12/27/2023 0 Comments Who created zen for 2k“I think what has shaped this team, as far as his personality goes, is his sharpness as a person. ‘Hey, you better start coaching, and earn that fabulous salary of yours.’ But he’s likely to say, ‘Ah, let ’em work it out themselves.’ It’s amazing how many times they do.” - Lakers assistant Tex Winter, Sports Illustrated, 1999 Things are going bad on the court, and I’ll be screaming at Phil to take a timeout. He’s able to read the big picture and not let the emotions of the moment control him. “I’ve never known anybody to handle crisis the way Phil does. He’s going to make these people believe in each other, he’s going to make them trust in each other and I think you can see in his comments, he’s a very, very confident guy.” - West, Los Angeles Times, 1999 We feel that this is the area that he’s really going to help us. Maybe we just weren’t good enough, maybe we weren’t able to take that next step, maybe we weren’t mature enough. “If you lose, there’s always chemistry problems. They have to be the savior of themselves.” - Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Sports Illustrated, 1999 I believe they’re a group of players who want to (win the championship) but don’t know quite how. But as was the case throughout Bryant’s career, nothing came easily as the two butted heads and fell out in spectacular fashion before reconciling for a second go-round. Enter Phil Jackson, the Zen-practicing mystic who molded the Chicago Bulls from a one-man show starring Michael Jordan into a six-time champion. It’s telling that Bryant feuded with the two most important figures in his professional career, Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal and coach Phil Jackson.īut as the following collection of quotes will attest, Bryant never wavered from the goal he laid out all those years ago: To wring every last drop of success out of his career that he possibly could, obstacles be damned.įor all their promise, the Lakers failed repeatedly and miserably in the playoffs during Bryant’s first three seasons. Often the opposition, sometimes his own teammates, and now his own body after nearly 60,000 total minutes in the regular season and playoffs. It was less about what Bryant accomplished than how he did it, with a singularity of purpose that impressed even his role model and mentor, the ferociously competitive Michael Jordan.īut whereas Jordan was an artist, polished and stylish enough to make his success look almost effortless, Bryant - who will play his final game Wednesday against the Utah Jazz (10:30 ET, ESPN) - stubbornly hammered away at his objectives until something broke. ? Five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers With those words, a precocious 17-year-old phenom from the Philadelphia suburbs launched what would become one of the most decorated careers in NBA history, spanning two decades and a Hall of Fame resume bursting with accolades: “I, Kobe Bryant…have decided to skip college and take my talents to the NBA.”
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