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Phil Jackson: 15 years I’ve been asking the NBA rules committee to widen the court apron. Corner shot b-comes 23.9”
15 years I’ve been asking the NBA rules committee to widen the court apron. Corner shot b-comes 23.9”
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) April 27, 2026
So what role did Phil Jackson play in your life on and off the court? Lamar Odom: “A teacher. We all go through school and go through academics. And I'm pretty sure you can remember who was your favorite teacher. I didn't have many. Growing up, you know what I mean? I didn't have many. I'm an eighth-grade dropout. I kind of quit school after my mother passed away when I was 12 years old. “I would say, Phil and Pat Riley. Probably my two favorites. My two favorite teachers and my basketball walk. I know the importance of every position on the court. And one of the reasons is because how I played the game, how I always saw the game.”
Thanasis Antetokounmpo on getting drafted by the Knicks: I don't know why they drafted me because when I was sitting down they were asking me about players and they kept saying… because it was two sides. I don't know if people remember this, but it was two sides of the Knicks. It was the Knicks, the New York Knicks, Allan Houston, and everybody else that was like in the organization, and then it was the other side of the Lakers when Phil Jackson came. So, it was those two that when they were interviewing me, there was I remember vividly, I would sit down at the table and it was like the Lakers’ side and the Knicks’ side. They would ask me, you know, regular questions and it's like, hey, like, you know, where do you live? Do you have a spouse? Do you have kids? Like, no, no, all these other things. And the other people would ask me like, "What do you think about Dennis Rodman?" Like, "Oh, shoot. Okay. Yeah. What do you think about Trevor Ariza?" And then now looking back, I was like, "Oh, they were comparing me. They were trying to get me to say like, hey, because if I had said I don't really see myself like them, they’re not my style. I don't think I get drafted to the Knicks, because I love those players, you know, they would be like, and Shannon Brown and all these kind of like cats that were saying. I was like, "Oh, okay. I get what they're saying." And then, you know, I ended up getting drafted. One of, you know, one of the happiest moments in my life because I was very very worried. You know, when Giannis got drafted, I was like, "Wow, I got to make it. I got to do something for my family. I got to make sure we're good."
Robert Parish: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. To answer your question, his teammates didn’t challenge him. You can tell by how he looked at me, the deposition and stance that he took. There ain't nobody that challenged Michael. Michael had unchallenged power on that team. And rightly so. He was the main man. He should have had that. But, I just let him know that he's not the first superstar that I played with. Sh*t, Larry Bird was a superstar. I wasn't in awe of Michael Jordan. And I told him so. Sh*t, I played with a bad motherf*cker. Shit, Larry's one of the all-time greats. So why am I going to be in awe of Michael Jordan, may I ask? Let me give you a little context, how all that came about. The challenge, we scrimmage every day, when I was with the Bulls, same as when I was with the Celtics. So first, I was playing with the first team with Michael, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. And then Phil Jackson put me with the second unit and put Luc Longley back on the first unit. So we beat them four straight games. And so after the scrimmage was over, I asked Michael how did he like that ass whooping. So he took offense to that. [Laughing]
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The two-time NBA champ has had conversations with athletic departments and basketball staff about joining them to help develop the next generation of players. Sources told TMZ ... Lamar is pitching schools on bringing back elements of the legendary Triangle Offense, the system he mastered while playing for then-Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. We’re told Lamar believes young basketball players can benefit from the strategy ... and he's eager to land a job where he can start training a new batch of basketball stars.
Deron Williams: I liked playing for coach Avery Johnson. Coach Avery's funny, too… ‘Man! Let me tell you something, man’ Coach Avery was cool, man. He was another one of those like player-coaches, loved the game, smart coach. It was fun playing for Avery. And it's unfortunate because like a lot of people even think I had something to do with him getting fired in Brooklyn. Tony Allen: So that was just your MO. Williams: I became the coach killer. I used to see signs like ‘coach killer’ and all this. I liked Avery. I ain't say nothing to him. I think he was doomed from the start, because the the Russians, from my first year, they started asking me about other coaches and I'm like telling them I like Avery, but they had their mindset on other coaches. They wanted Phil Jackson.
