When you think Phil Jackson you think mastermind of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers dynasties that he guided to 11 NBA championships.
You also remember the guy who was a key reserve on the New York Knicks 1970 and 1973 NBA championship teams with Willis Reed and Clyde Frazier. Jackson also had a pretty well-publicized relationship with Lakers owner Jeannie Buss. In all, Jackson in many ways is looked at as the greatest coach ever to stalk the sidelines
Affectionately known as the “Zen Master,” Jackson has always formed his own opinions on players, the league as a whole and even politics, and now it coincides with the NBA. During a recent interview on the “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin” podcast, Jackson talked about why he hasn’t watched NBA games the past three seasons.
Rubin asked Jackson if he still watched a good amount of hoops since he retired in 2011, Jackson responded with an emphatic, “No, I don’t.”
But Jackson’s reasoning, as he explained, isn’t about the on-court product but all the other things that happened during the 2020 NBA bubble.
Zenmaster Says He Shut Off NBA During COVID-19 Lockdown
In wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world in 2020, the NBA moved the remainder of their season into the “NBA bubble” in Orlando, Florida. This following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police. In an effort to show solidarity with its African-American players, the league decided to put the “Black Lives Matter” slogan on the court as well as players’ warm-ups.
That didn’t sit too well with many who proclaimed that they should keep sports and politics separate. Jackson was one of those who believes this, and he told Rubin that’s why he doesn’t watch games anymore.
“They went into a lockout year, and they did something that was kind of wonky. They did a bubble down in Orlando, and all the teams that could qualify went down there, and stayed down there. And they had things on their backs like ‘Justice.’ I made a little funny thing like, Justice just went to the basket, and Equal Opportunity just knocked him down. So, my grandkids thought that was pretty funny to play up those names. So, I couldn’t watch that.”
“They even had slogans on the floor, on the baseline,” Jackson said. “It was catering. It was trying to cater to an audience, or trying to bring a certain audience into play. And they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.
“We’ve had a lot of different types of players that have gone on to be … Bill Bradley was a senator, a number of baseball players have been representatives and senator … But their politics stay out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”
Jackson says he was so peeved by that he completely stopped watching the NBA. But he’s also the same guy who referred to LeBron James’ guys Rich Paul and Maverick Carter by calling them his “posse.” That comment drew the ire of many who questioned why Jackson would call them that.
Jalen Rose Came Just Short Of Calling Jackson A Racist
On Sunday, the outspoken Rose denounced Jackson’s remarks with this social media post where he called him out for making his name and millions of dollars on the backs of Black athletes, like Michael Jordan, Scottie, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant.
Pippen called his former coach a racist years ago and folks looked at him like he was crazy.
