Speaker 1: September twentieth, nineteen seventy three, twenty nine year old Billy
Speaker 1: gene Kinks steps onto the court at Houston's Astrodome. She
Speaker 1: has been one of the world's best tennis players for
Speaker 1: more than a decade. The year before, she became the
Speaker 1: fifth woman in history to win a career Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: It's a fact, isn't it that if they were both males,
Speaker 2: Billy Jean ding, We're a male.
Speaker 3: She actually excels over Rigs in such manners.
Speaker 1: Per opponent in the Battle of the Sexist is fifty
Speaker 1: five year old Bobby Riggs, who in nineteen thirty nine,
Speaker 1: four years before Billy Jean was born, was the number
Speaker 1: one player in the world. Now he's working as a
Speaker 1: tennis promoter and making headlines for calling the women's game inferior.
Speaker 1: His latest claim is that he could be any woman
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 4: This is the scene in the Astrodome.
Speaker 5: I'm down to the floor of the Astrodome with a
Speaker 5: couple of great champions who are here to to happening.
Speaker 1: The lead up to the match is a spectacle. King
Speaker 1: enters the court Cleopatra style, carried by four shirtless men.
Speaker 1: She gives Riggs a piglet to symbolize as male chauvinism.
Speaker 1: Ninety million people are watching from home, including Los Angeles
Speaker 1: businessman Jerry Buss and his eleven year old daughter, Jeanie.
Speaker 1: As history has documented, Billy Jean dominated the match and
Speaker 1: became an enduring force for equality. A year later, founding
Speaker 1: World Team Tennis, a freewheeling mixed gender league that featured
Speaker 1: some of the greatest players in the world.
Speaker 4: Zins God's Tide her Ring another golden momment from Wimbledy.
Speaker 1: World Team Tennis was all about in arena entertainment, and
Speaker 1: doctor Jerry Bus, who was itching to buy a professional
Speaker 1: sports team, became one of the league's first owners, of
Speaker 1: the La Strings in nineteen seventy four. Bus was a
Speaker 1: chemist with a seriously lucrative real estate business, best known,
Speaker 1: of course, for later buying the Lakers.
Speaker 6: The World Trophy to the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 6: the new World Champions of Basketball, and I'm proud to
Speaker 6: do it.
Speaker 7: And here you go, Jerry Buss, it's yours.
Speaker 1: That didn't happen for another five years. Meanwhile, doctor Buss
Speaker 1: was determined to bring his daughter into the male dominated
Speaker 1: world of sports business. He brought Genie to team meetings
Speaker 1: and when she was nineteen and a student at USC
Speaker 1: BUS made her general manager of the La Strings.
Speaker 5: When he offered me the job, I was still in school.
Speaker 5: I said this great, I can quit school and just
Speaker 5: focus on my job, and he was, you know, very much,
Speaker 5: you could have the job as long as you go
Speaker 5: to school. So that made it difficult because I was
Speaker 5: balancing schoolwork and my social life and trying to run
Speaker 5: a tennis team. You know, he saw something in me
Speaker 5: that I had the ambition to do that, in the discipline,
Speaker 5: to be able to schedule and do things so that
Speaker 5: I could accomplish, you know, meet the requirements of my.
Speaker 1: Job and World Team Centis was so crazy. That was
Speaker 1: like a really fun, relegably great idea. Do you remember
Speaker 1: like an early accomplishment that you had, whether it was
Speaker 1: a player or promotion or anything like that where you
Speaker 1: just felt like I did a really good job that
Speaker 1: worked out really well.
Speaker 5: You know, we were really fortunate that Martina Navrachulova was
Speaker 5: available to play, and so she was, you know, the
Speaker 5: first player I drafted the LA Strings, and you know
Speaker 5: she was it was as she was making her way
Speaker 5: up to being the number one player in the world.
Speaker 8: We'll see Martinez looking for this forehand to come up
Speaker 8: the line.
Speaker 7: Now, watch if she comes to the SA.
Speaker 5: And she loved World Team Tennis and she loved the
Speaker 5: camaraderie of being with a team. So I think that
Speaker 5: was really something special, was having that opportunity to really
Speaker 5: get to know a superstar on their ascent. And we
Speaker 5: won a championship that year.
