If the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship this year, their fans will have two people to thank: Phil Jackson and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Jackson, the head coach of the Lakers, has always had an appealingly philosophical approach toward coaching, one that can coax five NBA-size egos into performing like a marching band at full sprint. "All of us had flashes of this sense of oneness--making love, creating a work of art," he says in his autobiography, Sacred Hoops, "when we're completely immersed in the moment, inseparable from what we're doing. This kind of experience happens all the time on the basketball floor."
Well, not in L.A. last year, where the Lakers went through two coaches on the way to being swept out of the play-offs. This year, his first with the Lakers, Jackson has a roster brimming with talent, including superstar-of-the-future Kobe Bryant, superstar-of-the-present Shaquille O'Neal and old pros such as Glen Rice, A.C. Green and Ron Harper.
It's very much the same team, a bit more mature perhaps, and Shaq is healthy, but the big difference is that the Lakers are winning. Under Jackson, the Lakers sport the glossiest record in the NBA (51-11), and O'Neal is having an MVP season. "We've had a good first half," says the massive 315-lb., 7-ft. 1-in. O'Neal, who is averaging almost 30 points a game. "Now we have to maintain." Adds Jackson: "To be quite frank, I didn't think they'd be this far along now."
Jackson, 54, has come a long way himself. He was born in Deer Lodge, Mont., and reared in Williston, N.D. His parents were ministers, so he became drawn to issues of spirituality at an early age. His career path, however, was secular: he was a star basketball player at the University of North Dakota and a role player (nicknamed "Action" Jackson) in the NBA, where he was a member of title-winning New York Knicks squads in 1970 and 1973. There he became close friends with teammate Bill Bradley. Indeed, Jackson was being touted as a possible head coach of the Bradley campaign before he took the Lakers job.
Jackson's interest in Eastern thought and Native American mysticism (hence Sacred Hoops) increasingly informed his approach to coaching. Drawing from Buddhism, he speaks often of rejecting selfishness and egotism. In winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls, he emphasized selfless movement without the ball in a pattern known as the triangle offense. The triangle forced defenses to stretch, to cover everyone, everywhere--and that left the opposing team vulnerable to Michael Jordan.
Jackson's players often talk about his contributions in abstract terms that reflect his thoughtful outlook on the game. Bryant credits Jackson with helping him to become "more aware" of what's happening on the basketball court. "It sounds like a minor thing," says Bryant, "but it's very big when you're playing at this level to really be aware of everything around you."
As for O'Neal, he has shown fresh dedication to solving his problems at the free-throw line, a place where he has laid down enough bricks to qualify for union membership. "He's much better," says Jackson. "He's been dedicating a lot of time off-hours to just shooting free throws. His poise, his confidence, his touch are better. He has some fundamental things wrong with his shot, but he's trying to correct those."