“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is arguably the best athlete of all times, his dedication, his talent and determination are unmatched, it is those traits that led him to six championships between 1991 and 1998, while making the Chicago Bulls a true dynasty in the NBA. Yet when tempted with a one year $25 million contract from the New York Knicks, Michael Jordan stated “my coach is everything”

Indeed, Phil Jackson is the coach with more championships in the NBA; at 11 wins he is two ahead of Red Auerbach. Phil Jackson spent 20 years in the NBA won 1640 games, 11 championships, 13 conference finals and had a 0.688% winning percentage; yet, he has only been named coach of the year once, that is correct only one time he has been recognized as the best coach in the NBA, how can this be? Because great coaches don’t make the game about themselves, is all about the players. Here are some of Phil Jackson’s core values for the game:

Fortes parat Victoria, or victory favors the prepared translated from Latin. Phil Jackson’s success is based on preparation, Jackson will spend any amount of time needed to prepared for the task at hand; regardless if is the opening game of the season or game seven on the championship series, the coach believes in being ready for the task at hand is the key to victory.

Execute. A plan without execution is a nice dream, you can prepare all you want until you are blue in the face, but if you don’t go an execute then all your preparation is meaningless, no one understood that better than Phil Jackson, which is why he preached execution at the center of his training.

Poise, Phil Jackson is a true believer of having the right poise in the game. As a matter of fact, the coach was reluctant to call time outs because he was afraid to alter his team’s balance.

Success, how you defeat speaks more about you than anything else, yet handling success is just as important, and Phil Jackson was generally courteous regardless of winning or losing.

Many critics claim Phil Jackson is not the greatest coach, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time when Michael Jordan peaked, and that he was lucky to have Kobe and Shaquille when he coached the Lakers, that without these players he would have been just an average coach, that the real heroes are the players in court.

While those are valid arguments, is important to remember that even Michael Jordan never won a championship until Phil Jackson coached him, the Lakers were struggling in the West, even with Shaq and Kobe, until Phil coached them

The bottom line is that a great coach is also a great leader, and Phil Jackson has found a way to lead different teams with different players to obtain the maximum trophy in the NBA. So yes, a coach can make all the difference.