Speaker 1: The Bus family was all about championships. That became the
Speaker 1: family business. In nineteen seventy nine, doctor Buss purchased the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers, the La Kings, the Great Western Forum,
Speaker 1: and a thirteen hundred acre ranch from Jack Ted Cook.
Speaker 1: The total sixty seven and a half million dollars. Jeannie
Speaker 1: was named president of the Great Western Forum.
Speaker 5: You know, it was such a great experience for me
Speaker 5: because I had always been the promoter of events. So
Speaker 5: promoters the one that puts together the event, the activity,
Speaker 5: the show, and they put it into your venue. Now,
Speaker 5: as the head of the arena, I got a different
Speaker 5: view of what it was like for a promoter to
Speaker 5: come into a venue and what a venue needed in
Speaker 5: order to support the show or the event.
Speaker 1: Doctor Buss transformed the Lakers into showtime entertainment worthy of
Speaker 1: Tinseltown THEA From nineteen eighty to eighty nine, the Lakers
Speaker 1: won five titles in eight trips to the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: establishing expectations that still exist and which Genie inherited when
Speaker 1: she took over the team.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, you just look at timing, you know,
Speaker 5: and some things are just luck. My dad drafting Magic Johnson,
Speaker 5: somebody that could, you know, light the show on fire
Speaker 5: with his smile.
Speaker 6: This man has a smile that lights up a television
Speaker 6: screen from here, the bangor Maid.
Speaker 5: He was just one of those great personalities and great
Speaker 5: basketball players. So, you know, winning the championship. But I
Speaker 5: also like to underline the fact that during the eighties,
Speaker 5: we you know, we had the Rams and the Raiders
Speaker 5: here in Los Angeles, and eventually both teams moved out.
Speaker 5: So there was a twenty year period where in a
Speaker 5: major league city, we had no NFL to compete with,
Speaker 5: and that further cemented the Lakers just being a team
Speaker 5: from Los Angeles representing Los Angeles the Magic Man.
Speaker 1: What's more, the showtime Lakers, as you said, really put
Speaker 1: you guys on the map and made Los Angeles a
Speaker 1: championship city. What sort of pressure was there to maintain
Speaker 1: or get back to that standard when you took over
Speaker 1: the Lakers.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, there's there's the standard, and then there's
Speaker 5: the Purple and Gold standard, and you know that's you know,
Speaker 5: it's hard to compete with your past success. Our fans
Speaker 5: expect nothing but the best, and that's what makes them
Speaker 5: the best fans in the NBA. So there's a lot
Speaker 5: of pressure to win in Los Angeles. You know, by design,
Speaker 5: the NBA has, you know, through a salarycap system, a
Speaker 5: revenue sharing system. You know, they're trying to even play
Speaker 5: field and create more parody. It's just that much harder
Speaker 5: for any one team to dominate.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 5: It's a different environment than you know, when my dad
Speaker 5: started in the eighties, when there was no salary cap.
Speaker 5: Every time Larry Bird got a new contract, my dad
Speaker 5: would call Magic and rip up the old one and
Speaker 5: give him a new one. You know, stuff like that.
Speaker 9: I love it.
Speaker 5: My dad always wanted Magic to be the highest paid player,
Speaker 5: and you could do that because there weren't the same
Speaker 5: rules that are in place now.
Speaker 1: But a decade of dominance in the eighties was followed
Speaker 1: by a decade of disappointment in the nineties, the Lakers
Speaker 1: were in rebuild mode. They built a solid cast Eddie Jones,
Speaker 1: Robert Ory, Glenn, Rice, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, and as
Speaker 1: for the stars LA had come to expect. Twenty four
Speaker 1: year old Chiquill O'Neal was acquired from the Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six. Second and nineteen year old Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant came into the NBA that same year, straight out
Speaker 1: of high school.
Speaker 10: The Charlotte Hornets select Kobe Bryant from Lower Merion High
Speaker 10: School in.
Speaker 1: Pennsylvan acquired by the Lakers in a draft day trade
Speaker 1: with the Charlotte Hornets. It is a step off from
Speaker 1: high school, and I understand that.
Speaker 11: So therefore, every time I step on a basketball court,
Speaker 11: I'm going to put a strong effort out there on
Speaker 11: the floor.
Speaker 7: I'm not going to leave anything on the floor.
Speaker 1: But the Shack and Kobe show was not an immediate
Speaker 1: Hollywood hit.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to say that.
Speaker 8: These Spurns has a better individual talent than the Lakers,
Speaker 8: but I am going to say they have.
Speaker 5: A better team.
Speaker 1: A four game suite by the Utah Jazz in the
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight Western Conference Finals exposed the Lakers team
Speaker 1: that had a lot of growing to do.
Speaker 6: Total domination by the experienced Utah Jazz against the youthful Talada.
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers, and so in nineteen ninety nine, Doctor
Speaker 1: Buss looked to the most successful coach of the era
Speaker 1: to bring it all together.
Speaker 3: Without feather Ado, the new coach at the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 3: Phil Jackson.
Speaker 1: From the NBA and iHeart podcast This is NBA DNA
Speaker 1: with Me Hannah Storm, Episode nine, The Lake Show, January thirteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, Chicago, Illinois, Credentialed members of the media
Speaker 1: assemble on the floor of the United Center for a
Speaker 1: press conference with Michael Jordan.
Speaker 7: For the second time in little more than five years.
Speaker 12: Michael Jordan is choosing to walk away from the NBA.
Speaker 12: Now it looks like he's gonna be walking away for good.
Speaker 1: Only six months earlier, Jordan led the Bulls to their
Speaker 1: six NBA championship under head coach Phil Jackson.
Speaker 2: My Everybody, Hannah Store back here in Chicago. In the
Speaker 2: past decade, the Chicago Bulls have forged one of sports
Speaker 2: from great dynasties. Five NBA titles in the last seven
Speaker 2: years and now just one went away from a six championship.
Speaker 1: Mj had won the league MVP and Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year, famously ending his Bulls career with the last
Speaker 1: second dagger to sink the Utah Jazz for a six
Speaker 1: rings and second three people.
Speaker 8: In ship number six Michael against Russell twelve seconds eleven
Speaker 8: ten Jordan a dry.
Speaker 4: Hain't fire y hey scars.
Speaker 10: Football's late eighty seven eighty six work five at two
Speaker 10: tats lap oh.
Speaker 1: Why it was the end of an era. That same
Speaker 1: month that Jordan retired, the Bulls traded Scottie Pippen. The
Speaker 1: preeminent dynasty of the nineties was over. Did Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: know that you had no intention of attorney?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, he pretty much knew it. You know, we
Speaker 3: talked tremendous amount of time throughout the season, and we
Speaker 3: sort of had that vibe, the feeling after the season
Speaker 3: that you know, it was pretty much our last time together.
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson had been the first Domino general manager. Jerry
Speaker 1: Krause made it clear that Jackson's contract would not be renewed,
Speaker 1: and after the finals, he left the franchise, literally riding
Speaker 1: off into the sunset on his motorcycle.
Speaker 4: Hebe on the moat loud Girl now Hobby Bryant working
Speaker 4: in the light.
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, the Lakers had one of the most promising
Speaker 1: tandems in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neill and Kobe Bryant, but
Speaker 1: they have been swept out of the playoffs for two
Speaker 1: years in a row. Doctor Buss bequeathed the running of
Speaker 1: the franchise to his daughter, Jeanie. Can you paint the
Speaker 1: picture of when you were promoted to executive vice president
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine, what the state of the franchise was,
Speaker 1: you know, what you were stepping into and taking over.
Speaker 5: You know, Shaq Shaquille O'Neill had joined the Lakers as
Speaker 5: a free agent in ninety six. Kobe Bryant was drafted
Speaker 5: by Jerry West in nineteen ninety six. You know, we
Speaker 5: had a couple of years with these two very well
Speaker 5: established shack and this young rookie who won the Slam
Speaker 5: Dunk contest his rookie year, and my dad, you know,
Speaker 5: was getting frustrated. He wanted to win, and he decided
Speaker 5: to make a change and bring in a new coach.
