Tex Winter

The uneducated fan would see Winter as a lucky assistant, who got to hitch his wagon to the Phil Jackson train at the right time. That would be wrong. Winter had spent 30 years as a college basketball head coach, and invented the triangle offense before he found a seat on Jackson’s bench.

Winter followed Jackson to Los Angeles after their run in Chicago and was integral in the formation of their dynastic run with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Winter was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.