When Phil Jackson took over as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1990, the biggest challenge he faced, aside from leading the team to the promised land, was getting his superstar, Michael Jordan, to buy into the offensive system he would be implementing.
At that time, “Air Jordan” had already established himself as the NBA’s pre-eminent megastar. The 6’6″ wingman was already a fixture on the All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year in 1988. And while MJ was by no means obsessed with personal accolades and individual numbers more than winning, he was just set in his ways. He was used to dominating the ball and being the go-to guy on offense, and rightfully so.
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Phil had a strategy. He didn’t want the opposing team to focus solely on Jordan; he wanted them to worry about the entire lineup. To achieve this, he turned to the Triangle Offense, a system masterfully designed by the team’s assistant coach Tex Winter.
A systems coach
As the Bulls struggled to get past the Detroit Pistons, who defeated them 4-3 in the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, their decision-makers decided it was time to make a change and put someone else in charge of the team. That person was Phil, who was well-versed in working with a system. He had won a couple of titles with the New York Knicks as a role player who starred in his role.
“I was a guy that played in the system in New York. I had a couple championships there — was on championship teams that had great success for five years, six years actually. And the idea that we needed to have something more than, you know, individual plays — Michael Jordan scoring 37, 38, 40 points a game — was, I think, really the big trial,” the “Zen Master” shared.
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“Because we’d been beaten by Detroit three years in a row. Initially, right off the bat, then we challenged them into a series that we played a seven-game series with them. And then we finally overcame the Pistons. And it was through using a system and the automatics that created the system that allowed for other people to be featured in an offense,” the 6’10” big man added.
A tough conversation with MJ
For the Triangle Offense to work, every player on the floor had to work in unison. That included Jordan, which meant Jackson had to talk with him to understand what needed to be done. In typical Phil fashion, the native of Montana was frank and blunt with Mike.
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“So, in the process, bringing Michael Jordan in and telling Michael Jordan that, ‘Hey, we’re going to run a system. You’re not going to be a scoring champion — maybe,'” Phil told “His Airness.”
Much to Jackson’s surprise, Jordan said it wouldn’t be a problem — he said he could still win the scoring title by just scoring 31 or 32 points. Phil explained that the offense would operate as an equal-opportunity system, ensuring everyone on the court had a chance to take shots at the basket. MJ then asked “The Zen Master” a question that left him laughing.
“‘So what happens when the 24-second clock runs down and Bill Cartwright has the ball in his hands?'” Phil shared Mike’s query with him, to which he answered, “That’s what coaches do. They teach players how to get the ball to a guy that can create his own shot. You’ll get the ball. You’ll find out.”
“The last thing he said to me was like, ‘You know I can get eight points a quarter.’ I said, you really — you don’t need to do that. You don’t need to make that a goal. But just make sure you get that 10 or 12 points in the fourth quarter. That’s the one that counts,” he added.
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Phil’s first season with the Bulls was, by his words, filled with “trial and error” moments. There were times when MJ played ball and shared the rock with his teammates, but there were also times when he took over and dominated the game. It was a learning process for both Phil and Michael to find the balance between individual greatness and team success.
Ultimately, their hard work paid off in 1991 as they went on to win the first of six NBA championships together. Phil and MJ’s relationship wasn’t perfect but as their memorable conversation showed, it was rooted in mutual respect and understanding. They both had the same ultimate goal: to win.