Phil Jackson has seen it all.
The 13-time NBA champion has played and coached against the greatest players of all-time, so when he speaks it’s important to listen.
Jackson won two rings as a member of the New York Knicks, in 1970 and 1973, defeating Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers both times.
He then won six rings as head coach of the Chicago Bulls, helping Michael Jordan become Michael Jordan.
After his stint in Chicago, he returned to the sideline in Los Angeles where he won three more rings powered by the star-duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Years later, he won his last two rings with Bryant. In other words, all Jackson did was win.
During an interview back in 2012 with John Salley, Jackson was asked to rank Chamberlain and O’Neal. Two Lakers legends, whom Jackson both had the pleasure of facing and coaching.
If anyone knew the ins and outs of the massive Hall of Fame centers, it was Jackson.
“I played six years against Wilt Chamberlain, and he was a guy that was slow to anger, a tremendous athlete,” Jackson recalled.
“He played under his limitations a lot. I had to play center one year, and one of the things you were taught was—just get into Wilt’s path; he doesn’t like offensive fouls.
“If you fake an offensive foul or take charge to speak, he really stops becoming aggressive. That was one thing that was a limitation in Wilt’s game.”
While many rank Chamberlain among the top 10 greatest players ever, Jackson noted that while extremely talented, he wasn’t the perfect player.
“He had the fallback turn-around shot; he had the dipper, finger-roll; he led the league in assists one year,” Jackson added.
He then gave a harmless shot towards O’Neil’s way, specifically noting that his center wasn’t always in the best shape at times.
“Shaquille didn’t have quite the same athleticism that Wilt had; he had the bounce, and he had the speed, but he didn’t have the endurance,” Jackson said.
O’Neal’s work ethic and his ability to stay in shape were part of the reason he and Bryant butted heads, which eventually led to O’Neal being traded out of Los Angeles to the Miami Heat.
However, few were as dominant as O’Neal was when he stepped on the court, regardless if he was in peak shape or not. Jackson did liken the two by noting they were both bad at free throws.
“Shaq had a jump hook, whereas Wilt didn’t have a jump hook. Free-throw shooting, I think that free-throw shooting was a big weakness on both sides,” Jackson said.
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It wasn’t just centers that Jackson knew. He also coached two of the greatest shooting guards of all-time, in Jordan and Bryant.
They often get compared with one another for a handful of reasons, their competitiveness, their mentality, their styles of play, but Jackson talked about one key difference between his two former stars.
In his memoir, “Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success,” Jackson said: “One of the biggest differences between the two stars from my perspective was Michael’s superior skills as a leader.
“Though at times he could be hard on his teammates, Michael was masterful at controlling the emotional climate of the team with the power of his presence.
“Kobe had a long way to go before he could make that claim. He talked a good game, but he’d yet to experience the cold truth of leadership in his bones, as Michael had in his bones.”
By the time Jackson arrived in Chicago, Jordan had been through the fire a bit. He was older and mature than Bryant was when Jackson was with him in Los Angeles.
Comparing all-time greats such as Chamberlain and O’Neal, or Jordan and Bryant, is mostly just for fun, but if anyone has a claim to definitively rank such players, it’s Jackson.