There is a reason why you should never idolize sports figures, entertainers, or anyone else that’s in the spotlight without knowing who they truly are. Over the weekend, former Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Knicks head coach, Phil Jackson made some disgusting remarks regarding why he hasn’t watched the NBA since the 2020 Covid Bubble season.
In a recent interview, Jackson had this to say about the NBA and why he has not watched:
It was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience to the game,” he said, “and they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political. Politics stays out of the game; it doesn’t need to be there.
In Jackson’s words, he’s saying that players and the NBA standing for the BLM movement, turned off other races. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read between the lines here. What’s staggering is that Jackson is tied to at least 4-5 of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game in Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Scottie Pippen, and even the crazy Dennis Rodman. Last I checked, they all are black.
Jackson wasn’t done. It was like watching someone dig a hole and then realizing it wasn’t deep enough so he keep on with the shovel. Even at 77 years of age and being around the league and its politics for decades, one would think that Jackson understood what the league and the players were trying to do.
They went into the 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,” he said. “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.
Is Jackson an undercover racist or was what he said taken out of context? So far, he has not issued a response to his claims or those that are coming from other people in the media. Jalen Rose, an ESPN analyst, had this to say regarding the comments made by the legendary coach.
My thoughts on Phil Jackson’s comments. https://t.co/Hgq5gPNJg4 pic.twitter.com/Vp3eH9uukH
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) April 23, 2023
Truth be told, this is not the first time Jackson has drawn some raised eyebrows on his stance. He once had a mouthful to say regarding players and their attention span. “I don’t mean to say [that] as a snide remark toward a certain population in our society, but they have a limitation of their attention span, a lot of it probably due to too much rap music going in their ears and coming out their being.”
Phil Jackson has never been one to hide from a camera or microphone and he speaks his mind but this should have been one of those times when he kept quiet. No longer in the NBA, is this Phil’s way of trying to stay relevant? does he not understand what he’s saying holds weight and if so, why not say something about it when it was going on?
As a fan of the NBA, I respect what Phil did for the game but I don’t personally know Phil Jackson– the man. From what I gather, he’s not a person I would want to get to know either.
My thoughts on Phil Jackson's comments. https://t.co/Hgq5gPNJg4 pic.twitter.com/Vp3eH9uukH
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) April 23, 2023
