Jackson may be the ultimate winner among N.B.A. coaches, with 11 championship rings, but it has been a while since his copious success with the Bulls and the Lakers was the first thing people referenced about him. Such is the unyielding consistency of the James L. Dolan-owned Knicks in besmirching the reputation of seemingly every marquee name who has tried to steer the franchise back to respectability over the past two decades.

As a result, Jackson has heard far more in recent years about his front-office foibles than the bench excellence that preceded it. You wouldn’t think a coach who owns two more rings than Red Auerbach would have legacy concerns, but Jackson’s rocky three-year stint as the Knicks’ president of basketball operations cast that sort of shadow.

So it will be a huge boost for Jackson, at 74, for basketball fans of all ages to be reacquainted with (or introduced to) his lofty place in the hierarchy of a dynasty that ruled the N.B.A. six times in an eight-season span in the 1990s.

No one in “The Last Dance,” mind you, wins more than Jordan. Despite a woefully mediocre run as the owner of the Charlotte Hornets for the past 10 years, His Airness has broken away from his long-held reclusive tendencies — at just the right time to reclaim the rapt attention of the American sporting public that, thanks to Covid-19, was forced to quit its normal viewing habits cold turkey. The likely result: Irrespective of any criticism to come from the fact that he clearly had more control over the project than advertised, as explained here by my colleague Sopan Deb, so much fresh documentary buzz seems certain to help Jordan re-establish a gulf between him and LeBron James or anyone else you wish to nominate as basketball’s best player of all time.

Next up, though, it’s Scottie Pippen and Jackson who appear poised to land closest to Jordan when the documentary’s ultimate list of beneficiaries and villains is compiled.

“I never even felt like Phil got enough credit when it was happening because of Michael’s presence, or when he went to L.A. and having Kobe and Shaq there,” said Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, another key figure in the documentary after spending three and a half seasons as Jordan’s teammate under Jackson.

“I think people always underestimated Phil’s talent as a coach, but he was so brilliant and so unique in his style,” Kerr continued. “With all the fame and notoriety that surrounded the team and Michael in particular, Phil was just an incredible leader and coach. Very few, if any, people would have had the right skill set and temperament to keep a team like that together and moving forward.”