Phil Jackson discusses his comments on LeBron James tonight at 6:30 ET on We Need To Talk. https://t.co/ZAW76mZqGG
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) December 6, 2016
Phil Jackson put himself in a bad spot when he referred to LeBron James‘ group of friends as his “posse” last month. During an appearance on CBS Sports Net’s We Need To Talk, Jackson had the opportunity to apologize for what he said.
Instead of doing that, Jackson pretended like he had no idea that he did anything wrong. Former WNBA star Lisa Leslie asked him if he’d take his comments back. After first saying that he’s not allowed to discuss players on another team, Jackson essentially said he didn’t understand why anything he said was offensive.
And the obvious thing is, the word itself carries connotation. And I just don’t understand that part of it, the word. So I guess word choice could be something I would regret. But talking about other teams players, that’s out of the box.
Jackson, when lobbed something of a softball, didn’t take the opportunity to say “I’m sorry, my choice in words was poor.” Instead, he responded by essentially shrugging his shoulders and going “I guess I did something wrong but I don’t know exactly what that is.”
Leslie also asked asked Jackson about potentially meeting up with James during the Cavaliers’ trip to New York on Wednesday night. Jackson responded to this by saying “It’s water under the bridge. I don’t think there was anyone hurt or harmed in this situation. I think LeBron’s friend obviously had an issue with it. We just let it go. It’s not enough to talk about it.”
This, of course, is inaccurate. Saying that LeBron’s friend had an issue with the word “posse” ignores that James himself was ultra-critical of Jackson, even going as far as saying that he no longer respects the former Bulls and Lakers coach. It’s a bad moment for Jackson, who put his foot in his mouth in a big way with his original comment and somehow made the situation worse when he was given the opportunity to clear the air.
