Phil Jackson’s Books

Phil Jackson is unique in many respects. He won more championships than Red Auerbach (although that record is still open to debate), he was crafty enough, or lucky enough, to have coached some of the greatest superstars and teams in the history of the game. Another thing which makes him unique is his book recommendations to the players. He did it while coaching the Bulls, and he’s doing it while coaching the Lakers. Is this intellectual snobbery, or a very profound way of reaching his players?

We all know that the the only way for players to excel is to be none else but themselves. You’d think that this is a simple formula, but when you watch any basketball game (high school, college, pros) you see players trying to be something they are not. Players make adjustments over the years, they improve their free-throw shooting, or work on their post-up game (to name but a few), but they reach their true potential only when they realize who they really are on the basketball court, which is really an extension of their ordinary life personality. A true transformation happens when a go-to guy realizes that he’s really just a very good second fiddle. He can still drop thirty points on a given night, but forcing the ball through his hands on every possession alienates him from his true nature and minimizes his potential and reach. If somebody likes deferring, or simply enjoys passing (I believe a good pass can give you the same thrill as ripping it through the net from the three-point line) asking him to shoot a lot, even if he has a terrific shot, makes that player uncomfortable in his role, and minimizes the positive impact he could have on the team.

Phil Jackson knows all this. I believe what he’s trying to accomplish with his book recommendations is to reach his players in the manner that a simple practice talk or coach’s one-on-one with a player cannot achieve. He wants them to dig deep into themselves in order to find who they really are, and he understands that all human beings need time to get there. The ritual of the book reading, the time and patience it takes to reach the back cover, provide the structure for this inner exploration.

The blogger who often calls himself Bethlehem Shoals wrote an article about this for his blog Free Darko. He mentioned that two nights ago, Phil’s girlfriend and the Lakers executive, Jeanie Buss put this year’s picks on Twitter. She says that some players simply won’t read, but that doesn’t make Phil stop. Free Darko provided an interesting insight about the books and why he thinks Phil matched these particular books with these exact players.

Note: Bethlehem Shoals wrote “The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac “, in which he explains the styles, stats, and stars in today’s game. This is a somewhat psychedelic, but very well written book.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

Player: Kobe Bryant
Book: Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
Synopsis: A small-town sheriff finds out that his brother has raped and murdered numerous Native-American women. He finds himself torn between his dual loyalties to family and the law.
Meaning: Wow, Phil doesn’t screw around, eh? Forget for a minute the connections to Kobe’s legal troubles and consider that the reader is meant to identify with the sheriff. The common perception of Kobe is that he’s torn between his need to score and his desire to win as part of the larger team. Often, he appears to toggle between each pole, unable to find a happy medium. What Montana 1948 teaches us is that no matter which option you choose, you must live with the consequences and emotions of forgoing the other choice. It’s about living in the gray area, something Kobe must embrace to realize his full potential as a teammate and star.

Player: Ron Artest
Book: Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson
Synopsis: A coaching legend details his philosophy of basketball as the ultimate in spiritual communication among teammates.
Meaning: This is one of the few choices Buss explained: apparently Phil likes to give new players an introduction to his approach to basketball. Sorry, but I don’t buy it. The more likely explanation is that Phil knows Artest is borderline insane, tried to think of a suitable book, couldn’t come up with anything, and just picked up one of the copies of Sacred Hoops he had around the house. The good news is that Ron-Ron is so sincere that he’ll undoubtedly take every message in the book to heart. It’s just unclear what it’ll all mean to him.

An interesting coincidence for me is Roberto Bolano’s book (recommended to Pao Gasol). I find it interesting, because I’ve become recently intrigued by this author and I was toying with an idea of translating his “Los detectives salvajes” (“The Savage Detectives”) into Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian.