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Michael Jordan will go down as one of the greatest players in NBA history.
Phil Jackson had the honor of coaching him in Chicago.
But the first name that rolled off the tongue of current Los Angeles Lakers coach Jackson when he was asked about the greatest athlete he's ever coached was - surprising many in the Chester Fritz Auditorium - Dennis Rodman.
Most remember the eccentric former Chicago Bull for his relationship with Madonna and ever-changing hairstyles and ever-present tattoos.
"He could probably play a 48-minute game and play the 48th minute stronger than the first minute of the game," Jackson said Monday. "He was that terrific an athlete."
Jackson hit a range of topics during the "Great Conversation" community event. The former University of North Dakota All-America basketball player, in town for the first time in 19 years, received an honorary doctor of letters degree during the UND opening convocation earlier in the day.
He gave Madonna credit for helping Rodman overcome his "shy" personality.
"Madonna saw what was in there and wanted him . . . to do what she does: be outrageous, and kind of talked him into opening up his character," Jackson said. "And Dennis didn't know how many ways he could open up his character."
Jackson has coached nine NBA championship teams - six with the Bulls and three with the Lakers. He also was part of two NBA championship teams with the New York Knicks.
But Jackson, who played for the Sioux from 1964 through 1967, says the NBA wasn't as lucrative an occupation as it is today.
He said he made $12,000 his first season. He said if he were drafted today in the same position as he was in 1967, with the 17th pick overall, he would be guaranteed about $7 million.
"There wasn't a whole lot like what happens in today's world," Jackson said.
Jackson is well paid today, and he's coached some of the highest-paid NBA stars since becoming the Bulls head coach in 1990. One of those stars was Shaquille O'Neal, who paid Jackson a surprise visit in Montana the summer before Jackson's first year with the Lakers in 1999.
The coach said he left his remote cabin on Flathead Lake to head to town for a doctor's appointment for his daughter. When he returned, O'Neal was jumping off his dock in a small, secluded bay.
"He found his way," Jackson said of O'Neal.
Jackson knew something was up when he saw two vans on his property, and he had heard rumors that O'Neal might try to find him.
"There were 150 people who were lining the shores watching this guy jump off my dock," Jackson said.
O'Neal also buzzed around on a personal watercraft and later found a log to jump off of.
"Then he told me he doesn't know how to swim," Jackson said. "But everybody came out to watch him, so he thought he'd show off."
