Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas Jackson ( born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana ) is a former American professional basketball coach. With a total of eleven won championships, he is the most successful coach of the NBA history. Jackson is known for his ability to shape from "difficult" players a team. Most recently, he coached the Los Angeles Lakers.
Player
His playing career began in 1963 at the University of North Dakota. In 1967 he joined the NBA, the New York Knicks chose him in the second round draft. The Knicks of the late sixties were packed with stars like Walt Frazier, Willis Reed and Earl Monroe. They were trained by Red Holzman, the Jackson continues today for the best coach of all time. 1968 Jackson was appointed to the NBA All- Rookie Team. 1970 and 1973 won the Knicks the championship, with Jackson as a reserve player.
Coach
1980 Jackson ended his playing career. He tried his hand as a TV commentator and coach in various minor leagues. In 1987 he became an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls, and two years later he was head coach. Jackson was known for his offense textbook -like design of the Triangle that made his teams unpredictable. Jackson also succeeded better integrate Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to the team who were known for their big egos, and so won the 1991 Bulls their first championship in club history. In 1992 and 1993 they won again, then Michael Jordan came back and tore off the title series. After Jordan's comeback, the Bulls won three more championships in series (1996-1998), then Pippen and Dennis Rodman left the Bulls during Jordan and Jackson resigned.
In 1999, Jackson head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. There he had to do it again with players who were known for their big egos - Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. He managed to tackle the internal team problems and eventually he won the NBA Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002. During the following two years it was not enough for the title, and the Lakers parted from Jackson. After a year's break, Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers' bench and tried to earlier successes to tie. This worked in 2009, when he won his tenth league title and thus Red Auerbach left behind. A year later, the Lakers won the championship again.
Phil Jackson is the only coach NBA history who has won more than 70 percent of its games. He has a record of 1512:620. Although he was eleven and his teams champion, he won only once the award for coach of the year.
On 2 April 2007 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
After retiring from the NBA Playoffs 2010/2011 he was 8 May 2011 his resignation as basketball coach known this he had announced at the beginning of the season. His successor at the Lakers was Mike Brown.