Scottie Pippen said that former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson tried to expose Kobe Bryant on Jackson’s 2004 book titled, ‘The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul’
The 2004 Los Angeles Lakers composing of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton lost their championship series to Detroit Pistons in 2004.
It was the last year that Kobe and Shaq played together and Phil Jackson left the Lakers camp for the first time.
On his appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, Pippen put his former coach under fire.
“I mean, do you remember Phil Jackson left the Lakers, went wrote a book on Kobe Bryant, and then came back and coached him? I mean, who would do that?” Pippen said.
Pippen seems to be referencing Jackson’s 2004 book, The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul, which covered the final season in which Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal played together.
Pippen went on to say that Jackson disrespected Bryant in a way he shouldn’t have when Bryant was one of the best players in the league.
“I think he tried to expose Kobe in a way that he shouldn’t have,” he said. “You’re the head coach, and you’re the guy that sits in the locker room and tells the players, ‘This is a circle, and everything stays within the circle because that’s what team is about.’ But you as the head coach open it up? And now you go out, and you try to belittle, at that time, probably one of the greatest players in the game?”
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