[Steve00007]

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However, how many championships did Shaq win before Phil? Zero.

So I don't think you can say "oh he had Shaq and Jordan."



If you team Shaq up with a superstar in his prime, it's far from a guarantee that Shaq wins a title. When teamed up with Penny, Wade, and even Kobe in their primes, Shaq would usually finish the postseason with no title.

Shaq had his two best years (postseason and regular season) under the triangle offense that Phil installed in LA. That offense was perfect for Shaq, as it was designed for a team with a great center. It also was better than the previous Laker offenses, which involved too many players just standing around and watching Shaq. The triangle helped get his teammates more involved.

Moreover, I'm guessing that Shaq shot free throws better in the playoffs with Phil as the head coach. The Lakers would have him shooting over 60% from the line during the end of the year. Also, Shaq played better defense with Phil than with other coaches. His previous coaches told him to try and avoid fouls while on defense. This explains why Shaq went from 1.7 blocks per game under Rambis to 3.0 and 2.8 blocks per game under Jackson the next two years. Finally, since Shaq played tougher defense in the middle, the rest of the defenders could play tigher man-to-man defense. That included Kobe, who played much better defense at least partly as a result of Shaq playing better defense.

To sum up, as a result of Jackson Shaq played better on offense and defense, his teammates were more active offensively, his teammates played better defense, Shaq shot better from the free throw line, and as a result of all this, the team won more games. Would another coach have gotten all these same results? Since other coaches were unlikely to run the triangle, and since they were likely to want Shaq to play subpar defense, the answer is probably no.