Jackson clarifies 'uncoachable' claim, says Kobe sensitive to criticism

The latest edition of The Phil Jackson Chronicles on Today's Fast Break has the Zen Master waxing poetic about happier times, as opposed to his current, miserable tenure with the New York Knicks.

Jackson devoted Friday's column to the great career of Kobe Bryant, who he coached for 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was more or less a summation of what Jackson said about Bryant in his book, "Eleven Rings."

The legendary coach touched on familiar anecdotes, such as Bryant's struggles to co-exist with Shaquille O'Neal, and Bryant's occasional one-on-one battles that didn't benefit the team.

However, Jackson did clarify one previous statement.

"(After) Shaq was traded, I didn’t re-sign with the Lakers and I wrote a book," Jackson wrote. "I never really said that Kobe was ‘uncoachable.’ What I did write was that I couldn’t coach him anymore. In any case, Kobe was always sensitive to criticism, so he was hurt by the book."

The two eventually reconciled once Jackson returned to the Lakers in 2005. With star coach and star player back on the same page, the pair helped Los Angeles capture titles in 2009 and 2010.

Elsewhere in the column, Jackson also reflected on a younger, more headstrong, and more brash Bryant who nearly got himself traded:

When Kobe was healed and ready to return, I was a bit reluctant to make a major alteration in our winning combination. So I suggested that Kobe come off the bench. ‘I don’t see myself not starting,’ was his response. ‘I don’t want to be known as a bench player.’ Here was a 20-year-old already concerned about his legacy. So we had a little pushback, an indication of what might lie ahead.

A couple of weeks later, we’re still winning and Shaq is completely motivated. But Kobe was only averaging about 19 points per game. So Kobe called Jerry West and wanted to know how Jerry and Elgin Baylor both averaged 30 points. Kobe also said that he wanted to be traded. Of course, Jerry told me about the conversation. And, for a few minutes I thought about taking the Pistons up on an offer they made to trade Kobe for Grant Hill. Make that a few seconds.

The thing was that Kobe already saw himself as being one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. I thought that, in time, he would indeed reach that goal.