Insider: Walton~ Great Coaching Isn't Missed Till

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Great coaching isn't missed until it's gone

By Bill Walton

ESPN Insider

Phil Jackson seems to be getting more popular with each pass of the sun across the heavens even though his heavily favored teams lost the last two championships to teams with decidedly less talent. Maybe he's following Elvis' career path where the longer he's gone from the scene, the better, more popular and richer, he becomes.

This scenario is the result of his unique skill and talent, a commodity that is sadly becoming a lost art. The talent is the ability to teach and develop a product. I'm always amazed at the short-shrift great coaches get when they're actually producing. It's usually after they're gone that people seem to miss them the most. How many NBA championships did Jordan, Pippen, Shaq and Kobe win without Phil?

Zero.

If he returns, Phil Jackson will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Granted, the majority of them were All-Stars before playing for him, but it was not until Phil became their coach that they achieved legendary, historical-level status.

For Phil personally, the best next-stops on his Hall of Fame crusade to make this game better are the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers. His next best basketball destination is to land next season in Houston because that's the team with the foundation that would suit what Phil does as well as anyone who has ever coached any sport, at any level, at any time in history. Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are in desperate need of moving beyond the malaise that has found them stagnating in the dreaded middle of pack, which is a place you can't escape. These two potential superstars have to find a way to move from the commercial and financial success that they have already achieved to the ultimate basketball success, championships and history. This does not just happen by chance for guys like Yao and McGrady. Think back through the history of the game's greatest players. Somewhere along the way, every one of them have all been touched by the game's greatest coaches and that's not a coincidence.

Yao Ming is still an untapped resource in this his third NBA season. But at this point many hard questions are starting to glaringly stare him in the face as he tries to move toward his golden destiny. One factor has been the lack of stability for Yao Ming as the Rockets once again gave the franchise another makeover. From the end of last season through this New Year, Yao Ming has had 13 new teammates and new ones seem to keep dropping in at any and all times of the day and night.

Just like when Phil Jackson was let go by the Lakers, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy's accomplishments and talents seemed to explode after he quit on the Knicks. When he came to Houston a year and a half ago, he brought to town a philosophy, style and mentality that had limited shelf life from his days as the Knicks coach. Van Gundy inherited a disastrous situation in Houston and tried to resurrect it with a notion that embraces the concept that the answer to everything is to just try harder. That works to some extent and when the Rockets try hard, they do win some of the time. But to be the best, to compete for and win big, day after day, year after year, with the more-than capable talents and abilities of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, they need that next step.

What Jackson does so well is to provide the necessary and proper mental training. That's what separates the best of the best -- John Wooden, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson, Red Auerbach, Red Holzman, Jack Ramsay, Bill Sharman, Alex Hannum, Tex Winter, Pat Riley among many others from the pretenders. They all know how to teach the greatest of players and are proven in their ability to deliver The Promised Land.

That preparation is something that is a daily transfer and subsequent assimilation of the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be the best at what you do. It also entails the ease with which the teacher allows the pupil to perform -- not being afraid, or always looking over one's shoulder for guidance and direction that come during show time really rests with the creative artists' themselves. The best of the best of these teachers know all too well that the bulk of their work is done well before the ball is tossed up at the center jump.

Coaching is about making people better at what they do. The art of teaching is no different from any other professional leadership role -- some are better at it than others. Almost every player that Phil Jackson has worked with improved dramatically and almost instantly on and off the court. When analyzing the job performed by a coach, always ask yourself whether the player was better off once the relationship comes to an end.

The importance of coaching was imparted on me from the Master Teacher, the legendary John Wooden. Figuring out what is the most important part of the game is similar to identifying the most important part of a car. Obviously, the wheels, the steering column, the engine, the doors, the brakes, the windows would all seem to be critically important and irreplaceable parts, but more important is the decision making of the driver.

The driver in the NBA is the head coach. The mad scramble for Phil Jackson has already reached a level where the physicists might have to come up with a new definition of hyperkinetic explosiveness. Jackson will ride this wave all the way to the bank.

More than just a camper

In my previous column, I mentioned Rockets GM Pete Newell. But Newell's career encompassed far more than being a GM or even the Big Man Camp that he's famous for.

Pete Newell's big man camp is the premier destination for the NBA's big men.

Newell was the legendary, longtime coach at Cal-Berkeley. Pete was so good at what he did that he had UCLA's and John Wooden's number as he regularly pounded the Bruins like a drum. Newell led Cal to the NCAA championship game in back-to-back years (1959 and 1960) and won the '59 title. In both years, the Berkeley Bears beat Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Bearcats in the NCAA semifinal game.

In 1960, Newell was the Olympic coach of a team that featured Robertson, Jerry West, Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek. It is easily one of the greatest teams of all-time and a Dream Team well ahead of its time.

After that, Newell left the college ranks for the NBA and also worked with USA Basketball as a consultant. Newell began his Big Man Camp in the 1970s, which featured Kermit Washington as his initial clinician and poster child. Newell, 89, is not only one of the great masterminds of the game, but a true gentleman as well. He's a Hall of Famer (1979), not just in basketball, but in life. He also perfectly sums up the state of coaching in today's game when he profoundly points out the "modern" game is often over-coached and under-taught.

Notes from around the league

Has anyone else noticed that Stevie Francis doesn't seem to miss the old Rockets offense now that he's in Orlando. Steve-O is tearing up the league right now, hitting game-winner after game-winner and most recently taking apart Gilbert Arenas in back-to-back games.

Francis (background) doesn't seem to miss Houston.

Is there a more underrated or underappreciated player in the NBA this season than Gilbert Arenas?

Speaking of the Washington Wizards, they, along with the Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic, represent the new breed and style of the NBA that everyone is in love with, including me. Perhaps most impressive about Washington is the fact they're playing good defense. Who would have ever associated good defense with the Washington Wizards? Eddie Jordan can definitely coach!!!!

How the mighty have fallen in Indiana where the Pacers have myriad problems beginning with a lack of small forward depth to replace Ron Artest. They also have the instability of guys like Stephen Jackson, and all this while Jermaine O'Neal is still sorting out his priorities trying to find a compatible balance between his own personal agenda and the goals of the team.

The Suns are for real!!!! While naysayers are waiting for the collapse, it's probably better to check out how they respond after losing an occasional game. The mark of all great teams is their ability to bounce back. Phoenix bounces back better and better each time, just ask the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The continuing debacle in Minnesota is the ultimate test for ownership and management. Sadly, Minnesota, a team that boasted the second best overall record a year ago and was widely hailed as the next great team, is showing no signs whatsoever of being able to turn this mess around. NBA fans often complain that one of the problems that the league faces is that the players run over and stomp on good, quality people.

We lived through this once again earlier this season with departed coaches Hubie Brown (from the Grizzlies) and Jeff Bzdelik (Nuggets). Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale, over the years, has had to be begged to take and stay in his job. Many people have casually assumed that coach Flip Saunders was on the heels of Hubie and Bzdelik as the next on his way out the door. The Timberwolves are a nightmare right now. Check out how some of their players start the games very well, then disappear when it comes time to finish the job. Far too many of them have already quit on themselves in the hope that someone else will take the fall. The Feb. 24 trading deadline can't come fast enough for this franchise in peril, which begs the larger question, who would take some of these guys and why?

The importance of hard work, self-discipline and the ability to reach your potential may never be more apparent to Carmelo Anthony than on All-Star Sunday when he watches from courtside his one-time-peers LeBron and Dwyane run for the Eastern Conference.

Bill Walton, an NBA analyst for ESPN, is a regular contributor to Insider.