ESPN analyst Jalen Rose has knocked legendary head coach Phil Jackson for his criticism of the NBA becoming too political, implying the comments may be motivated by racism.
As Breitbart News reported, Phil Jackson, who led the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era and the Los Angeles Lakers during the Shaq/Kobe era, turned heads when he said that he stopped watching the NBA several years ago, believing that it had become too political.
“They did something that was kind of wanky, they did a bubble down in Orlando and all the teams that could qualify went down there and stayed down there,” he said during an appearance on the podcast Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin.
“And they had things on their back like, ‘Justice.’ They made a funny thing like, ‘Justice just went to the basket and Equal Opportunity just knocked him down.’ … So my grandkids thought that was pretty funny to play up those names. So I couldn’t watch that,” he added.
Phil Jackson answers questions during the press conference to introduce him as President of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 18, 2014, in New York City. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Jackson said the NBA catered to a certain audience at the expense of other audience members.
“It was catering, trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience into play,” he said. “They didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.”
In response, Jalen Rose seemed to imply in a video posted to social media on Sunday that Phil Jackson may be a racist who got wealthy off the backs of black athletes.
“You can’t make this up … 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,” Rose said. “Made millions on their backs. And off their sweat equity.”
Rose suggested that Phil Jackson should stop watching the game “forever.”
“You’re sitting there watching the game with your grandkids, and y’all think it’s funny when ‘justice’ passes the ball to ‘equal opportunity?’” Rose said. “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them. So stop watching, forever.”
My thoughts on Phil Jackson’s comments. https://t.co/Hgq5gPNJg4 pic.twitter.com/Vp3eH9uukH
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) April 23, 2023
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or VIMEO On Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.