[Mavinator]

What exactly did Phil Jackson do to quell the lakers troubles this season? Shaq and kobe were at each other's throats all year, and Phil was showing a real lack of ability to do anything about it. The problem would not have been resolved if Shaq, utter class act that he is, hadn't willingly scaled back his game, which in my opinion is something he should not have done. The lakers are still not as good as they were last year. What about Phil's other big job, the taming of JR Rider? What was Phil's brilliant player management doing to help Rider before he was cut from the team? I especially like the way he handled Glen Rice's ego problems last year... where is Glen Rice now? Are the lakers a better team because of Phil's master "mental" coaching?

If you mean by "stepping back and taking a supporting role", that Phil just gets out of the way and prays things work themselves out, I would strongly agree that he is great at doing that...