Yeah but Phil always had great defensive players. Shaq, Gasol, Bryant, Artest, Bynum, Odom, MJ, Pippen, Rodman, etc etc. MDA had Nash who's always been a horrid on D' & Amare who plays a soft by nature. MDA never had great defenders to work with. Shaq was used up after ORL, LA & MIA when MDA was asked to start an aging C' after losing his best defender in the Matrix. That trade killed PHX.
Not saying Phil isn't a great coach because he's amazing; but I'm sure he's also been a reflection of his players. It goes both ways.
It's impossible to judge MDA's D' ability with NY; when he's started well over 20 different starters in less than 3 years; Most of any NBA coach. I cant agree with him "not playing" guys just for the fun of it either. Marbury, Duhon, Nate, Felton, Billups, TD, Crawford, T.Mac, Fields, Gallo, Chandler, Melo, Walker, Sh.Williams, Z.Bo, Darko, Curry, Lee, Amare, Mozgov, Turiaf, JJ...
Never had a chance to build our D. Cap Hell forced MDA to scrap & turn over enitre team(s) & roster(s). JMHO
Phil Jackson was the Knicks defensive 6th-man off the bench.....Shaq never played any defense untill coached by Phil Jackson.
Phil Jackson inhereted 4 ALL-Stars when he took the job for the Lakers, and Phil traded two of the All-Stars (Van Exell & Eddie) in his first month on the Lakers Job. Phil Jax had 3-primary role-players that kept Super-Star Kobe & Shaq in order to their scoring-role in the "Tri-Angle" system.....Phil Jax Pet-Players that called all the shots were Harper, starting SF-???, and Horry to win 3-Championship Rings.
Never never never put Damnphony in the same sentence with HOF Headcoach Phil Jackson. Example:
Bill Cartwright was a career 20-10 NBA player since his rookie season with the Knicks (while Bernard King was scoring 50 points on teams, u can still depend on Bill Cartwright to shoot 59% for a 20-10 stat in those games.). Coach Phil Jax seen other talents in Bill Cartwright performance he needed to put with Jordan/Pippin/Grant to be top contenders. So Jax had 14 rebounds per game Oakley traded to the Knicks for Bill Cartwright (Last piece for the Dynasty) to win the next 3 consecutive Rings.
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: