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Phil Jackson: From Laker boss to 'Bossypants'
Published: 5/9/2011 6:06 PM
Last Modified: 5/10/2011 11:47 AM

If this really is goodbye for the Zen Master, then I wish him a happy retirement.

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson allegedly presided over his last game when the Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals.

Way back in April of 1990, a few months after I joined the Tulsa World, I volunteered to trek to Dallas to write a feature piece on Stacey King, a former Oklahoma player whose Chicago Bulls were visiting Reunion Arena. (Volunteering for things is what you do when you are chained to a sports copy desk from 4 p.m. to midnight and you want to show you are possibly worthy of having a byline in the newspaper.)

Jackson was the Bulls’ coach. I approached him courtside before the game to see if he would take a few questions about King, the sixth overall pick in the 1989 draft. Not only was Jackson agreeable, he dropped the word “mastiffs” (you don’t hear that one every day) into an answer and I got the idea he would have talked to me all night, if that’s what I needed.

In fact, my chat with Jackson was better than my chat with King because I made the rookie mistake of telling King that, when not on the court, he at least he had a front-row seat to watch Michael Jordan.

King nudged B.J. Armstrong, who was seated in front of an adjacent locker, and said “Did you hear that?” But we got past that minor turbulence and it was a smooth ride after that.

Jackson was in his first season as the Bulls’ coach, so the interview came before any of his 11 championships -- six with Jordan and Scottie Pippen, three with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and two with Bryant as a sort-of-solo act.

Critics might say Jackson’s ring collection isn't all that impressive because he he always seemed to have the best player on the planet on his team. Did he just ride their coattails?

Because I can’t get past an ultra-positive first impression, I’m going to defend Jackson and say he was as adept at juggling big egos as any coach in NBA history.

In Chicago, Jackson lorded over an environment in which Jordan, Pippen and Dennis Rodman co-existed and thrived, never mind that Rodman was taking eccentricity to extremes and never mind that Rodman had a less-than-friendly history with his Bulls teammates. In L.A., Jackson coached the Lakers to titles despite "who's the man" tension between O'Neal and Bryant.

Backtracking to 1990 again, I left Dallas wondering if all NBA coaches were as accommodating to reporters (especially ones they had never met) as Jackson. I later found the answer to be “no.” John Lucas, while coaching the Philadelphia 76ers, once told me to come back after the game and he would answer my questions then. After the postgame media mob departed, I could tell by Lucas' body language that he was hoping I would go away, too. He did, however, live up to his end of the bargain and I’m sure he has no idea that I was later the guy who covered his son’s senior season at Oklahoma State.

Also, I got an immediate first impression that Don Nelson was WAY (yes, all capital letters) too impressed with himself. When the Patrick Ewing/John Starks-era Knicks essentially revolted under Nelson, I was amused and not a bit surprised.

During Jackson’s coaching career, he bought books and gave them to his players. Each player got a different book, sort of like a customized prescription from the Zen Master. Maybe Jackson is so literate that he can’t help but have the word “mastiff” in his vocabulary.

As a parting gift, I’m recommending that Jackson read Tiny Fey’s book, “Bossypants.” After being swept by the Mavs, Jackson deserves a good laugh.


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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