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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.”
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.
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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.
Carmelo Anthony on why Phil Jackson’s Triangle didn’t work in New York: Phil team was more triangle. He just he knew the triangle. He knew what pieces that he needed in the triangle but he got the wrong pieces for the triangle. You get what I'm saying? So you need system people for that. You need a system guard. You need a big that can post up. You need a wing like a Kobe or MJ, somebody who, you know, an iso guy. And then you need a Toni Kukoc, Lamar Odom. You need one of those type of guys.
Carmelo Anthony: It's funny to me, right? When you sit back and reflect and analyze… I really had to peel back the layers of this Knicks–New York situation and try to understand what was going on. When you’re dealing with power—and people who only know power their whole lives—if anything starts to challenge that, you disagree with it. You don’t f--- with it. You shy away. As a man, if I was that much of a hindrance to you, why didn’t you have a conversation with me when I was there? Instead of bringing me into your office showing me Michael Jordan triangle clips and telling me what not to do in the triangle because he did it wrong. That’s what he told me! Instead of that, let’s have a real man convo. Like: “Melo, listen, I want to go in a different direction.” The team was already... We weren’t good. That’s not a shot at my teammates—they know it too. We had a poorly structured roster. And you were at the helm. Nobody told you who to go get. You had this vision of playing a certain type of system—the triangle—which I love, by the way. At the time, it didn’t fit the style of the NBA. We were a laughingstock of the league for still running the triangle. And I had to take those bullets—not you, Phil. While I’m taking bullets, you’re in the stands tweeting about Melo breaking the triangle. That was crazy. I never spoke on him. I never spoke about him.
Carmelo Anthony: It was a fight. I fought for the team. I fought for everyone on my team. No teammate can say I didn’t fight for him. I was the one saying: “Let’s just give it a try. Come on. F--- it. We don’t want to run this s--- anyway, but let’s buy in. Let’s see what happens.” Then we win 30 games, and I’m the bad guy? That’s crazy. I sat in your office—with candles lit. We had zen moments. Now you wanna talk some dumb s---? This is why the younger generation doesn’t respect some of the older guys. There’s a disconnect. Just do what you do, Phil. You know what happened. You should’ve coached. Instead of sitting your ass in the stands—come down here and coach. You wanna teach the triangle? Come teach it. But the team wasn’t good enough for you to come down and coach because you don’t coach bullsh*t teams. I know the game. I know what’s going on.
"What would your counsel to him be about a full 82-game season? What would you tell him?" Shaquille O'Neal: "I would tell him to pace himself. You know, Phil Jackson— and I don't know how he did it— but the three years we won in a row, he would come in at times and be like, 'Hey, sit these two games out. I need you to rest. No parties, no rap videos, no commercials—just rest. But when you come back, I need you to average 40.'" "So, you know, Phil did a great job of managing my game time, my injury time, and he also did a great job of keeping us away from Utah. I don't know how he did it. We always had problems with Utah earlier, before he got there. But right— notice we never played Utah. He’d rather play Sacramento or San Antonio. So he would come in at times and be like, 'Hey, I need you to sit a week out,' or 'Hey, I need you to average 40 this week,' or 'Don’t practice this week.'"
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Q. The Spurs are 5-0 for the first time right now. Shaquille O’Neal: Listen, they're playing great. Victor Wembanyama is redefining what a big man can do. Joker has already redefined what big man can do, but Wemby's taking it to a different level: dribbling between his legs, stepping back, looking like Kevin Durant. He's playing some excellent basketball right now, and I'm happy for him. I'm happy for the San Antonio organization. Q. What would your counsel to him be about a full 82-game season and how what would you tell him about? O’Neal: I would tell I would tell him to pace himself. Phil Jackson, and I don't know how he did it, but the three years we won in a row, he would come in at times and be like, ‘Hey, sit these two games out. I need you to rest. No parties, no rap videos, no commercials, just rest. But when you come back, I need you to average 40.’ Phil did a great job of managing my game time, my injury time, and he also did a great job of keeping us away from Utah. I don't know how he did it. We always had problems with Utah earlier before he got there.
James Dolan thought the media would run Phil Jackson out of town. But it was Carmelo Anthony. In a book scheduled for release Nov. 4, Jackson delves into his tenuous relationship with Melo, how the Knicks contributed to the end of his engagement to Jeanie Buss, a previously unknown desire to hire Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his conversations with Dolan before a “mutual decision to part ways” in 2017. “Dolan said to me, ‘Are you going to get run out of town by the media?’ I said, ‘I know who the media is; that doesn’t affect me,’ ” Jackson said in the Carmelo chapter of his book, “Masters of the Game,” a conversational read on the 75 greatest players through the lens of the legendary coach and Hall of Fame scribe Sam Smith. “But Dolan felt it was too much. He said, ‘I don’t want you to go through it. I know what it’s like to deal with these people.’ I said, ‘Unfortunately my relationship with Carmelo is kind of busted, and if he’s going to be here, it’s probably best that I go.’ ”
Kurt Helin: Draymond Green with the best line of the night, talking about seeing LeBron James in street clothes. “LeBron’s old-ass was sitting in his Phil Jackson chair.” Draymond then said it was odd seeing a competitor like LeBron in street clothes, and talked about what a challenging injury that is.
How was your relationship with Michael Jordan? Scottie Pippen: “It’s never been on the top shelf, but that’s the nature of the business. I was like that with Phil Jackson, but we’re not tight anymore neither so it’s a part of life and the cycles that we go through.”