Forget Red: Jackson Is NBA's Greatest

With his 10th NBA championship win yesterday, Phil Jackson has shattered the record of Red Auerbach, a man who “loathed” Jackson and believed his nine championships as coach could never be surpassed, writes Adrian Wojnarowski on Yahoo. “Roll over Red. Phil Jackson is the greatest coach ever,” Wojnarowski asserts. Jackson knows that winning isn’t about having a Kobe or a Shaq—it’s about “humanity.”

"There are few coaches alive who could’ve commanded the respect of those players for all those years." Auerbach won his championships in a different age. “These times are far more demanding on a coach, far more difficult to dominate,” yet Jackson "didn’t live in fear of a coup, or players leaving as free agents. His icons respected him for it, and ultimately, it elevated their talent." The question now is whether Jackson will stick with coaching for another season, or if, like Auerbach, he'll “leave titles on the table and walk away.”