Lakernoise

I should respond to Jeanie Buss’s recent comments about my hoopshype column. She implied that I fabricated something about the internal conflicts of the Lakers. http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lakers/post/_/id/3878/new-k-bros-podkast-jeanie-buss
Is there conflict in the Los Angeles Lakers’ inner sanctum? Of course.
Is it wise for Jeanie Buss to play down such conflict? Yes. In fact, it’s important that they resolve it, which is the point of the two columns I’ve written about it.
It was Phil Jackson, not I, who first articulated his displeasure to the New York media earlier in the season over suggestions that he take a pay cut from his $12 million per year salary.
The story accurately reported that the Lakers have not made Jackson an offer for next year.
The story accurately reported that Jeanie has articulated her concerns that her father and brother were going to again force Jackson out.
The story accurately reported that Jeanie expressed displeasure with the fact that Byron Scott, rumored to be a candidate to replace Jackson, was in the owner’s suite on the night Jackson became the team’s all-time winningest coach.
The story accurately reported that Phil Jackson was “taking the high road” on the event.
The story accurately reported that Jackson often speaks with Jim Buss when he travels with the team, just as I’ve previously reported the friction within management and coaching over center Andrew Bynum.
The story accurately reported that Jeanie Buss feels loyalty to her father and brother.
The story accurately reported that Jackson and owner Jerry Buss are not close. Jeanie Buss has talked about this in the past herself.
Jeanie Buss said I was dredging up old stuff from my book “Mindgames” about Jackson. I did not mention my book “Mindgames.” I wrote about Jackson’s behavior in 1998 because my source drew that parallel between the circumstances then and now.
The purpose of writing a column with such a smarmy tone is to cast the conflict as unseemly.
I believe that if I elevate an ugly warning about this internal conflict that the participants will back off.
In fact, I’ll never forget sitting in a private on-the-record interview with Phil Jackson in 1998 when he began describing the bathroom habits of Michael Jordan and Bulls GM Jerry Krause. It was disgusting, and Jackson did it to embarrass Krause (and perhaps even Jordan) in the course of a fierce public relations battle Jackson was waging with Bulls’ management and ownership.
It was an ugly, ugly time, and I was there to report much of it. Jackson has in the past quoted Abraham Lincoln about the better angels of our nature. Phil Jackson knows that when he turns to his own better angel he’s a pretty fine basketball coach. I think he’ll also admit in his most honest moments that he’s capable of some absolutely deplorable behavior. Aren’t we all? But you could make the case that because Jackson is so bright and talented, his highs are obviously higher than those for most of us. And his lows are really low. He can be a real creep if he thinks no one is looking.
Having lived through that intense experience in Chicago, I employ a certain belief in writing about Jackson in Los Angeles. If I see signs of the worse angel of Jackson’s nature starting to roam, I try to write about it. And when I do write about it, I don’t make it cute or pretty.
I wrote an nasty column to remind Jackson and others of just how ugly things can become if they give in to certain urges to fight.
And afterward I felt the need to take a shower.
I’m glad to hear Jeanie Buss report that the internal conflict with the Lakers is exaggerated.
But if it’s all the same to her, I’ll continue my vigilance. I don’t ever want to see Phil Jackson’s dark side climbing out of the box again.