Roland Lazenby - Mind Games: Phil Jacksons Long Strange Journey

Phil Jackson is one of the most complex figures in the history of American professional sports. Widely adored and held in the highest of esteem by fans in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and the world over, Jackson has built a career on finding success through a variety of unconventional approaches.

Interpreting his actions and discerning his motives could easily prove a daunting task for any biographer. If anything redeems this effort, it is the insight offered by Tex Winter, who has granted me numerous candid interviews over the past half dozen seasons. Long known for his frankness about the high-priced stars he coaches, Winter has taken the same approach with his own boss. He admires Jackson yet never hesitates to criticize him.

Jackson, for his part, seems to accept this criticism as part of his relationship with his mentor. In fact, the coach clearly relies on Winters frankness, in spite of the fact that it frequently annoys him.

Phil would like to control me, Winter offered during an interview in February 2000. But he knows he cant.

Jackson has complained privately that I somehow duped Winter into providing inside detail for my 1998 book about the Bulls, Blood on the Horns.

Yet it was Jackson himself who volunteered most of the truly sensitive information during our interviews. It was Jackson who told me of the bathroom battles between Michael Jordan and Bulls VP Jerry Krause. And it was Jackson who revealed Scottie Pippens drunken verbal assault on Krause on a team bus in Seattle that year.

Ive interviewed Jackson several times over the years and have always found him to be forthcoming about events, even when the information he provides casts himself in a negative light.

By no means is this an authorized biography. As much as Jackson would prefer that I not write it, he has taken no steps to restrict my access to his team or to people who might provide information about him. As a result, Winter has offered some refreshing insight into a complicated figure.

I have also drawn heavily on Jacksons own published works, especially his first autobiography, Maverick: More Than a Game, a rawer, more daring account of his early life than his 1995 title Sacred Hoops provided.

Beyond Winter and Jacksons own works, my effort was aided immensely by a host of interviews and published material.

My accounts of Jacksons early years were greatly aided by interviews with Leon and Audrey Olson, Jim Simle, Bob Sathe, Peter Porinsh, Bill Shemorry, Dean Winkjer, Tom Kvamme, and Chuck Johnson. Also of great value were the archives of the Williston Daily Herald and the Grand Forks Herald, as well as Douglas S. Looneys work in The National Observer, and David Halberstams fine biography of Michael Jordan, Playing for Keeps. Also helpful in discovering the history of Jacksons home region were Montana by Norma Tirrell and The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America: The Plains States by Suzanne Winckler.

Reporters Tim Layden, Mark Singelais, Tim Wilkins, and other staff reports from the Albany Times-Union provided excellent accounts of Jacksons days in the Continental Basketball Association, as did the reporting of Chris Young, who covered the CBA for the Toronto Star. Jacksons Sacred Hoops was also useful.

Phil Bergers book Miracle on 33rd Street provided a fascinating look at the New York Knicks during Jacksons playing days. Also helpful was Bergers illustrated history of the Knicks. In addition, Berger was kind enough to answer my follow-up questions, and Walt Frazier provided detail of his and Jacksons early years in the league in an interview.

Much additional help came from the host of periodicals and newspapers covering the Knicks during that period, including The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Sport, the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, and The Sporting News.

As for Jacksons success in Chicago, I have witnessed much of it first hand and conducted many interviews over the years.

Additional recent interviews for this project include Johnny Bach, Bill Wennington, Luc Longley, Michael Jordan, Jim Cleamons, and Winter.

Jacksons Chicago period received perhaps the most intense press coverage in the history of professional basketball, which was no small factor in my research. I was aided immensely by the work of a range of writers and reporters, including Paul Ladewski of the Southtown Economist; Sam Smith, Terry Armour, Melissa Isaacson, Karen Klages, and other staff writers at the Chicago Tribune; Lacy Banks, John Jackson, Rick Telander, Jay Mariotti, Mark Vancil, J. A. Adande, and other staff writers from the Chicago Sun-Times; Kent McDill and other writers from the Daily Herald; Greg Boeck, Roscoe Nance, and David DuPree of USA Today; Roy S. Johnson, Dirk Johnson, Thomas Rogers, George Vecsey, Ira Berkow, Sam Goldaper, and other staff writers from The New York Times; Richard Hoffer, Jack McCallum, L. Jon Wertheim, Frank DeFord, Jackie MacMullen, Ian Thomsen, Marty Burns, and other writers from Sports Illustrated; Dave DAllesandro, Paul Dottino, Bill Pennington, and other writers from the Bergen Record; Peter Richmond and Mark Vancil from The National; Dave Kindred from The Sporting News; Terry Pluto from the Akron Beacon Journal; Jeff Coplon from The New York Times Magazine; Gary Binford from Newsday; Tom Callahan from U.S. News & World Report; Rachel Alexander and Michael Wilbon from The Washington Post.

For Jacksons tenure in Los Angeles, I am indebted to many who granted me interviews, including Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Jim Cleamons, Winter, Robert Horry, Shaquille ONeal, Brian Shaw, Scot Pollard, Tim Kawakami, Howard Beck, Jerry West, Walt Frazier, Eddie Jones, Kevin Loughery, Tyron Lue, John Celestand, John Salley, Glen Rice, Ron Harper, Devean George, A. C. Green, and Travis Knight.

I was aided greatly by the fine coverage provided by Tim Kawakami, Randy Harvey, J. A. Adande, Bill Platschke, Lonnie White, and Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times; Howard Beck, Karen Crouse, and Tom Modesti of the L.A. Daily News; Kevin Ding, Janis Carr, Mark Whicker, Randy Youngman, and Steve Bisheff of the Orange County Register; Steve Brandon, Jim Beseda, Geoffrey Arnold, and Kerry Eggers of The Oregonian; Conrad Brunner, Mark Monteith, Bill Benner, and Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star-News.

I was also aided by the work of dozens of writers who have covered the NBA, including Mitch Albom, Terry Armour, Jesse Barkin, Terry Boers, Clifton Brown, Kelly Carter, Mitch Chortkoff, Robert Falkoff, Bill Gleason, Bill Halls, Scott Howard-Cooper, Mike Imrem, Bernie Lincicome, Bob Logan, Jay Mariotti, Corky Meinecke, Mike Mulligan, Skip Myslenski, Glenn Rogers, Steve Rosenbloom, Eddie Sefko, Gene Seymour, Ray Sons, Paul Sullivan, Mike Tulumello, Bob Verdi, and many, many others. Their work has been invaluable.