Turned up this gem from ESPN’s Bill Simmons piece on Phil Jackson. Who knew developing a bench of ball players and pastoring people ran so parallel?

“Steve Kerr told me once that what made Jackson special — and Popovich too — was that he cared about his twelfth guy as much as his best guy. He spent time with his players, bought them gifts, thought about what made them tick. He connected with them, sold them on the concept of a team, stuck up for them when they needed him. His actual coaching — calling plays, working refs, figuring out lineups and everything else that we see — was a smaller piece of a much bigger picture. His players competed for him for many reasons, but mainly because they truly believed Jackson cared about them. Which he definitely did.”

ESPN’s Bill Simmons on retiring Lakers Coach Phil Jackson