Amazingly, the race for greatest Los Angeles Lakers coach, leaving aside John Kundla, who won five titles with the franchise in Minneapolis, comes down to two of the all-time greats, who each won four titles in Los Angeles ... Phil Jackson and Pat Riley.
It's amazing because they're polar opposites and were at one time as bitter rivals as it gets.
Riley won his four in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988 with the Showtime Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Jackson won his four in 2000, 2001 and 2002 with the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant teams, and 2009 with the Kobe-Pau Gasol Lakers.
Riley was the NBA version of a Hollywood star, idolized by the screen set as well as fans in general in the '80s when he was offered the lead in a movie -- "Tequila Sunrise," which he turned down, leaving it to Kurt Russell.
Riley, a demon worker from a blue-collar background, was actually anything but a Hollywood type, didn't hang with them -- he was all hoops, all the time -- but still relished his associations with them. When Michael Douglas got the role as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street," he combed his hair backward, like Riley's.
When Douglas won the Academy Award, Riley sent him a telegram, noting: "I have to believe it was the hair."
Riley's impact on the Lakers was anything but pretty. They were a finesse-offensive team when he took them over, and a hard-nosed team that defended, too, when he drove them to their back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, making them the first team to repeat since the Celtics in 1969.
If Riley's fury was hard on teams, players and legs, Jackson is just the opposite in all ways.
As opposed to corporate, sleek and expensively clad -- Riley had brought Armani to the sideline, not to mention the concept of clothing deals for coaching -- Jackson is laid-back, philosophical and politically liberal.
Riley praised opponents and wrote reporters' stories for them with colorful quotes. Jackson delights in zinging opponents ... and his players ... and the press ... and the league ... and anyone else in view ... and writes reporters' stories for them.
Where Riley was all passion, Jackson measures his teams over the course of the season, waiting until the last possible moment to bear down.
Where Riley was emotional -- especially after losses, when a dark cloud descended upon the Lakers, never mind a losing streak, when the gloom seemed impenetrable -- Jackson always acts as if he has everything covered.
Jackson seems to sail through the worst times as easily as he handles the best. Riley never had to deal with anything like the summer of 2007, when Bryant castigated Lakers' ownership and demanded to be traded.
Jackson treated it like business as usual. When Kobe left practice late in the preseason, resting a sore knee but really waiting to see if he would be traded to the Bulls, Jackson said he was surprised to see that it upset the other Lakers.
Each was perfect for the team he coached. Without them, and their teams, the Lakers would have eight fewer titles here, and none of their acclaim.
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