Adande On Phil's Don't-Call-It-A-Tell-All



CSTB's advance copy of Phil Jackson's "The Last Season" seems to have gotten lost in the post. As such, we'll let the LA Times' J.A. Adande work his way through it, along with the resulting promo frenzy.

Phil Jackson is like Obi-Wan Kenobi; they struck him down and now he's even more powerful. He certainly swiped the headlines away from the current Lakers last week with excerpts from his diary of the team's drama-filled 2003-04 season.

Now that the book is out, it's time for the full promotional blitz: "The Best Damn Sports Show" today, a stop by Jay Leno's set Friday, followed by an appearance at Vroman's in Pasadena, where he will sign copies of "The Last Season."

Perhaps that's an appropriate title, because Jackson reveals so many behind-the-scenes, inside-the-locker room conversations that it's difficult to imagine another group of players trusting him.


"I don't think it's a tell-all book," said Jackson, who was not brought back by the Lakers after his five-year contract expired in June. "There's plenty of stuff left untold. It's not about disclosure. It's about managing a team and trying to get the best out of a team. In the process there are illustrations that are pure illustrations to bring about the point. It's not about holding things back, it's about being truthful."

The Lakers, in a statement, questioned the veracity, claiming that there were "several inaccuracies" in the excerpted passages.

"I did find an inaccuracy," Jackson quipped. "There was a typo in the book that I'm going to make sure is corrected in the second printing, if there is one."

How can a coach who spent so much time — including several instances recounted in this book — worrying about keeping things out of the media now dump a basket of gold-and-purple dirty laundry in the street?

"It's not top-secret government stuff here," Jackson said. "This is a story that was going to be written from some standpoint. The idea that it was going to be written by journalists or people from the outside, that was OK. But the real story could be told from where I stood…. You guys are looking for inside views. This was one that I thought was as good a viewpoint as any … and the fact it was going to be my last season."


"The biggest regret is not finding a way to resolve the conflict that kept Kobe and Shaq from playing as well as they could together, from being a part of team," Jackson said after a lengthy pause. "Then the team was broken up. That's probably my biggest regret, that I wasn't able to come in and heal all those wounds. I'm not a professional psychologist, even though that's a lot of times what coaches do."

Posted: Thu - October 21, 2004 at 06:41 PM      

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