Let me start this by congratulating Phil Jackson on his recent finals win and say that I wish him the best should he decide to retire or keep coaching beyond this year. However, there is article after article out there extolling Jackson's greatness and crowning him as the greatest NBA coach since, well since ever. That includes Red Auerbach.

I have to call BS on this. It's not going to be a popular argument to make, but someone has to tell the honest to goodness truth out here in the ether.  Phil Jackson has been a very lucky and good coach, however he is not the greatest coach of all time. He may not even crack the top 5 in all circumstances.

Yes, Phil is so unorthodox that people in basketball can't figure him out. More has been made about his Zen philosophy than his ability to get his players to play better than the other team. Make no mistake, he gets his players to play somehow with that 'Zen" philosophy. But no one has ever stepped back and looked at just how Zen you can be as a coach when you have the situations Phil has been blessed with.

He had Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant for every one of his titles. For all but one of those titles he had either Shaq or Jordan. An argument can be made that Bryant is not as great when you break it down like this. He has a total of one ring without Shaq the same as Phil. Exactly how much coaching do you have to do with Michael Jordan or Shaq leading your team?

I am not saying that Phil Jackson had nothing to do with those titles, but Jordan likely would have won a few titles no matter who was on the bench in Chicago, someone had to keep Jordan happy. Likewise, someone had to keep Bryant and Shaq off each other's backs (and their wives) long enough for a third three-peat in Los Angeles, although they also would have won a few titles no matter who was coaching.

The legend, Red Auerbach helped change the way basketball is played - and paved the way for new people to play it - with the Celtics, while all Jackson did was adopt someone else's triangle offense and get lucky with some of the greatest players to ever play the game. That is an oversimplification, but no more so than to crown Phil Jackson as the greatest coach of all time.