This personality is well-known in the world of sports. Phil Jackson was able to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2000 NBA title in his first season as their coach. It is worth learning more about his career as a player, coach and executive director. More about him tells i-los-angeles.
The childhood of the future coach
He was born in Deer Lodge, a town in Powell County, Montana. He grew up in the Christian tradition because his parents were ministers in the General Council of the Assemblies of God (informally known as Assemblies of God, AG), founded in 1914. Phil Jackson’s mother came from a group of Anabaptist Christian communities known as Mennonites. The young man’s parents preached in the churches on Sundays.
Phil Jackson had two more brothers and a half-sister. All of them grew up in a remote town in the state of Montana under strict rules. They related to the prohibition of dancing and television. Thus, Phil Jackson saw his first movie in high school and got into dance later.
He attended high school in Williston, a city in Williams County, North Dakota. There he played basketball and managed to lead the team to the state title. In addition, his sports interests included:
- football
- he was the pitcher and threw the ball from the mound toward the catcher, starting the game
- threw the discus in athletics competitions.
This high school named a sports complex after him.
Interest of basketball scouts
Phil was noticed by basketball scouts who noted his successes. These notes found their way to Bill Fitch, an American basketball coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The latter became the head coach at the university in 1962. Phil was in high school at the time.
The young man became a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, part of the men’s basketball team that finished third and fourth in the NCAA Division II tournament (1965, 1966).
Phil Jackson’s career can be divided into two periods, each of which has become iconic and deserves attention.
- New York Knicks (1967–1978). He was a really good but limited athlete. He compensated for this with intelligence and hard work in defense. The fans adored him. He became the main substitute of the NBA, the reserve of the team. Unfortunately, he did not play during the championship season due to health problems.
- New Jersey Nets (1978–1980). Phil played two seasons as part of this team, after which he ended his career.
In 1969-1970, our hero underwent spinal spondylodesis (an operation to fuse two or more vertebrae). He wrote the book Take It All! about this experience. It was a photo diary of the incredible but shameful championship in 1970.
How did Jackson become a coach?
Immediately after his career, Phil coached teams in the professional leagues, namely:
- The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) where he won his first coaching championship. In 1984, the Albany Patroons won their first title, with our hero winning the 1985 CBA Coach of the Year
- The Puerto Rico National Basketball Team (BSN). He coached Piratas de Quebradillas in 1984 and 1987 and Gallitos de Isabela from 1984-1986.
Our hero repeatedly sought a job in the NBA but was rejected.
In 1987, he became an assistant coach of the Chicago Bulls (1987–1998). After Doug Collins was fired, Phil was appointed the head coach. He was known as a proponent of the triangle offense strategy. In 1998, he left the team, announcing that he would never do this again.
The Los Angeles Lakers
After a year, he broke his own promise by becoming the coach of the well-known Los Angeles team in 1999. To do this, he moved to the city and coached a talented team from 1999 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2011.
Immediately after his appointment, the Lakers team showed the best result in the NBA. For the first time in the 1999-2000 season, the team won the championship (the last time they won was in 1988). After that, they only confirmed their dominant position in the NBA.
Jackson is considered one of the team’s best coaches and he is still loved for the results the team achieved, namely: five championship titles and the title of the first NBA team of the 2000s.
It is worth noting that the team is one of the most successful in the NBA, having 17 championship titles.
Characteristics of the coach
Certain qualities of Phil DJackson helped him in his career. It was:
- self-organization
- concentration
- confidence
- firmness but not harshness. He did not intimidate his players but allowed them to learn to succeed by themselves.
With the help of assistants such as Tex Winter, Phil was able to develop complex offensive as well as defensive strategies. Another interesting feature of Jackson as a coach was his understanding of the value of each player as part of a whole mechanism. At the same time, he knew that excessive dependence on any player could lead to the disintegration of the team.
Management position
It was an important milestone in Phil Jackson’s career. In 2014, he discussed taking an executive position with the New York Knicks. In the same year, he was presented as the president, signing a contract for 5 years for $60 million.
In 2017, New York Knicks and Phil Jackson parted ways. There are several assumptions as to why this happened.
- Public dispute with Latvian professional basketball player Kristaps Porziņģis.
- An attempt to buy out former American professional basketball player Carmelo Kiam Anthony.
Phil was replaced by his former subordinate, Steve Mills.
Private life
In 1967, Jackson married for the first time. The marriage lasted 5 years. He married a second time in 1974. The couple parted in 2000.
Then, the coach dated the daughter of the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jeanie Buss. They met in 1999 when the man was still married. In 2013, they got engaged but three years later announced the end of the engagement. They added that they have respect and love for each other but the nature of their professional duties and geographical distance caused the breakup of the relationship. Over the many years they spent together, there were many fond memories and wonderful moments but they decided to go their separate ways.
Phil has five children and eight grandchildren.
In March 2011, at the age of 65, the man was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He informed the players of his team about this, deciding to postpone the operation.
The Last Dance
It is a 2020 American sports television documentary miniseries co-produced by ESPN Films and Netflix. This series follows the careers of Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson.
It should be added that Jackson no longer watches the NBA. He shared this information in April 2023 because sports had become too political in his opinion.