I am quicker to discount Riley...he seemed to have an allstar at every position. Phil Jackson is the best guy at managing egos, so he deserves credit.

wes_mantooth;428109 wrote:I am quicker to discount Riley...he seemed to have an allstar at every position. Phil Jackson is the best guy at managing egos, so he deserves credit.

When you say, "discount", what does that mean? For example, who would you put higher on the list of great coaches that didn't win as many titles?

Phil Jackson is a great manager of egos. That can't be discounted. How do you rank that vs. guys who are better at the X's and O's? Hard to say. Each has more or less value depending on the team. Phil has had the good fortune of having the GOAT and arguably another top-5 all-time player in Kobe, with strong supporting casts. He took over a CHI team ready to win now, and that success enabled him to write his ticket to go with Shaq & Kobe in LA.

I think he's one of the most overrated "coaches" in sports, but as mentioned you have to give credit where due. I don't know if there's another coach who'd have 11 titles with the teams he's had, but I'm sure there are plenty of championship teams he wouldn't have gotten a ring with. And, just like players with similarly great stats, I think the # of rings is a fair tie-breaker.