Word: jacksonism
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Whatever his intent, his methods are working. "I don't want them to have too great a record now," Jackson laughs. "Growth is what's important." If Jackson ever gets around to giving his Uberman Shaq Thus Spake Zarathustra, the rest of the Lakers' opponents could be in even bigger trouble than they...
This means that Jackson doesn't have to yank Shaq late in the game before opponents can foul him deliberately to get him to the line. In a recent match against Portland, the Lakers' likely rival for the Western Conference title, O'Neal made nine of 13 from the line. If he ever gets his free-throw act together, he'll be...actually, it's too frightening to think about. In a game just last week, he scored 61 points and grabbed 23 rebounds. O.K., it was against the L.A. Clippers--Christina Aguilera could probably put up 40 points...
...games Jackson is not a big screamer; he usually sits coolly by the sidelines, reserving his comments for the right moments. In practices he treats players respectfully--but he can get loud if someone isn't living up to his high standards. Slack off and Jackson, who is 6-ft. 8-in. tall, beam-shouldered and deep-voiced, can be intimidating...
...Jackson isn't into hype, but he isn't above mind games. He likes to assign his players books to read--novels, collections of poetry, works of philosophy. The players don't always read them, but the coach feels it's important to give them the opportunity to grow intellectually. "It's a chance for you to get outside of yourself," says Jackson. "A lot of times when you're as egocentric as we are, so thoroughly bound to our own perspectives in this world, it's important to get another viewpoint. TV is great, won't complain about...
...earlier this season, Jackson handed out some reading. He gave several of the players books by mystery novelist Walter Mosley. He gave Harper Toni Morrison's Jazz. And he gave O'Neal a copy of Nietzsche's Ecce Homo (How One Becomes What One Is). "It is all my art and aim," Nietzsche writes, "to compose into one and bring together what is fragment and riddle and dreadful chance." Maybe that's what Jackson does: he brings together disparate players--fragments and riddles--and makes them one. Then, again, we are talking basketball here, and maybe all Jackson is trying...