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Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coaches of alltime, his titles and his winning % indicate that. However, one must know that he has always had the best player in the league while winning titles in MJ and Shaq and even now he has the player many consider the best in the league in Kobe.

My question is: Would Phil Jackson win titles if he was the coach of the Denver Nuggets or Detroit Pistons, teams that are good overall but don't have the best player in the league or even a top 5 player.

Let's say Phil coached the Nuggets in 2007 and this year, how would they have done?

Let's say Phil coached the Pistons from 2005-2008, how would they have done?

Nuggets? No way.

The Pistons? Yes. Billups is a perfect Triangle PG and all 5 of their starters can post/shoot/pass/cut. Even in 04, Ben Wallace would play the role of Rodman.

It's too difficult to say, if you replace the coach will they win the championship because there are so many other factors.

But I think I can say with confidence, if Jackson was coaching the Pistons, they would be significantly better than with Saunders.

Same thing with the nuggets, they would be better, but how much? will they play D? Share the ball?

The Pistons would have been awesome with Phil. They're an unselfish, smart team that could run the triangle, but they have motivation and insubordination issues that have flared up to doom them in the past 4 seasons. That wouldn't happen with Phil Jackson as head coach.

No, he would'nt even go there. Not without a top 2 player in the league to make himself look good.

the edge wrote:No, he would'nt even go there. Not without a top 2 player in the league to make himself look good.

It's a shame he didnt go to Cleveland.

^dont be surprised if he goes there once the lakers fall off and lebron is running things

Not gonna work with nuggets. They have to show up to practice to learn the triangle. And they're not going to learn any defense from him.

If piston would get sheed to play his post game then they would benefit enormously from the triangle, and Hamilton's off the ball game will be accentuated by it. They already have a good defensive coach so i don't think they would get hit on defense at all.

Where does this myth come from that Jackson doesn't coach defense? Gary freakin Payton past his prime?

Lakers play defense just fine. They aren't physical, but that's a personnel issue, not a coaching issue.

If the Nugs front office could orchestrate a Gasol-for-Kwame type trade or two, maybe.

But the way the team is currently constructed, I highly doubt it.

not with the pistons.

he would tell rasheed to get the hell off of the 3 point line and line up the majority of time in the box. but sheed being a sissy wouldnt do that.

not with the nuggets.

because everytime he holds up that triangle, to run the offense, AI would say "the hell with that, i'm goin one on one."

He would a win a title or two with the Pistons.

With the Nuggets, I don't know about a Championship, but he DEFINITELY would have gotten them out the first round.

no one could win a championship with ai as your top scoring option.

Yes with Nuggets. They have the talent, they just need the discipline. I could definitely see them working in the triangle, they just might need more shooters.

Maybe with Pistons. I've never seen Phil coach a team that doesn't possibly have the league's best player on it. He can manage egos...can he inspire NBA fourth-teamers?

But the Pistons do have egos - or at the very least, they do seem to suffer from entitlement issues which give rise to their up and down play some of the time. So from that perspective, I think Jackson could manage them fine.

Nuggets... NO not a chance!

Pistons... YES!

eatyourchildren wrote:Where does this myth come from that Jackson doesn't coach defense? Gary freakin Payton past his prime?

Lakers play defense just fine. They aren't physical, but that's a personnel issue, not a coaching issue.

Well Phil's number 1 thing is offense, and executing the triangle. I think Phils philosphy is, that if you can execute the triangle well, then your defense will be pretty good because you won't lead to easy buckets for the other team, and will get back on defense. Phil has always coached a type of full court pressure D, and I'm sure him and Clemons coach for certain strategies (like a roamer, etc)... Phil obviously can't completley not coach defense, but its def. not what he stresses at all.

EDIT: To the question of the thread:

No to the Nuggets.
Maybe the the Pistons. The Pistons would be contenders still no doubt, but don't know if they win. I'm barely leaning towards yes, because the Pistons are a good group for the triangle, but after their championship in 03-04 they very quickly went from the "we are underdogs that will put every ounce of heart into the game" to "we have been in every situation, no problem, eh, we can beat them, we are better than everyone". There switch in mentality, to me, is the main cluprit of them not making it to the finals the last few years, and it might be in their heads enough that Phil wouldn't be able to get it out.

I think a more appropriate question might be could Flip Saunders or George Karl get the Lakers past the Spurs.

I doubt it.

LAKESHOW wrote:not with the pistons.

he would tell rasheed to get the hell off of the 3 point line and line up the majority of time in the box. but sheed being a sissy wouldnt do that.

not with the nuggets.

because everytime he holds up that triangle, to run the offense, AI would say "the hell with that, i'm goin one on one."

LOL.

I can imagine Iverson....like WTF is he doin with that triangle? Is that his gang sign?

But Melo would fit nicely in the triangle, as would Camby. I mean Melo as an offensive piece in the low block. But that's about it.

It'd be scary to see Phil-AI, but who knows LB-AI worked out.

No coach can win a title with the Nuggets, but Phil Jackson would have won multiple titles with the Pistons by now. Their players have the perfect skill set to run the triangle offense. They are already a good defensive team but Phil Jackson's defensive schemes in the playoffs are highly underrated. He comes up with great game plans. I think just the fact that there is a name for his offense, we tend to give it a larger identity than his style of defense.