Speaker 5: And the coach that he hired was Phil Jackson. And
Speaker 5: my reaction was, are you sure that's a good idea
Speaker 5: given the fact he's kind of a big personality. You've
Speaker 5: already got a really big personality in Shack, a really
Speaker 5: big personality in Kobe. And he said, you know, he's
Speaker 5: got an offensive system that I really want the Lakers
Speaker 5: to run. And that was the Triangle and Phil Jackson
Speaker 5: took the job, and of course I was wrong.
Speaker 1: It was a high stakes time for the Lakers. New coach,
Speaker 1: new system, new season, new venue. That same year that
Speaker 1: Phil started with the Lakers, they moved from the Great
Speaker 1: Western Forum to the Staples Center in downtown La.
Speaker 5: Our fans did not We're not excited about it at all.
Speaker 5: They'd been used to going to Inglewood for you know,
Speaker 5: forty years to see their team, and there was a
Speaker 5: lot of people stressed out. And you know, I remember
Speaker 5: getting phone calls from fans saying, I want the same
Speaker 5: seat that I have at the Forum, and I said, well,
Speaker 5: you can have your seat that's at the Forum, but
Speaker 5: the Lakers aren't going to be there down to see them.
Speaker 5: And you know, the best thing that happened was we
Speaker 5: won a championship that first year. Because people were concerned, like,
Speaker 5: are we giving away our mojo or advantage everything that
Speaker 5: the forum meant to our history.
Speaker 6: The jess Rose and Miller even whydn't look well, we
Speaker 6: don't run around on the defense too much.
Speaker 1: BUS made Jackson one of the highest paid coaches in
Speaker 1: the league, thirty million over five years, and he brought
Speaker 1: his zim master holistic approach to LA from burning sage
Speaker 1: in the locker room to giving his players summer reading assignments.
Speaker 5: I thought he was a hippie dude. I mean I
Speaker 5: didn't know, like you know, it was he married, Did
Speaker 5: he have a family. I had no idea. I really
Speaker 5: didn't pay that much attention except I remembered when he
Speaker 5: left the Bulls, which was, you know, now we've we've
Speaker 5: watched we've all watched the Last Dance documentary, which then
Speaker 5: kind of tells that whole story of the Bulls had
Speaker 5: decided Phil, this is your last year. You're not coming back.
Speaker 5: And so when that season was over and they win
Speaker 5: the championship and he's lighting the cigar like he always did,
Speaker 5: they showed him riding a motorcycle from the practice facility
Speaker 5: like he was going off into the sunset like, Oh
Speaker 5: my gosh, he's just such drama, you know, And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 5: is this really going to play here in la And
Speaker 5: were used to like Pat Riley and you know, and
Speaker 5: Phil's more of a like, you know, free spirit, and
Speaker 5: Pat was like Armani suits, so oh yeah, very buttoned off,
Speaker 5: very slick, very like contained, totally different, very different. So
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm glad my dad didn't listen to me.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that, looking back, that Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: was the right person to bring, as you said, these
Speaker 1: really big personalities together and mold them into a unit.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that was so successful as you
Speaker 1: look back.
Speaker 5: On it, You know, it was really about getting them
Speaker 5: on the same page. Shack wanted to win. He was
Speaker 5: tired of being labeled the superstar who couldn't push the
Speaker 5: team over the edge to win the championship. And then
Speaker 5: you had Kobe, who was a student of the game,
Speaker 5: and you know, here was this opportunity because he had
Speaker 5: studied Michael Jordan so much. Here now to have the
Speaker 5: same teachers as someone he idolized so much kind of unlocked,
Speaker 5: you know, so much potential in his brain. And you know,
Speaker 5: Phil was the eager teacher the first time you met
Speaker 5: my dad. He asked, my dad, you know, why do
Speaker 5: you want me to come coach your team? And my
Speaker 5: dad said, well, I'm giving you a five year deal,
Speaker 5: and I expect you to win a championship. I'm tired
Speaker 5: of losing. And Phil was, you know, why wouldn't you
Speaker 5: want me to win five? You know that's the way. Thanks.
Speaker 1: In his first Lakers press conference, Phil promised to help
Speaker 1: Shack move into a leadership role, and he called Kobe Jordanes.
