The Zen Master Effect: Phil Jackson’s Influence on Tyronn Lue’s Coaching

Can a 5-1 record get you some consideration for Coach Of The Year?

Not so fast.

In a short span of time, however, the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue has gotten his team back on track as the favorite in the East. With an overtime win against the Indiana Pacers, the Cavs have won 5 straight games after losing their first game under Coach Lue and improved their record to 35-12.

There was a lot of backlash for firing David Blatt mid season while having the best record in the East. Lue is carrying the burden of making Lebron and the Cavs play at a faster pace than they did and finding ways to get their forward Kevin Love some touches. Although it seemed wrong for the Cavs to fire Blatt, who led the team with a 30-11 record before his departure, GM Brian David felt “we have a lack of fit with our personnel and our vision of how to use that personnel”.

For an NBA championship contending squad this would start a negative vibe within the locker room, as they would suffer embarrassing blow out losses to the top two teams in the league, the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. With Lue, David felt he was “more than confident that he has the pulse of our team and that he can generate the buy-in required to start to refine the habits and the culture that we’ve yet to build”.

Wonder why he thinks that?

Maybe it’s because who he played for. Although he was an assistant coach with the Celtics and Clippers under Doc Rivers, his first three seasons as a Los Angeles Lakers guard will maybe his key to success in Cleveland.

Who was his coach?

None other than Phil Jackson, who won 6 NBA titles with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and five with the help of players like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Lue would be part of 2 of the 3 NBA championships the Lakers would win in the timespan and would play backup to starting point guard Derek Fisher. In 2001, he was assigned to guard the 2001 MVP Allen Iverson, where Iverson famously made a tough jumper over Lue. Lue would fall to the ground and Iverson would step over him admiring his jumper swishing through the net. Despite that iconic moment, Lue would be a pest on the defensive end, doing his best to disrupt Iverson’s game and eventually help defeat the Sixers in the Finals that year.

So what does Phil Jackson coaching days with the Lakers have to do with Tyronn Lue as a current coach with the Cavs?

Well, there are three other coaches that played for Phil Jackson in today’s NBA who aren’t doing bad themselves. Phil Jackson, who is the current general manager of the New York Knicks, last season hired his former point guard Derek Fisher to coach the Knicks . Although they struggled last season, the team has improved much this year. The Knicks have embraced the triangle offense, and are surprising teams this year as they tried to sneak into a playoff spot, currently holding a 23-27 record. Rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis has been great for Fisher all season and Fisher has had no problems plugging Porzingis in while he develops into a great player. Their All-star forward Carmelo Anthony also seems to like the direction of where Fisher is taking the team and they continue to work hard and make it back into the post-season.

Then there are two coaches of the Golden State Warriors, who happen to be both former players of Phil Jackson, but from different teams. There is the head coach Steve Kerr, who played for Jackson during their second three-peat with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, as well as assistant coach Luke Walton, who was with the Lakers during their back-to-back title run with Kobe Bryant running the show.

Kerr last season was able to take the Warriors from just another playoff team in the West to NBA champions, while boasting best record in the league at 67-15. Similar to his former coach during his time with the Bulls, Kerr has a found a way to gain the trust of his Warriors team very quickly in his tenure and has allowed them to play freely in a way that that that they like. He has also found his own style of play much like the triangle offense of his mentor, with his small-ball lineups allowing players to pretty much defend and switch on almost any player, while at the same time creating space and ball movement on the offense end. This has proven to be very successful and has made the team better with the likes of MVP Steph Curry, Finals MVP Andre Iguodala and all-stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

With Kerr out for most of the season to this point (offseason back surgery), Jackson’s other former player, Luke Walton, would have to step up and coach the defending the champions. Although it seemed like a daunting task for an assistant coach to handle an championship team, Walton was ready for the challenge. He not only kept the team sharp and in tact, but also made them believe they could handle and win every game, as they went 39-4 under him before Kerr returned on January 22nd. Fittingly with their record being 44-4, he has given the Warriors a chance to break the 20 year old record of 72-10, the record their head coach Steve Kerr was part of while a member of Phil Jackson’s 1995-1996 Bulls team.

For Tyronn Lue, he will have the duty of leading the Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals and to bring an NBA championship to Cleveland centered around All-Stars LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. He is dealing with the pressure the best way he can and making tough decisions he believes are right for the team. At one point during their 111-105 overtime victory against the Pacers, the Cavs would lose an 11 point lead in the early beginning of the third quarter. Rather than calling a timeout to get his guys some time to regroup, Lue decided to let them play on saying “They was looking to me to bail them out,”. A similar move Jackson would use on the Lakers he played for, Lue stated “Y’all dug this hole, then get out of it”. Different to his predecessor David Blatt, Coach Lue has taken the responsibility to speak up and critique the talented roster he has, even if it’s the best player in the world.

“I’ve talked to ‘Bron. I said ‘I’ve got to hold you accountable. It starts with you first. If I can hold you accountable in front of the team in doing the right things, then everybody else has got to follow along and fall in line.”

If Lue can continue to employ the same principals his former coach used on the championships teams that got him 11 rings, Tyronn Lue and the Cavaliers should be just fine.

Maybe Phil Jackson should start a school on how to be a coach, he appears to know what he is doing after all.