Phil Jackson Once Dreamt About Spanking Kobe Bryant

The new book by Phil Jackson, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, answers a ton of questions about the past 30 years of professional basketball. It gives us a bit of insight into Phil Jackson's coaching career, including the fact that he once dreamt about spanking Kobe Bryant.

It's not in a masochistic way or anything creepy; it's just Jackson reminiscing about the early days of coaching Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant before the Los Angeles Lakers picked up the first of three championships together.

ESPN got its hands on an excerpt from Jackson's book, which is set for release on May 21 and explains the tribulations of coaching a player like Bryant and getting him to fit into a system.

The incident after which Jackson dreamed of giving Kobe a whack came following a February loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles falling in a beatdown, 105-81.

It was the Lakers' worst loss of the season, smack dab in the middle of a cold patch for the Lakers, in which the team lost four out of five games.

"You can't be a selfish player and make this offense work for the team's good. Period." When I opened the floor to comments, there was complete silence, and I was about to adjourn the meeting when Shaq spoke up. He got right to the point, saying, "I think Kobe is playing too selfishly for us to win." That got everyone fired up. Some of the players nodded in support of Shaq, including Rick Fox, who said, "How many times have we been through this?" No one in that room came to Kobe's defense. I asked him if he had anything to say. Kobe finally addressed the group, and in a calm, quiet voice he said he cared about everyone and just wanted to be part of a winning team.

I wasn't pleased with the meeting. I worried that having everyone's complaints on the table without any resolution would have a negative effect on team harmony. In the days that followed, we lost four out of five games, including a 105-81 "massac...

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