Currently tied with Auerbach with nine titles, Jackson is No. 1 in regular season and playoff winning percentage. He's No. 1 in playoff wins and will pass 1,000 regular season wins next season, though reaching it in by far the fewest games. He's in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

And this season should quiet those critics who have said Jackson wins because of personnel and merely rolls out the ball.

Jackson will agree that personnel makes the difference for any great coach.

One only need look at the ups and downs of Pat Riley in recent seasons.

He hasn't lost it; they did.

But this season has been a wakeup call for Jackson doubters.

Bryant came into the season demanding a trade and having demeaned his teammates. The Lakers were a coastal dysfunctional mess only exceeded by the East Coast's Knicks. Bryant was refusing to even speak with management, leaving Jackson in the middle. The talent was not even considered to be playoff worthy, and then the team lost its second best player, center Andrew Bynum, for the season.

Yet, Jackson not only held it all together with his unusual mix of offbeat perspective and competitive zeal, but the Lakers come into the Finals having played the best in the playoffs with Bryant — now declaring himself Laker for life — playing at his highest level.

The general consensus usually is Jackson is some sort of flake, dismissing he has an exacting basketball mind and the ideal personality for coaching.

Jackson is often regarded as arrogant, but it's mistaken for that rare sense among coaches of being secure in who he is. So many coaches become vagabonds in seeking out approval constantly. Jackson doesn't need it because he believes in himself. It sounds simple, but is uncommon among the typically high strung successful NBA coaches.

Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Jackson never gave up on Kobe Bryant when his sometimes immature star demanded to be traded.

Jackson, despite his calm demeanor, is a world class competitor. He had to be to reach the level of being an NBA player from remote Montana and North Dakota and playing for championship teams in New York. He burns with the same winning desire the most outspoken coaches do, which is one reason he returned to the Lakers three years ago. He needs the games and to keep score more than even he would like to admit.

He is detail-oriented with a plan, which is necessary to be successful in coaching. Jackson doesn't waste time in practices listening to himself speak as so many coaches do. He isn't predictable, either, and he uses his interest in life and constant flashes of humor to surprise his players to counter the monotony of a long season.

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