It was a great moment in Lakers’ history. The Logo, a true Laker Legend, had a real heartfelt moment congratulating the now grown up teen he had traded for a dozen years earlier on a magnificent Western Conference title. Jerry West even beamed with pride as he spoke about the great team his protege, the previously much maligned Mitch Kupchak, had put together. He spoke of the philandering Jerry Buss, who employed him for so many years and what a great organization The Lakers have been.
One name he did not mention, though, was that of Phil Jackson. Coincidence? I think not.
West and Jackson have long rumored to not enjoy each other’s company, which was possibly sparked by Jackson. And in this media build-up to the classic Lakers/Celtics match-up, I haven’t heard many, including Mr. Clutch, give Mr. Jackson his proper respect. And he deserves some.
I was never a big fan of Phil Jackson. I was on the side that argued he’s coached some of the greatest talents of all-time. I contended that giving Kwame Brown some self-discovery philosophical literature does nothing for the team. And neither does splicing Braveheart footage with that of Smush Parker 3-Pointers. I claimed that Jackson was a horrible in-game coach. He often just sat there, never calling a time-out, letting his team “figure it out” on their own. Hey Buddy, that’s why you’re getting paid $12 mil. Figure it out for them, Jack.
But then something weird happened. Phil Jackson developed a solid rotation. His bench actually had a nickname. They actually knew when they were going in and he stayed true to that. There was no jerking around with Jordan Farmar’s minutes (like he did last year), there was no teasing Sasha Vujacic with 25 minute games and then 3 DNP-CD’s. He finally, after 3 years, got into Sasha’s head that he had to play defense- and it was pretty good defense, too. He used his energy guy, Ronny Turiaf, every game, not just sporadically.
He even dealt with injuries. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol missed a large amount of games, but Jackson dealt with it and truly developed this solid bench. Only Kobe, Farmar, and Derek Fisher played in all 82 games this year.
Now, this might not seem too amazing- but look at some of the other teams in these playoffs, including NBA Finals foe, the Boston Celtics. The Head Coaches have not developed a solid rotation yet, and this is well beyond 82 games.
We’ll get to Boston in a second, but first let’s examine the Lakers’ Western Conference Finals opponent, the still, in my opinion, yearly championship contending San Antonio Spurs. Gregg Popovich messed with Kurt Thomas’ minutes in the Lakers’ series, realizing too late that Robert Horry doesn’t have any magic left and not even playing him in the deciding game. Same goes with Jacque Vaughn, whose minutes were replaced by Brent Barry at the back-up PG. And same goes with Ime Udoka. Kobe burned him left and right every time he entered the game and Popovich never gave him the solid minutes that could give him confidence. Or leave him on the end of the bench. Either way. Just be consistent.
And Popovich’s opponent in the Quarter-Finals fared no better- and he won Coach of the Year. Byron Scott replaced Hilton Armstrong at the back-up C position with Melvin Ely half-way through the Spurs’ series. He messed with rookie Julian Wright’s minutes, too, never allowing him to get into a flow.
It seems like this kind of thing shouldn’t matter. These guys are getting paid millions of dollars, they should be able to deal with it. But they just can’t. Imagine a salesman not knowing when his next customer is coming and only having small, sporadic chances at making a sale. He’s not going to do as well as the guy that knows when his time is coming.
But the worst of all, and possibly the worst coach of all, is the Boston Celtics’ Doc Rivers. He only has given one bench player solid minutes and that’s the new Kobe-stopper, James Posey. At least that’s a plus. But everyone else has been getting messed around with- never being able to find a solid rotation, even by the NBA Finals. I can never remember a more inconsistent bench, or a more inconsistent minutes played bench, in Finals History. If Doc Rivers wants anything out of his bench other than James Posey, the Celtics are in trouble. Take a look of the minutes played of some of the other members of Boston’s bench:
- Leon Powe was averaging 17.7 minutes a game in the First Round against the Hawks and 18.7 minutes in the first three games against the Cavs in the Second Round. Then, suddenly, in the next ten games, he averaged only 3.6 minutes per game, including not playing in 3 of those playoff games. And he wasn’t even playing bad. No one can tell what Doc was thinking.
- Glen Davis has only played in 4 of the last 8 games. Meanwhile, P.J. Brown, who barely played in the Atlanta series, averaged 16.8 minutes in the Detroit Series.
- But the worst thing Doc has done is given the most inconsistent minutes to possibly the most important bench position: the back-up to the extremely young and devastatingly inexperienced Point Guard. Eddie House played 19 minutes a game in that slot during the regular season- the regular season where the Celtics had an .805 winning percentage. During the playoffs he’s played 5.6 minutes a game and had 3 DNP-CD’s and the Celtics have a .600 winning percentage. That’s a wide gap. A wide gap, in part, caused by House’s replacement, immobile veteran Sam Cassell. He even had 4 games, the last two Cavs’ games and the first two Pistons’ games, where he didn’t even step onto the court without his sweats. And his last three games go like this: 17 minutes, 2 minutes, 12 minutes. Doc, if you wanted to give Jordan Farmar any more confidence, which seemed impossible to such a cocky kid, you’ve succeeded.
Now this series may play out that Powe and/or House step up in Game 1 and play consistent minutes throughout the series and this whole argument could all be for naught- but I’m throwing my hat in the ring that says it does make a difference and the Lakers celebrate down Figueroa because of it. Because of Phil Jackson.
