Laker Noise’s Roland Lazenby found himself under fire today after his assessment of friction between the Buss and Phil Jackson was publicly challenged by the Jeanie Buss. Along with defending his reporting, Lazenby adds the following aside/warning for anyone who might seek to intimidate him ;
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.