King James responds to the Zen-Master
Yesterday, Phil Jackson spoke with ESPN on the state of his New York Knicks and running the triangle for Carmelo Anthony – with the addition of Derrick Rose over the summer. While he said, he’s completely okay with the team not running his legendary system, he still insisted that the offensive play set helps basic fundamentals of basketball.
Later in his conversation with Jackie MacMullan, he touched on witnessing LeBron James leave the Miami Heat two years ago and shared a rare story. During a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time, James wanted to stay behind with friends and family, which the team was against overnights in opposing towns. However, LeBron decided to stay the night, which put Coach Spoelstra and Pat Riley in a tough spot to break a team rule.
Jackson soon said, “You are on the plane, you are with this team. 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 undertone of the term “posse” was a red flag to James, who felt it was a slap in his face to use the term. During morning shoot-around before their game against the Toronto Raptors, LeBron gave a response in the clip above saying, “I had nothing but respect for him as a coach.”
Let us know in the comments what you think of Jackson’s usage of the word and the Lebron response.