Pat Riley and Phil Jackson could not have more different styles of leadership and coaching in the National Basketball Association. This research examines some of the key differences in their leadership styles and notes the conflicts that have arisen from those differences.
During one championship game against the Bulls, Pat Riley erupted. Two quick technical fouls sent him to the dressing room, necessitating a long walk from one end of the floor to the other, right past the Chicago Bulls bench. With every step Riley took, Bulls Coach Phil Jackson's face tightened. He tried to look down, then away. Jackson was trying not to laugh and everybody could see it. As Riley finally passed the Bulls and disappeared, Jackson could not help himself any longer. He laughed. Actually, it was more like a giggle. They still cannot play nice, Jackson and Riley, even after all these years, all those championships between them.
Riley now coaches the Miami Heat instead of the New York Knicks, but the rivalry between the two appears as charged as ever. Later, Jackson called the laugh a moment of relaxation and suggested it was a reaction to the absurdity of a truly absurd game. But there is no running from the subplot here, the psychological games being played between these two. Even in code, they are every bit as quarrelsome as Miami's Alonzo Mourning and Chicago's Scottie Pippen, which is saying something.
The rivalry between Jackson and Riley had Michael Jordan shaking his head in wonderment. Two journeyman players whose careers were once so similar have become complete opposites. Riley has his "Force Basketball" and Jackson believes in the "natural rhythms of momentum," among other things Zen. Jackson's "triple-post" offense may be the most complicated in the NBA; Riley runs one of the most basic offenses in basketball. Riley is the star wherever he goes. Riley is Armani, Jackson is less glamorous (Bryant, 1996, p. D1).
When in...