Now the president of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson hasn’t exactly remained all too quiet when it comes to his time as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. A tenure that ended abruptly when Jackson “retired” back in 2011.
Jackson had this to say about his former boss and Lakers owner Jim Buss over the weekend (via CBS Sports).
Jimmy Buss is a person that’s vaulted into position through his inheritance, his father’s position…I think he’s coming to terms with one of the realities of this job. That’s all I can offer.
That’s one way to make a statement about someone that was seemingly one of the primary reasons that Jackson left the Lakers back in 2011. The two never really got along behind the scenes, especially as Jim took over for his now late father Jerry as a primary decision maker in recent years.
The reality here is that a lot of owners are vaulted into that all-important position in professional sports. It’s called the “silver spoon” syndrome, and occurs when a long-time owner passes away or is unable to remain the key decision maker for a franchise.
We have seen the same story with Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders.
In reality, Jackson has a point here. The Lakers have been a complete mess for the past couple seasons. They are coming off a franchise-high 55 losses and are considered one of the worst teams in the Western Conference heading into the season.
And the main point here has to be that Buss has struggled in a decision-making role in recent seasons. It really didn’t take Jackson to throw shade his way for us to come to this conclusion.
Photo: USA Today