Kobe Bryant remains loyal to Phil Jackson all these years later.
That’s not too surprising, to say the least. The two won five championships together with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe wanted the organization to bring the Zen Master back into the fold in some capacity when it became clear the Lakers were squandering what was left his championship window. Their relationship is deep-seeded, and Jackson has never given Kobe a reason not to trust him.
It’s different for New York Knicks fans, who are still trying to figure out whether Jackson is so married to the triangle that he would rather lose with it than without it. And for those fans, Kobe has a message, per ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes:
Kobe on Phil Jackson: “The people in New York just need to trust the fact that he knows more about the game than any of them put together."
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) March 14, 2016
Jackson has earned some level of flexibility in New York. Rebuilding takes time, something many Knicks fans aren’t willing to admit or accept. And he drafted Kristaps Porzingis, a future megastar, when he could have rolled with more known commodities like Justise Winslow and Willie Cauley-Stein.
But it’s tough for the Knicks fanbase, and even its players, to blindly trust in Jackson. They know of his accomplishments, but it’s a different NBA, and it’s not yet known whether Jackson can or is willing to adjust. So while Jackson might have forgotten more about basketball than any of the Knicks or their fans will ever know, he still has a ways to go before he deserves the blind faith of which Kobe speaks.
