Ranking the Best Players Phil Jackson Has Ever Coached
By Tyler Kemp
Phil Jackson still holds the all-time record for most championships won by a head coach. With 11 rings combined in Chicago and LA, the Zen Master is atop the basketball coaching pantheon. While he's been lucky enough to coach some of the greatest basketball players history has ever seen, he's also tremendous at managing personalities and bringing a team together.
Combining his Bulls and Lakers career, here are the seven best players Jackson's ever coached.
7. Dennis Rodman
One of the original Bad Boys from the championship Pistons, Rodman brought the same attitude and energy to his time with Jackson and the Bulls. In his career, Rodman won five championships, led the league in rebounds seven years in a row, won two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and was an eight-time selection to the All-Defensive team.
6. Gary Payton
GP is not the first name you think of as a great player coached by Phil, but his Hall of Fame resume speaks for itself. Before playing for Jackson’s Lakers during the back end of his career, The Glove was a Defensive Player of the Year, nine-time All-NBA selection, nine-time All-Star, and nine-time First Team All-Defense selection. Payton also won two Olympic gold medals and an NBA championship on the 2005-06 Miami Heat.
5. Karl Malone
An older Malone also played alongside Payton on the 2003-04 Lakers. The Mailman does not have championships like every other player on this list, but his individual resume speaks volumes. Along with being a two-time MVP, 14-time All-Star, 14-time All-NBA selection, four-time All-Defense selection, and Dream Team gold medalist in ’92, Malone ranks second all-time in total points scored in league history. He's also on the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list.
4. Scottie Pippen
Some call him the greatest No. 2 of all time, but that does not say enough about how great Scottie Pippen truly was? Six championships in Chicago with Phil, seven All-Star appearances, seven All-NBA selections, and 10 All-Defensive team selections are what made Pippen truly special. He was a Dream Team member and won gold again in 1996. Another one of the league's 50 Greatest Players, Pippen’s prime years came with Jackson as his coach.
3. Shaquille O'Neal
After only four years in the league, Shaq already made the list of the 50 Greatest Players in the league history. He's got four rings (three with Jackson in LA), a Rookie of the Year, three NBA Finals MVPs, 15 All-Star Game appearances, 14 All-NBA teams, three All-Defensive teams, two scoring titles, and Olympic gold in ’96, O’Neal is in the conversation for greatest center of all time.
2. Kobe Bryant
The late, great Kobe Bryant will always be attached to having Jackson as his head coach. The duo won five championships together and Bryant also won two Finals MVPs in 2009 and 2010. A league MVP in 2008, 18 All-Star selections, 15 All-NBA teams, 12 All-Defense, two Olympic gold medals, and two scoring titles also on his resume makes Bryant arguably the second-best shooting guard ever behind No. 1 on this list.
1. Michael Jordan
The GOAT himself. Six championships with Jackson and Pippen, six Finals MVPs, 5 league MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, 14 All-Star games, 11 All-NBA selections, and nine First-Team All-Defense selections, Jordan did and won everything imaginable. Also on the league’s 50 Greatest Players list, MJ was a two-time Olympic gold medalist in 1984 and with the Dream Team in 1992. With Phil Jackson retired, Jordan is forever the Zen Master GOAT.