Phil Jackson: the enlightening young “Maverick”
March 3rd, 2008, 8:55 pm · 4 Comments · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
Two Lakers-themed offerings from me today: evaluating the Western Conference race, in which the Lakers have the best record against the other eight West playoff contenders, and reviewing Phil Jackson’s hard-to-find 1975 book, “Maverick,” which I’ve got to say was an extremely intriguing read.
Here are a few more lively excerpts from the young Phil’s “Maverick” book that I couldn’t fit into my column:
- “Being 6-1 and 150 pounds as a (high school) sophomore, no wonder my nickname was ‘Bones.’ Every time we had assemblies all I heard were jokes about my physique.”
- “The single most important thing he (my high school coach) taught me was that playing basketball should always be an enjoyable experience.”
- “Most college athletes are bought, pure and simple, and eventually everybody ends up getting used somewhere along the line. UCLA is a good representative example. The ballplayers’ schedules are completely taken care of, they know which teachers in each department should be taken, which alumni can be tapped for so much money every semester, and they’re usually given free cars and rent-free apartments.”
- “Basketball was nothing but a steppingstone and a temporary interlude until I became a psychologist. We (Jackson and first wife Maxine) believed athletics to be little more than a primal struggle for dominance, and the academician in me felt that this kind of primitive competition should not exist.”
- “I believe that one of the things which God has given to me is the ability to discern people’s spirits. My judgments about people I meet come from my heart more than my rational center, and they’ve usually been accurate.”
- “A true star is one who can go out and play every night no matter what’s happening in his own personal life. If his wife is having a baby or if he’s facing financial disaster, a star is still going to play three great games out of every four.”
- “A ballplayer is a winner when he isn’t playing scared and when he isn’t afraid of either losing or of getting hurt.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Interesting look into PJ’s mind back when he could afford to be completely candid. I must find a copy now.
So he says that his judgments of people he meets have usually been accurate. I wonder how his judgment of Kobe has changed over Kobe’s career, and what changed it. Cynics say PJ came back for the money and Jeannie Buss, but I don’t think he would have come back unless he viewed Kobe as a redeemable person and player. I recall recently PJ saying that Kobe has “a good heart”.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Kevin,
Great insight on Phil’s past. Do you know if anyone has ever asked the cap on that remark he made about him in sacred hoops?
March 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Thanks for the great story, Kevin.
PJ is a very interesting and inspiring character indeed. His open spiritual explorations are so unique and true that I am personally inspired to look into Buddhism.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
MakaioB: I don’t recall any Phil-Kareem discord as a result of the aforementioned criticism so long ago, but then again Phil did also call Kareem the best player in the league (albeit rather individualistic in style of play) and Phil also ripped so many people in the book that it’s hard for everyone to have kept track.
BT: Phil has been all over the map spiritually — there’s a sweet moment in the book when Phil relates how his mother, a minister, would sit on the edge of his bed and hold him as he reveals to her that he doesn’t really believe — but has wound up calling himself a “Zen Christian.”