“Phil Jackson called himself ‘our master’”: Robert Horry disagrees with Scottie Pippen on the former Lakers head coach being racist but was irked by his ‘master’ comments

Robert Horry was seemingly not happy with Phil Jackson calling himself the Bulls’ master but still does not believe that he was racist. 

Scottie Pippen recently unleashed a frenzy of controversial comments ahead of the release of his memoir, Unguarded. He took to the Dan Patrick Show to say a variety of things that seem to be more so, attention-grabbing than factual. One of the things he said was that Phil Jackson was racist towards him. 

Pippen believed that the fact that Phil Jackson chose Toni Kukoc over him to take the final shot in a Playoff game in 1994 was a decision that was racially charged. These comments by him weren’t well received by fans and media alike as they rightfully pointed out that Michael Jordan, a black man, was the go-to bucket getter for Phil Jackson when need be.

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Toni Kukoc was also the far superior shooter when compared to Scottie Pippen so it makes sense that Jackson picked him over the All-Defensive talent. 

Robert Horry reacts to Scottie Pippen’s comments on Phil Jackson being racist. 

Robert Horry suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers during all 3 of their titles from 2000-2002 alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. The bench boss for this 3-peating team was none other than Phil Jackson. According to Horry, he personally never felt as though Phil was a racist man. However, he did recall one particular event that took place in a huddle.

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“We were in a huddle and Phil was like, ‘You need to know the sound of your master’s voice,’ and I looked at him like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don’t do that. I’m from the South.’” 

Phil Jackson has been famously known to refer to himself as the ‘Zen Master’ during his days as a prolific coach within the NBA. The aforementioned comments made by him could be deemed problematic when given the context of a white man telling black men to “listen to their master”. Comments like these certainly wouldn’t fly in 2021.