers' star guard, Jackson and Bryant haven't had any major public blowups. The Lakers, with Bryant scoring at a career-high clip, have become a solid team that isn't an NBA-title contender, but it is a winner and a playoff team — which is more than can be said of last year's Lakers under Rudy Tomjanovich and Frank Hamblen.
That's not to say he deserves to be given Coach of the Year honors, by any means. He hasn't even been the best NBA coach in L.A. this season — since Mike Dunleavy has done such a fine job with the usually hapless Clippers.
Still, Jackson proved once again that he is a master at getting the most out of his players.
Jackson is tied with Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach for the most NBA championships as a coach with nine each. Jackson's playoff winning percentage of .717 is the best in league history. He has been the most successful NBA coach of this generation and maybe of any generation.
And now we know he can coach a little bit, too.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com