I too thought Phil Jackson was a jerk. Especially playing those weak mind games on those young star players in the playoffs.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nb...ly-no-respect-for-me


The Los Angeles Times asks West, “You write that coach Phil Jackson ‘absolutely had no respect’ for you, and that as your ‘incredible feeling for the Lakers began to wane’ in the late 1990s, in hindsight, you ‘would have left shortly after (Jackson) arrived,’ in 1999. Why was that relationship so bad?

Jerry West hired Phil Jackson to coach the Lakers in 1999. (AP Photo)
"I told (Lakers owner) Jerry Buss to hire him,” West responded. “The only thing I cared about was winning, but you want a relationship with your coach. There was no relationship. You felt, ‘This is not the way we've operated, and we've won without him.' You can't win without great players. As good as Phil is, he might improve a team with bad players, but he wasn't going to win. I felt underappreciated by leadership, and leadership is ownership. As we left the Forum to Staples Center, I'd say, 'What am I doing here? What am I doing to myself?' Destructive feelings, a different drama every day. Leaving was the biggest relief of my life. They had just won a championship, and would win two more. It was time for me to go."

West also says in the book that he was hospitalized for exhaustion after completing the deals to acquire Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 1996.



Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nb...for-me#ixzz1bEc4IAVT

http://www.philly.com/philly/s...st_abuse_victim.html


http://lakersblog.latimes.com/...rom-child-abuse.html


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