LOS ANGELES -- Phil Jackson feels like a kindergarten
teacher these days.
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant took
their long-simmering feud public this week, prompting Jackson to
express anger at the NBA and the media, as well as the two players.
"This is really juvenile stuff, sandbox stuff," the Los
Angeles Lakers coach said Thursday. "It's silly."
Perhaps the NBA's two best players, O'Neal and Bryant have had
their ups-and-downs since joining the Lakers in 1996, but they came
together to lead the team to its first championship in 12 years
last June.
When it was over, they wound up hugging each other.
Although the Lakers have struggled at times this season, no
major problems were evident until comments Bryant made two months
ago for an ESPN The Magazine article were made public Tuesday.
Bryant is quoted as recounting a conversation with Jackson in
which the coach privately asked him to continue making O'Neal the
focal point of the offense.
"Turn my game down? I need to turn it up. I've improved. How
are you going to bottle me up?" Bryant was quoted as saying.
Bryant even talked to the magazine about perhaps playing
elsewhere, although he said Tuesday he was "going to be a Laker
for life."
Jackson said he remembered telling Bryant in November: "If
you're not going to be happy here as a player, then I would want to
move you on, if you can't be happy coexisting with Shaq."
In the aftermath, O'Neal firmly pointed to the success of last
season, when the Lakers won an NBA-high 67 games en route to the
championship.
"When people said this was my team, we went 67-15 and we won the whole thing," O'Neal told The New York Times on Wednesday. "Now, before the All-Star break, we've got 23 wins, 11 losses, we're playing with no passion, no enthusiasm and no hunger. You're right, it's not my team."
O'Neal won the NBA scoring championship, came within one vote of
becoming the league's first-ever unanimous MVP, and was the MVP of
the NBA Finals.
The perception that Bryant is squeezing O'Neal's role in the Lakers' offense is the cause for the rift between the two.
Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring at 29.6 points per game, has taken 171 more shots this season than O'Neal, who has missed two games. O'Neal's average (25.8) is down four points from last season.
"It's a different ballclub, it's a different year, we have new
players and things change, things evolve," Bryant said. "I
improve as a basketball player every day, and I want to show that
improvement.
"All we ask from Shaq is to be the dominant presence that he is
and play solid defense. That's it. Scoring shouldn't affect his
defense. We've been losing games on the defensive end. Offensively,
there's nothing wrong with us."
While both are obviously very good, neither player has been
perfect. Some of the defensive problems have been in transition,
after Bryant has taken ill-advised shots. And O'Neal's horrendous
foul shooting has hurt at times.
Jackson, who said Wednesday he hadn't had any thought of
bringing O'Neal and Bryant together because "I don't even want
them in the same room right now," made no attempt to hide his
annoyance Thursday.
"Of course," he told reporters when asked if the team's mood
has been affected. "It becomes an irritant. I'm totally (angry) at
you guys, but it's not your fault. It's for us to deal with, not
you guys."
Jackson said he doesn't blame the media because the NBA mandates
too much accessibility.
"That daily access sets this up," he said.
Jackson said the problem isn't serious, but it could be in the
future.
"To blow it up out of proportion over an article that was
written two months ago doesn't make any sense to me," he said.
"It keeps burning."
Jackson said the Lakers have meetings all the time, adding
sarcastically: "I'm working on group therapy most of the damn
time."
He added that O'Neal hasn't said Bryant is selfish, as O'Neal
essentially told reporters.
"He's not vocal with us," the coach said. "That's where it
counts. If he wants to say that to you guys, I'll let it ride. I
gave him ample opportunity to say that today, and he didn't.
"Shaq is angry, you can see that in his demeanor and hear it in
his voice. He's got to find a way to work through that. Anybody
who's angry can't perform. Shaq has retreated a lot into himself.
Kobe is a joyful personality having a lot of fun on the court."
Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships during
the 1990s, and said he had these kinds of problems every time.
"I just have to take the order over," he said. "It's my job.
We are a team that has to play a certain way. If we do, we're
champions. If we don't, we're a good team. We've got to be an
inside team."
While saying that, Jackson also said, "We don't want to put a
saddle on Kobe."
The Lakers had won eight of nine games before being blasted by
the Clippers 118-95 last Sunday night. They return to action Friday
night against Cleveland before traveling to face Utah on Saturday
night.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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