Phil Jackson made recent headlines by making some fairly appalling comments on a podcast appearance with Rick Rubin, of all people.
Jackson, one of the most accomplished figures in NBA coaching history (and who never won an NBA title as a player or as a coach without Black hall of famers like Walt Frazier, Michael Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe Bryant leading the way), took plenty of shots at the NBA’s social justice initiatives, especially during the bubble playoffs in 2020.
“They even had [social justice] slogans on the floor, on the baseline,” Jackson said, in a recent interview on the Tetragrammaton podcast. “It was catering. It was trying to cater to an audience, or trying to bring a certain audience into play. And they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.
…
“They had things on their back like ‘Justice’ and a funny thing happened,” Jackson said. “Like ‘Justice went to the basket and Equal Opportunity knocked him down’… Some of my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names. I couldn’t watch that.”
Getting so offended by (fairly innocuous) messaging like that is hard to understand coming from a man who wouldn’t be making podcast appearances with Rick Rubin if not for the talent and skill of Black athletes, full-stop. The NBA doesn’t exist as an entertainment product without Black talent.
Jalen Rose certainly took notice. Rose is obviously in the middle of a very busy stretch of NBA work for ESPN, but he took to Twitter to address what Jackson said:
My thoughts on Phil Jackson's comments. https://t.co/Hgq5gPNJg4 pic.twitter.com/Vp3eH9uukH
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) April 23, 2023
“You can’t make this up,” Rose said. He added, “The same Phil Jackson that won championships with some of the greatest Black athletes in the history of the game. Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen. Shaquille O’Neal. Kobe Bryant. Made millions on their backs. And off their sweat equity.”
“You’re sitting there watching the game with your grandkids, and ya’ll think it’s funny when justice passes the ball to equal opportunity?” Rose said. “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.”
Rose’s commentary hits on a very key (and sad) point. Phil Jackson couldn’t take a few moments to teach his grandkids why Black players might be wearing those (again, innocuous) words on their jerseys. That’s a man who spent his entire adult life benefiting from the hard work of Black players and staffers, and he’s still so far from understanding anything about the why.
[Mediaite]