When we explore Jackson’s playoff history in its entirety we see a much more balanced and well-rounded set of numbers. Jackson has reached the playoffs in every season he has coached, but to be fair so did Auerbach. Unlike Auerbach, however, only three times did Jackson ever dip below .500 in the postseason. Jackson’s teams tended to get deeper into the playoffs than Auerbach’s Celtics, even in the seasons when Jackson did not go home with the title. Auerbach’s Celtics, before the remarkable championship streak, never reached the finals until a year after Bill Russell arrived in 1956. Jackson has only lost in the first round of the playoffs twice, both with the Lakers on what are almost unanimously considered the weakest teams he ever cocahed. In both those seasons Jackson’s Lakers were defeated by a vastly superior Phoenix Suns team that was favored by many to take home the NBA title, even though they failed to achieve that feat both seasons.
Now, while all of this information so far is still not enough evidence to convince somebody either way, there is another piece of evidence that I find the most compelling. Now, when Auerbach’s dynasty was marching through the NBA in the 60′s his team was, in large part, the same year in and year out. Of course minor characters came and went, but the core nucleus of the team was held in tact until Auerbach’s retirement in 1966. While his accomplishments are legendary and remarkable, all of his gold was earned by the same group of players.
Jackson, on the other hand, has lead three completely different teams to NBA glory. His six titles with Chicago were centered around Jordan and Pippen, his first three in Los Angeles belonged to Kobe and Shaq, and his tenth ring was earned by a well balanced Lakers team with Bryant as the foundation. Three different times Jackson has stepped into a situation where a team was struggling to cement their identity as a championship team, and three different times Jackson has led that team to basketball immortality. No other coach in the history of sports, not just basketball, has taken so many different groups of men and turned them into legends. This is reason enough to cast aside the argument that Jackson only wins when he has talent, because the truth is that the talent only wins when they have Jackson.
The overall numbers and figures are not enough now to make a clear statement of who is the better coach. Arguments can be made successfully for both Jackson and Auerbach, and there is no doubt that on the Mount Rushmore of NBA coaches these two are the main attractions. However, it still seems almost foolish to not give Jackson the nod in this particular case. This by no way is meant to diminish the accomplishments that Red Auerbach achieved over his illustrious career, but the case for Jackson just seems too strong. The extenuating factors all seem to favor Jackson, and he still has one piece of evidence that is set in stone and cannot be argued. This, my friends, is that ten is always going to be greater than nine.
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