At its infancy stage, the NBA had eight teams when Auerbach coached, drafted Bill Russell and did his wonders. And while Auerbach was loathing that Jackson has only inherited teams with superstars, and indeed this argument is worth noting for, is it not fair if we don't factor in the number of teams during the Auerbach coaching days? According to the Basketball Reference website, it shows that there were only eight to fourteen teams who fought for the championship during those times in the NBA. And while the winning streak as a coach that Red, according to Randy Auerbach, his son, said won't be matched, the truth of the matter is that there's a bigger percentage which is from 7 - 12.5% of winning the title back then rather than winning it today which is a mere 3%. And the fact that with all the superstars demanding trades, free agencies and coaching job security woes occurring nowadays, you won't be actually secure your coaching job before contending as a finals coach or worse even a playoff contender coach.
Take for example what happened to Avery Johnson and his short stint in the Dallas Mavericks as the head coach. After winning the Coach of the Year award, he was fired after a series of unsuccessful Maverick basketball during Nowitzki's prime. Flip Saunders suffered the same fate as Larry Brown during their stint as coaches for the Detroit Pistons when they were fired by Joe Dumars with the team's failure to advance to the Finals and winning the Eastern Conference championship.
And would tenure in a team be a factor? Partly yes and partly no. With all the coaches fired recently, only Jerry Sloan has been put in some sort of tenure over his coaching job. And with 20+ years of being a head coach in Utah Jazz, he's never won the Coach of the Year award and has never won a championship as a coach in the NBA yet.
Also, what amazes me about Jackson is as what other writers have said - the ability to clamp down the superstars he's handling. He bashed them publicly when there is a need to do so. And fewer coaches nowadays fail to do it though. I don't recall any time in particular that the reigning Coach of the Year awardee Mike Brown criticized LeBron James for his character neither for his approach in the game. It's all praises for LeBron when the mere fact that the kid is still just LeBron. The fact that his strength of being an all-around superstar is also his own water loo isn't seen by the entire Cavaliers team or purposely blinding themselves for fear of him leaving thru free agency. Brown never criticized him when he publicly teased the New Yorkers about how exciting the 2010 free agency class would be and when he didn't shook up hands with Dwight and the Magic after their loss in the playoff Eastern finals matchup.
It just goes to show that it isn't just what Jackson hasn't accomplished that Auerbach has that comes into play when the world is debating about the best coach in the NBA history while the Auerbachs are sourgraping over Jackson's greatness. It is all factors combined. It is tenure, luck, character development, talent of the staff and the team, the dedication to win and most of all the respect. When Auerbach started questioning Jackson about his coaching skills, Jackson didn't question back. Instead, he stayed silent and respected the legendary coach. And that's when Auerbach lost himself the security of becoming the greatest coach in the NBA history even several years before Jackson won his tenth championship ring today.
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