EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Phil Jackson is certainly among the greatest coaches ever. All you have to do is look at his record.

His winning percentage is the best ever.... by far. He has all these little things that he's established, never having lost a series and, if his Los Angeles Lakers sweep the New Jersey Nets, that will be another niche for him to attain. He has never swept an opponent in the Finals yet. The players seem to use that as a nugget for incentive. I sense among them a desire not only for this team to excel but for little things, little tidbits for Phil to add to his résumé of achievements.

	Phil Jackson, right, has tied Pat Riley for most playoff coaching wins with 155.

Jackson has a unique way of coaching. In Game 3, when the Nets went on a 14-0 run and took a six-point lead, he never took a timeout. I thought at the time that he was letting his guys play through this, which is often what he does. That's contrary to what any other coach that I've known, or in my own experience, would've done. I would've taken at least one timeout to try and stem the surge and regroup my team.

He has, all through his career, let his players play through trouble. And the players know it. I think the end result, while they may lose a game in the process here and there, is that the players gain strength in their own abilities to overcome adversity. He has a great, long-range view of his team and what it can accomplish, and he is willing to take some hits along the way so the ultimate goal will be realized.

Jackson has a unique ability to reach his key players. In Chicago, he got Michael Jordan to buy into the triangle offense, which requires the star player to do a lot of passing, screening and cutting through after handling the ball. However, it does not result in immediate gains for that player, and there's always some resistance to that. Michael wasn't sure that it was going to work, but he was willing to give it a try due to Jackson. Once your star player buys into it, everybody else falls in line.

Jackson has done the same thing with the Lakers, getting through to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, and then getting Kobe to accept a team role. The maturity of Bryant has been visible in how Jackson has been able to get Kobe to buy into the team game when Kobe really would rather be in an up-and-down game that would utilize his skills better. Phil has gotten Kobe to be less individualistic and play more within the team pattern.

For example: In the first two games against the Nets, Kobe sits back and feeds Shaq because Shaq is destroying the one-on-one matchup. Then in Game 3, when the Nets go to the zone and contain Shaq to some degree, Shaq accepts the team role and Kobe takes over and gets his game going. It's a very unique process.

Everybody on Phil's team feels a part of it and feels that he's an integral part of it in that role that he plays. And they're all willing to accept that role because they know that the end result will likely be a championship team that everybody wants to be a part of.

	Yes, Jackson has had the best player on his teams. But that's no accident. He's not going to go to a team that's in a rebuilding process. He doesn't want that job. He doesn't want to go through that.

Yes, Jackson has had the best player on his teams. But that's no accident. He's not going to go to a team that's in a rebuilding process. He doesn't want that job. He doesn't want to go through that.

I can understand that. I would like to have had that opportunity as well, but I was not in the position that he was. I took over two expansion teams in Buffalo and Portland that Phil wouldn't have taken on because there wasn't the potential for immediate success. He's only going to go with those teams that he feels he can win with.

That's not a criticism. It's really a strength that he can wield that kind of authority to take only those kinds of jobs. And not everybody can succeed with quality players.

He took over the Lakers when they had this same talent basically and they weren't winning. But he organized the talent that he had in such a way that it became a championship team. I don't look on that as a shortcoming of Phil Jackson in any way. He's a unique guy who marches to his own drummer. But his game is very sound, and his teams are very good on both ends of the floor.

Moreover, Jackson wasn't afraid to use Tex Winter's offense. There aren't many coaches who are willing to take on somebody else's game and give credit to it. I don't know any other coach who would do that, especially an offensive game. But he's willing to say, "This is Tex Winter's offense and this is what we're going to play," and he makes sure his players play it.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who won an NBA title with Portland in 1977, is an NBA analyst for ESPN.