Ron Harper talking about Phil Jackson saying that Scottie Pippen was better than Michael Jordan “Scottie Pippen is the best small forward to ever play the game of basketball. MJ is the best game day clutch player to ever play the ball game. You not going to lose with MJ, you could be down 10,2,18 he going to will you to win. Scottie has a lot of basketball skills, high IQ, understand the game, knows how to play the game. Pippen is a phenomenal talent he can shoot it, dribble it, can guard 1 through 5 and was a great teammate to have. But when you want to get over that hill. You going to have to go over there with 23 he will get you over the hill”
Q. JJ, you said, you know, that level of physicality and toughness from Detroit is in their DNA. Like, do you know what this team's or this group's DNA is yet? Has that been established? Do you have a sense of what your team is? JJ Redick: Still trying to figure that out. And I know that it's maybe a cop out. Probably is, but I do know that we have had a lot of stops and starts, and we've tried to not just the staff was in our team, you know, the players, staff, everybody. We really tried to play the right way every night and have the right intent, the flow of lineups and rotations, and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches, it's just a challenge for the players, and building an identity is difficult. I think it's of our team last year and this team is different and our identity will eventually be different but we didn't get that identity till late January, felt like, and then we had to shift again so I don't think it's unnatural, I remember a meeting I had with Phil Jackson last year pretty early in the season and he said I always felt like I knew who my team was by Thanksgiving. I think that's hard to figure out with this team right now.
Q: Chicago would go crazy if you could get Michael, Scottie and Dennis back together. Randy Brown: “It would be an honor for the Bulls fans to see Michael, Scottie and Dennis. Phil Jackson. Steve Kerr. Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, Jud Buechler, John Salley, Buddha Edwards, Scott Burrell, Jason Caffey. I had some great teammates along the way, and Bulls fans would love to acknowledge that this is a championship city. “I’m not going to let it go. I’m hoping it will happen sooner rather than later. Even though everyone’s read in the media about Michael and Scottie’s differences, all that stuff, I hope it can all come to fruition, that we can hug each other one last time. And then from there, we can see where it goes.” Q: So you’ll keep texting them, trying to make it happen, huh? Randy Brown: “I’m not going to stop. I’m a point guard, and Michael taught me to be a leader. I’m going to use my leadership qualities to stay connected to all of my guys.”
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During a recent segment via Eurohoops, Sarunas Jasikevicius gave his opinion that coaching in the NBA is all the same style, a far cry from what he says was plenty of variety among coaches back when he played in the league. “For me the craziest thing now is when you talk about the NBA coaches, I don’t mean it in a bad way, but I used to say back when I was in the NBA. . .they all play the same,” Jasikevicius said. “There used to be these huge names in the coaching of the NBA, and they all had their own thing. Pat Riley was one thing. You learn from the triangle of Phil Jackson. Then came Mike D’Antoni with his running, spacing and a little bit smaller ball. And it was so nice. [Gregg] Popovich was playing everything through another playmaker in Tim Duncan.”
Phil kind of made the joke that the '70s Knicks used to get together, and that 'I don't think there's going to be many get-togethers with the '96 Bulls.' He was sort of joking about it, that there are not going to be many reunions after all the things that have been said. Scottie Pippen called Phil a racist. Scottie has been an angry guy. He's been angry at everybody and doesn't have a relationship with the Bulls anymore. I was pretty close to him; we were going to write a book together, I still got the contract for it, but we finally didn't do it. He doesn't talk to me anymore either.
Sam Smith: Phil Jackson was very sympathetic toward him, despite whatever things he said about him. We talked about that in the book. He said, 'I feel like Scottie Pippen has had bad advice.' And the touching thing, though, was that when I asked him about how Michael reacted, he said Michael Jordan was really hurt by it, and not angry. He regrets losing this relationship.
Sam Smith: Phil Jackson was literally at Kobe Bryant’s house just days before the horrible accident; he had gone down to Orange County and spent some time with him, and they were literally talking about Kobe traveling on helicopters back and forth all the time.