Kobe Bryant won five NBA championships as a Los Angeles Laker, and all of them came under the coaching of Phil Jackson. Known as the ‘Zen Master’, the coach imbibed a calming philosophy that helped Michael Jordan win six rings en route to his quest to become the greatest player ever. However, Kobe Bryant had a different opinion on his technique. In the book ‘Showboat’, authored by Roland Lazenby and published in 2016, Kobe Bryant confessed that he found the ideology amusing.
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Phil Jackson is the winningest coach in NBA history, with eleven rings. He won six with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, while the other five were with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. With Michael, the relationship was about understanding the power of playing as a team and teaching the importance of calmness. Whereas with Kobe, it was just about Kobe keeping it straight with his coach. The Zen techniques were not of much help.
Kobe Bryant confesses about Phil Jackson’s coaching
In the 2016 book ‘Showboat’ by Roland Lazenby, Kobe Bryant talked about his approach toward Phil Jackson’s coaching techniques. The Lakers superstar said he did not fall into his coach’s mind games. Apparently, Phil was trying to figure Kobe out to prepare the player accordingly. However, Kobe just wanted to hoop. Here is an excerpt from the book in a tweet shared by ‘The NBA Realist‘:
“Phil was trying to figure me out a little bit. One of the things I told him is ‘There’s nothing to figure out. I’m just trying to play the game, and learn the game the best I can.’ Once we got that established, we started moving a little bit. But I didn’t get into his mind games. It was funny. I found it funny.”
Kobe was upfront with his coach about his mindset. He made it clear that there was nothing to figure out. The only goal is to learn basketball and play the game to the best of his capabilities. The late NBA legend’s straightforward attitude helped get the relationship with his coach rolling. For him, the approach was funny.
Phil Jackson’s coaching strategy did not work on Kobe
The relationship between Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson went through trials and tribulations. Though they achieved so much success together, a lot of battles were fought when the lights were off. In his book ‘Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success”, Phil Jackson talked about his coaching strategy not working with the superstar. Here is what he said:
“My strategy of giving Kobe space didn’t yield the expected results. Instead, it seemed to fuel his belligerence, with much of his anger directed squarely at me. Previously, when Kobe didn’t want to comply with my requests, he resorted to passive-aggressiveness. However, the situation had escalated, and now his behavior had shifted towards being openly aggressive. He took every opportunity to make sarcastic cracks during practice and openly challenged my authority in front of the entire team.”
He also admitted to seeking the help of a psychotherapist to deal with the entire situation. The above excerpt talks about Kobe being frustrated with Jackson and lashing out using passive-aggressive behavior. It went as far as the superstar challenging his coach’s authority at every opportunity. However, despite the difficulties, the duo achieved their goals and won five championships.
