“LeBron James might travel every other time he catches the ball”: When Phil Jackson took shots at the Lakers superstar for not being fundamentally sound and foiling team basketball

Phil Jackson believes that basketball in the generation of the NBA since the advent of LeBron James has become way too diluted.

Anyone who gets the moniker of ‘Zen Master’ is almost sure to be a special person. Phil Jackson was not a star athlete in college or in the NBA. But he had the composure, calm and original thinking that every true basketball mind is supposed to develop.

Phil joined the NBA as an assistant coach for the Bulls under the tutelage of Doug Collins. However, with the departure of Collins, GM Jerry Krause replaced Doug with his own understudy.

Phil Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls for the next 9 years. These 9 years would be the most glorious years in league history. Basketball and the NBA were never more popular at any point in human history than under the Zen Master and Michael Jordan’s Bulls.

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Phil Jackson didn’t stop building his legend there. He went to the Lakers and won his 3rd threepeat with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. His final coaching gig was with the Lakers – a 6-year stint from 2005 to 2011. This run yielded him 2 more championships.

However, their run ended in 2011 with an ignonimous sweep at the hands of the champion Dallas Mavericks. And it was also the time of the surge of the Big 3 Miami Heat.

Phil Jackson once chastised the LeBron James generation for diluting basketball moves

Phil Jackson had quite a clear distaste for the style of play displayed by LeBron James. In fairness, while James in Miami was a bulldozer beyond belief, he had quite the compilation of absurd, illegal but uncalled moments on the court.

In a 2015 interview when Phil was the Executive President of the Knicks, he made no bones of what he thought was the dilution of NBA basketball due to the leeway given to LeBron James:

“I watch LeBron James, for example. He might travel every other time he catches the basketball if he’s off the ball. He catches the ball, moves both his feet. You see it happen all the time.”

“There’s no structure, no discipline, no ‘How do we play this game’ type of attitude. And it goes all the way through the game. To the point where guys now don’t screen – they push guys off with their hands.”

Phil Jackson on LeBron James pic.twitter.com/m8sM447aJh

— The Ballfather (@StevenKelsey13) January 23, 2022

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This dilution of the sport has been apparent to anyone who’s followed basketball religiously. The sport needs a serious cleansing and reconsideration of how referees call certain rule violations.