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[QUOTE="sufandu, post: 2172783, member: 874"]
I think his greatness is overstated. Phil also didn't win until Pippin's game matured, he toughened up, and a couple other pieces were added to the team. He got as far in the playoffs his first year as Collins got the previous year, and he was already familiar with the team when he took over since Phil was an assistant under Collins.  During the 94-95 season the Bulls were 34-31 without Jordan and 13-4 with him. Why wasn't he working his magic then? He got to the Lakers just as Kobe was becoming Kobe and Shaq was the most dominant center in the league since Wilt. During the threepeat you could argue they were the two best players in the league. He wasn't the first to corral Rodman, Chuck Daly did it first, and Phil did it by mostly letting Rodman do his thing while Jordan demanded his respect. He wasn't even the one that instituted the triangle offense that is credited with forcing all those guys to play as a team. Tex Winter was.

He was great at managing egos. That was his gift. His second gift was putting himself in position to coach 3 of the top 10-20 players of all time in their prime. Just because a couple coaches didn't win with Jordan, Kobe, or Shaq, doesn't mean a bunch others wouldn't have.
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