J-Speaks: Dustup Between LeBron James and Phil Jackson

For a decade-plus, four-time MVP, perennial All-Star and three-time NBA champion LeBron James has proven himself to be one of the greatest to play on the professional hardwood. New York Knicks’ President Phil Jackson with his 11 NBA titles as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers is one of the greatest to ever coach in the NBA You would think these two who have accomplished so much in the NBA would have the highest level of respect for each other. While James has been of that caliber, Jackson more has downplayed the success of others whether it be opposing players or fellow coaches and that can to the forefront recently and it really irked a lot of people, especially James.

Not too long ago in an ESPN.com article done by longtime sportswriter Jackie McMullen, Jackson, an 11-time champion as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers said of James that, “When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland and he wanted to spend the night. The don’t do overnights…You can’t hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.”

The word posse was the word that rubbed James’ inner circle and business associates the wrong way.

All around, it was a very unpleasant affair and it gave the notion that those associated with James are just there because of his greatness on the court that has given him many opportunities and successes off the hardwood and James made that point clear back on Tuesday.

"I've always given the upmost respect to everyone. All my peers. People that's laid the path for me and laid the path for coaches and players and things of that nature," James said to the press.

"I've always given respect to others. It's always like I told you before a while ago it's always shade thrown on me. So it let's me know that I still got a lot more work to do."

When asked by a report if Jackson were to approach him, would he entertain that discussion.

James' response was a simple, "No."

NBA on ESPN/ABC color analyst and former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy said during the telecast of the Cavaliers versus Knicks contest on Wednesday night that Jackson’s statement had no racial overtones.

“I do understand after further thought why LeBron James and his friends Rich Paul and Maverick Carter took offense to it,” Van Gundy also said. “These guys Maverick Carter and Rich Paul have established themselves in the business world and posse does have a hangeronish implication that I don’t think Phil Jackson necessarily meant, but I think they took it that way. What it teaches all of us is words we use, innocuous words. You might consider them innocuous can be hurtful to others and you really got to think before you speak.”

The reality is that we all have been guilty of using such words to describe people who are or act different from the norm.

What moments like this do though is make all of us take an inner look at ourselves and hopefully give us the strength and willingness to be better. To look at the situation from a different perspective. Some people will get it from the jump; others it can take a while and some have to be embarrassed in order to understand what they did was wrong, like Jackson.  

Looking back at his career as the head coach of the Bulls and Lakers, he has always been dismissive of the success of other coaches and star players in the NBA and has thrown jabs at opposing coaches, NBA referees, star players of others teams and from time to time some of his own players like for instance his former stars with the Lakers in Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant.

Jackson took a shot at the best player on his team Carmelo Anthony, who had a season-high of 35 points on 13 for 27 from the field in the Knicks 114-103 win at the Miami Heat (7-15) back on Tuesday night.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball[...]," Jackson said of his best players in ability to utilize the famed "Triangle Offense.

"We have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop."

Anthony had been pretty quiet about the situation, until the close of this week when he posted on his Instagram page at carmeloanthony where he said, "EGO is the only requirement to destroy any relationship. So. be a BIGGER person, skip the "E" and let it "GO."

He followed that post that had a picture of the legendary Muhammad Ali that said "UN-Phased (MyLifeSummedUpInOnePhoto)."

Early on Friday, Jackson responded by saying, "I didn't talk to him so I don't know where was coming from with those comments. If he wants to talk about it, cool. If he don't, cool. In my eyes it's over... I feel like we're playing good basketball, and just to have a temporary black cloud over our heads."

On top of that Jackson as President of the Knicks is being covered differently now that he in the front office of an NBA organization as opposed to being the head man on the sidelines. Before, when he made swipes at others through the press, they saw it as a positive that he needled people and sidetracked their concentration. Today, that tone and sparing is viewed as a major negative and a distraction.

It was a topic for discussion on a local New York radio station, CBS Sports Radio and Jackson said that he realizes in his current position with the Knicks that he can no longer talk about team and how they conduct themselves any longer and should not be talking about other teams.

“That’s a topic I’m not going to discuss because, one, we’re not supposed to discuss other team’s players in this position that I have here…,” Jackson said. “So I violated one of the tenets of our thing. And the obvious thing is, the word itself carries connotation. And I just don’t understand that part of it, the word. So I guess word choice could be something I could regret. But yeah, talking about other teams’ players, that’s out of the box.”

Whether that was the case or not, it certainly did not help the Knicks (12-10) on Wednesday night as they were taken to the cleaners at Madison Square Garden by the Cavs (15-5) 126-94. James was spectacular with 25 points going 7 for 10 from the floor and 10 for 14 from the charity stripe with six boards, seven assists and two block shots. Irving led the way with 28 points, hitting 9 for 17 from the floor, including 4 for 6 from three-point range and 6 for 6 from the foul line with six assists. Kevin Love had 21 points and former Knick Iman Shumpert had 14 points off the bench hitting 4 for 6 from long range.

This dustup between two proud successful men in the NBA is a prime example of what happens when one person thinks one thing and does not do his homework. Phil Jackson is not the first to express his feeling that have no business being said and he will not be the last either. The words that come out of ones out of mouth may not matter to them, but it could hurt someone else. Being cautious about what you could say can keep you from putting your foot in your mouth and save you a lot of backlash and above all keep a situation from becoming worse.

In the case of the Knicks, this is the kind of situation that can keep them from making the playoffs this spring because they lost to the best team in the Eastern Conference and a lot of their dirty laundry got aired for public consumption. If they do not fix this, it will only get worse.

Information, statistics and quotations are courtesy of the 12/6/16 3:30 p.m. edition of "NBA: The Jump" on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan and Stephen Jackson; 12/7/16 7:30 p.m. telecast of the Cleveland Cavaliers versus New York Knicks on ESPN with commentators Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and sideline reporter Lisa Salters; www.nba.com/games/20161207/CLENYK#/boxscore and 12/9/16 3:30 p.m. addition of "NBA: The Jump" on with Rachel Nichols, Richard Hamilton and Tracy McGrady.