Speaker 1: Balancing the two personalities would become essential to the team's success,
Speaker 1: and Jeanie leaned on her experience from her earliest days
Speaker 1: as a sports executive.
Speaker 5: Luckily, you know, in my earlier career, I you know,
Speaker 5: not only had promoted World Team tennis the LA Strings,
Speaker 5: but also promoted championship type matches in exhibitions. So you know,
Speaker 5: we would have Yvonne Lendall play Andre Agascy, Jimmy Connors,
Speaker 5: John McEnroe. And the most difficult match that we ever
Speaker 5: had to make was Jimmy Connors versus John McEnroe because
Speaker 5: they never wanted to have to play each other. They
Speaker 5: did not vibe. Okay, it was like having to convince
Speaker 5: each one of them that they were my favorite. Jimmy,
Speaker 5: you're my favorite, you know, like we got to bring
Speaker 5: John in and then John, I know how you feel
Speaker 5: about Jimmy, but like, you know, and it was just
Speaker 5: really because you know, when they had to play each
Speaker 5: other in a tournament, they didn't want either one of
Speaker 5: them to have the edge over the other. So whoever
Speaker 5: won this exhibition might mentally it may carry over into
Speaker 5: the US Open finals. And so now you fast forward
Speaker 5: to Shaquille O'Neill and Kobe Bryant. I loved both of them,
Speaker 5: but you know, they were competitive for attention. Whose team
Speaker 5: is this? And so you know, just walking that fine
Speaker 5: line of you're my favorite, no, you're and you know,
Speaker 5: really the main thing was there was room enough for both.
Speaker 1: On the court. It was critical for Jackson to get
Speaker 1: buy in for his triangle offense, but Kobe thought it
Speaker 1: was limiting for his game.
Speaker 13: There were some personal goals that were standing in front
Speaker 13: of the group goals, and that all had to be
Speaker 13: kind of figured out. It was a situation which you know,
Speaker 13: I was asking them to kind of fit into roles
Speaker 13: and demanded the team to play more unselfish basketball.
Speaker 1: Phil brought in someone familiar with the triangle, a guy
Speaker 1: who had played for him in Chicago, John Sally.
Speaker 14: I thought, in order to work in California, you have
Speaker 14: to play for the Lakers. So one day was watching.
Speaker 14: It was nineteen ninety nine. I never forget it was
Speaker 14: the shortened season. I was watching the Lakers and they
Speaker 14: were losing. I think they lost in the first round
Speaker 14: of the playoffs. And they had Shaq and Kobe and
Speaker 14: JL Reed and Dennis Rodman and all these people, and
Speaker 14: something made me pick up the phone and call Phil Jackson,
Speaker 14: and he goes, what's up long to all of them,
Speaker 14: and I said, you're not going to let these guys
Speaker 14: not win a championship party. I said, come on, I
Speaker 14: left five doors from Shack. I know Kobe, we can talk.
Speaker 14: They need the system. People don't realize it's the system.
Speaker 14: So when I got on the Laker I was a
Speaker 14: glorified coach in the player's uniform.
Speaker 1: Here's Robert or on the change with Jackson at the helm.
Speaker 1: When he came to the Lakers. What did he bring
Speaker 1: to that equation? Like, how did he make it all work?
Speaker 15: Stability? You know, here's the thing. Stability and direction. We
Speaker 15: had four All Stars the previous year, Eddie Jones, Kobe,
Speaker 15: Shaq Nick four All Stars getting swept by Utah. So
Speaker 15: you have to think about the stabilion. And also when
Speaker 15: you bring in someone like a Phil Jackson, who's coach
Speaker 15: the greatest, and Michael Jordan, you're gonna bring in that discipline.
Speaker 15: You know, Shaq was very disciplined that summer. I even
Speaker 15: put on like five pounds ten pounds a muscle going
Speaker 15: into that season. Kobe came in like bigger. We all
Speaker 15: came in physically ready to start that training camp because
Speaker 15: you know what to expect when you've been under the
Speaker 15: coach for two or three years, you know how to train.
Speaker 15: We had no idea what fields training camps were.
