Tab Baldwin's six degrees of separation from 'The Last Dance'
MANILA, Philippines — Basketball observers will acknowledge the beautiful basketball played by the Ateneo Blue Eagles under head coach Tab Baldwin: A share-the-wealth offense with no stars.
People might forget that for the longest time until he joined the Gilas Pilipinas team of former head coach Chot Reyes during the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships, Baldwin was a sworn disciple of the triangle offense, which was popularized by Chicago and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter.
Baldwin ran the offense in almost every stop of what had been a successful international coaching career. That all changed in 2013 when he met Chot and Josh Reyes, who had become apostles of the dribble-drive offense and invited Baldwin to serve as a team consultant for Gilas Pilipinas.
“My running the triangle offense is the closest affinity I have with those Chicago Bulls,” clarified Baldwin.
What an affinity it was.
It was in 1992 (the Chicago Bulls won consecutive NBA titles at that time) when Baldwin began his coaching career in New Zealand.
“Instead of finding my way in the basketball world, I found myself disappearing coaching in the second division of basketball in New Zealand,” chuckled the Kiwi-American coach. “When I was asked to coach the junior New Zealand team in a tournament in Perth, Australia, I met up with a coach who introduced me to the triangle.”
That man was Murray Arnold, an American who was then coaching the Perth Wildcats in the National Basketball League of Australia.
Arnold learned the triangle offense from a colleague of his on the 1985-86 Chicago Bulls where he worked for a year as an assistant to head coach Stan Albeck. That colleague was Winter, who invented the triangle offense and joined the Bulls also as an assistant the same year Arnold did.
“I remember Murray asking me what I knew of the triangle offense and if it would work with his New Zealand squad,” recalled Baldwin. “I said that it does not apply because we did not have Michael Jordan. He (Murray) then said that I didn’t know anything about the offense, and he proceeded to show me how it would work And he taught me for four hours. He also sent me video of what Tex Winter was teaching. And that was my introduction to the offense.”
As for "The Last Dance", Baldwin observed, “Watching the series, however, like everyone else in the world, I think it is not only interesting, but I think it is achieving what out set out to do, which is tell the story of the last championship season with a lot of back stories. We remember those articles and reports about the angst against (Bulls General Manager) Jerry Krause or Michael Jordan’s gambling. 'The Last Dance' is giving us the back story in much detail. I think it is enlightening and it presents a lot information that we didn’t know.”
Baldwin pronounced himself shocked at the revelation that Horace Grant was the source for Chicago Tribune journalist Sam Smith’s controversial book, "The Jordan Rules", that bared Jordan’s tough love relationship with teammates.
“I didn’t know all that,” added Baldwin.
“Having spent my life in basketball intimately, I am a great admirer to the point of being in love with Michael Jordan,” added Baldwin. “My passion for his career revolves around what people are seeing in his words and face as an older man is his competitiveness. He wasn’t some showman; he was a ruthless assassin who as Magic Johnson said, wanted to put his foot down your neck and crush it. It’s like Larry Bird playing a quarter and a half left-handed because he wanted to show his opponents that they were not in his class or league. It is something I have adopted through the years.”
Baldwin did admit to being conflicted about the complex Phil Jackson-Dennis Rodman relationship.
“It would be impossible for me to do what Phil Jackson did (among others giving Rodman a 48-hour furlough in the middle of the season). I am conflicted on that. It shows Jackson’s genius because he made it successful. But it is a bad example for a coach to be in complicit in bad behavior to get a result. There is a big conflict in me. But that is why he is Phil Jackson.”
Summed up Baldwin of "The Last Dance": “This series is about putting to bed who is the greatest basketball player of all time, and that is Michael Jordan.”
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