Speaker 5: Going to be.
Speaker 15: We were going to run a lot, we were going
Speaker 15: to run the triangle each and every day until we
Speaker 15: got it. So everybody came in shape and and ready.
Speaker 15: And I think that was the biggest key, because Shaq
Speaker 15: started a season off just so dominant, you know, because
Speaker 15: first no.
Speaker 7: Kobe got Hurt's right. We just rove Shack's coattails to
Speaker 7: the best record in the NBA that year.
Speaker 8: Fox Waits'neil's a paint jumps, ry stars and pay beautiful
Speaker 8: deliberty by Shaquillo mew.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, Phil's first year with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: they went sixty seven and fifteen, and Shaq became the
Speaker 1: NBA MVP.
Speaker 10: Number one in scoring, number two and rebounds number three,
Speaker 10: in block shots four as since the game almost and
Speaker 10: only three people played more minutes as you were leading
Speaker 10: your team to sixty seven victoriation.
Speaker 4: It's a pleasure to watch you grow. Congratulations, nineteen ninety nine, two.
Speaker 10: Thousand, NBA MVP, Shaquille.
Speaker 7: It was fun.
Speaker 15: And you've never played with a dominant big man. You
Speaker 15: don't understand how fun it is. Just look at the
Speaker 15: Denver Nuggets. They know how fun it is. And it's
Speaker 15: so fun to play with a dominant big man who
Speaker 15: demands a double team, who can pass, and who allows
Speaker 15: you to press up defensively on the perimeter and funnel
Speaker 15: guys him so he can block shot. But you think
Speaker 15: about what Shaq demanded when he was playing double teams.
Speaker 7: Hack of Shock. It was so much fun playing with Shaq.
Speaker 8: A perfect ash from Toby Bryant, great execution by Shock.
Speaker 1: Young Kobe began to blossom under Jackson averaging twenty nine
Speaker 1: points and five assists of games, and he was named
Speaker 1: to the NBA's All Defensive Second Team. Here's Phil reflecting
Speaker 1: on that first year, courtesy of ESPN.
Speaker 9: Tolb me a nice struggle a lot the first year.
Speaker 9: It was I will tell you, like looking at Michael
Speaker 9: Jordan and come fly with me or whatever that video was.
Speaker 9: He had everything all in markings. The way he posed,
Speaker 9: the way he held himself, it was almost amazing. And
Speaker 9: there were times I would pull him to the sideline
Speaker 9: and say, don't try to take over this game. It's
Speaker 9: not time. Don't try to take over this game. But
Speaker 9: he was dying to do so, and he was ready
Speaker 9: to do so.
Speaker 4: In the air up the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The Lakers moved quickly through the first few rounds of
Speaker 1: the playoffs, beating the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns in
Speaker 1: five games each.
Speaker 4: Kneel against devots.
Speaker 12: You love the playoffs because of star players come to
Speaker 12: the front.
Speaker 14: That's what this is all about.
Speaker 8: Kobe Spina left breasfe shine under patrol of them.
Speaker 1: You had championship experience. Did you ever speak up about
Speaker 1: that or what was it that you brought to the
Speaker 1: table because you you already had two titles.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I didn't have to say anything because we had
Speaker 15: a coach who had six titles. And so for me,
Speaker 15: sometimes there is a player when you're sitting on the
Speaker 15: bus and guys would talk.
Speaker 7: You know, Kobe will always ask.
Speaker 15: Me about dreams, footwork, and he would ask me about
Speaker 15: you know, Clyde's you know, his ability to get out
Speaker 15: on the break and certain little things like that. But
Speaker 15: he never asked about, you know, how it is to
Speaker 15: win a championship. I never really had to, you know,
Speaker 15: say anything, because Phil was the one like, hey, this
Speaker 15: is what we need to do, this is what we
Speaker 15: have to do, and think about it. Like I said,
Speaker 15: he coached Max Michael Jordan. When this guy talks, everybody's
Speaker 15: gonna be listening.
Speaker 1: Jackson led the franchise back to the NBA Finals to
Speaker 1: face the Indiana Pacers led by future Hall of Famer
Speaker 1: Reggie Miller and old Lakers nemesis head coach Larry Bird.
Speaker 1: Hoosiers versus Hollywood.
Speaker 11: Ladies and gentlemen are very pleasant.
Speaker 8: Good evening to you from the beautiful Staples Center, Los Angeles, California.
Speaker 4: Tonight, the real season begins.
Speaker 1: The Lakers came out hot, dominating Game one, shooting fifteen
Speaker 1: for twenty. In the first quarter of the Finals, O'Neil.
Speaker 8: Puts it down and it's eleven first quarter points.
Speaker 4: He's on his way to a forty point night.
Speaker 1: In Game two, Kobe sprained his ankle during a Lakers win.
Speaker 1: The Pacers took Game three and the Lakers game four
Speaker 1: in over time.
Speaker 10: Your turn, mister Bryants, What if you got for us
Speaker 10: this time?
Speaker 4: Kobe? Pull up tony two.
Speaker 8: Yes, if you want to be a hero, you gotta
Speaker 8: take her shots.
Speaker 1: Thanks to a heroic performance by a still recovering Kobe
Speaker 1: and a missed buzzer beater by Indiana's Reggie Miller.
Speaker 8: Oh, and that's it, the Lakers take a three one
Speaker 8: series lead.
Speaker 1: That says one for the Then the Pacers crushed the
Speaker 1: Lakers at home in Game five.
Speaker 4: That's still handling on top, waits for putting. Reggie Millard steps.
Speaker 13: Inside off of facing shot.
Speaker 4: Yes, nails the three ball for the left corner.
Speaker 13: I don't like to think of a team that has
Speaker 13: championship quality in it that loses by thirty three points.
Speaker 13: And you know, we have to prove something to ourselves
Speaker 13: when we go back home.
Speaker 5: In this regard, there was always this calmness, you know,
Speaker 5: and it was very deliberate by Phil to never let
Speaker 5: the players see you sweat, right, So he always stayed
Speaker 5: calm so that the players could always have a place
Speaker 5: to check in and check into that calmness. And there
Speaker 5: was something about watching those teams you just never doubted
Speaker 5: that they were going to pull a rabbit out of their.
Speaker 8: Hat, both teams battling for their collective lives.
Speaker 4: Fox waits for Shaq. He doesn't come so far.
Speaker 1: The Lakers gave Hollywood the ending they had wanted since
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight, a championship, beating the Pacers one sixteen
Speaker 1: to one eleven. Shaq had forty one points and twelve
Speaker 1: rebounds and was named Finals MVP.
Speaker 10: Congratulations to the NBA two thousand.
Speaker 6: Champions, Los Angeles Lakers, their fans in the city.
Speaker 4: I'm not wanting to y'all.
Speaker 8: We're gonna be.
Speaker 16: One next year.
Speaker 5: To y'all.
Speaker 1: The Bus family envisioned the first dynasty of the New millennium,
Speaker 1: picking up where the Bulls and MJ had left off.
Speaker 4: What a steal by Kobe going on the runway.
Speaker 1: That is where you do the comparisons to the Jordan
Speaker 1: here's John Sally.
Speaker 14: I told Michael he's tied soap detergent and Kobe is
Speaker 14: tied point two or ever grief when he did nothing
Speaker 14: when I got on the Lakers too, he watched tons
Speaker 14: of films.
Speaker 1: He's so serious.
Speaker 14: He watched tons of film.
Speaker 9: Didn't you know.
Speaker 14: He couldn't go out, so he couldn't hang out. So
Speaker 14: he was just imagined, not worrying about anything and just
Speaker 14: playing basketball. The blessing was he came in so early.
Speaker 14: He had a father who played in the Pros. His
Speaker 14: mother is a wonderful woman. His sisters were like he
Speaker 14: had an unbelievable support. Like I tell people, when Kobe
Speaker 14: came into the NBA.
Speaker 7: He lived at home with his parents.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 14: But Jerry West saw the same thing I saw when
Speaker 14: I got to him. It was it's a fire that
Speaker 14: I have not seen anywhere else. Kobe was like that.
Speaker 14: We ran sprints. He ran him. He didn't jog him
Speaker 14: when he took his shots. Same feeling, the tenacious idea
Speaker 14: of this guy's in front of me. I had to
Speaker 14: move the ball here. That was all in his brain.
Speaker 14: I'm going to be I mean, I asked him too
Speaker 14: one time. I said, so, you're the next Michael Jordan.
Speaker 14: He said, no, I'm the first Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1: Here's Phil Jackson.
Speaker 9: I arranged a meeting between Michael and Kobe two give
Speaker 9: him a little impression of how to handle the in
Speaker 9: a restricted basketball system that relied on passing the ball
Speaker 9: to available teammates and wanting to go one on one
Speaker 9: with this guy in front of you. So I arranged
Speaker 9: we had a little meeting in the cigar room off
Speaker 9: the bar downstairs, and Michael and I were sitting there
Speaker 9: and Kobe walked in after a shower and the press
Speaker 9: and went on, and he sat down and he said, Michael,
Speaker 9: I can take you one on one. And Michael said, well,
Speaker 9: I think you might. I'm thirty seven or twenty two, right,
Speaker 9: But that was part of his growing up years, and
Speaker 9: his teammates would come to me and say, you know,
Speaker 9: Kobe never goes out with us. He's always in his room,
Speaker 9: he's watching tape, he's doing this and that, but he's
Speaker 9: not really associating with us. And so I pulled him
Speaker 9: aside and I said, you want to be to the
Speaker 9: team someday, don't you? And he said, oh, I should
Speaker 9: be captain. Now, I said, Gobe, you don't associate with
Speaker 9: your teammates. Here's separate the part. Well, they think about
Speaker 9: the girls and hubcaps and cars and whatever. I'm watching
Speaker 9: the game. It's a serious business for me. And that
Speaker 9: was how he was.
Speaker 1: It was serious business and defending the title. Point Guard
Speaker 1: Derek Fisher missed the first sixty two games of the
Speaker 1: season due to a foot injury. And then there was
Speaker 1: Kobe and Shaq both speaking openly about each other in
Speaker 1: the media, and a loss to the Golden State Warriors
Speaker 1: in December of two thousand. Kobe scored fifty one points,
Speaker 1: but took too many ill advised shots down the.
Speaker 13: Stretch, and it kind of exacerbated the situation we were
Speaker 13: in that, you know, he was trying to win it
Speaker 13: all by himself a lot of nights.
Speaker 1: By January, after a twenty three point loss to the Clippers,
Speaker 1: the team's frustrations had reached new heights. Here's Shaq.
Speaker 11: I've never been the one to get into whose team
Speaker 11: it is, who's this, and who's that. But when it was,
Speaker 11: when everything went through me, the outcome was good. It
Speaker 11: was sixty seven and fifteen playing with enthusiasm.
Speaker 1: Shaq was a showman just as he is today, a
Speaker 1: pitch man extraordinary, a star on screen and a rapper.
Speaker 11: For all my friends in the media who like quotes,
Speaker 11: mark this quote down. From this day on, I would
Speaker 11: like to be known as the Big Aristotle.
Speaker 1: But one could argue Kobe may have been a bit
Speaker 1: more like Aristotle with a cerebral approach to basketball as
Speaker 1: he developed his own philosophy.
Speaker 5: Phil had the way of breaking through, and he didn't
Speaker 5: treat everybody the same. He knew how to talk to
Speaker 5: each person. And you know, remember him telling me that,
Speaker 5: you know, Jeanie, at some point Kobe will rebel against me.
Speaker 5: And I said, no, he loves you. Are you kidding?
Speaker 5: But you guys are winning? But and he goes, no,
Speaker 5: it's just it's just that's just the way it's human nature.
Speaker 5: I'm an authority figure. You know, as somebody comes of age,
Speaker 5: then they challenge, you know, what was there before so
Speaker 5: that they can establish their identity. And you know, I
Speaker 5: mean Phil the psychology of it all, and of course
Speaker 5: we all know that that's kind of what happened. You know,
Speaker 5: what do they what's the old say? Like when the
Speaker 5: students already the teacher will come, and they will and
Speaker 5: Phill was the teacher.
Speaker 1: Here's Derek Fisher.
Speaker 17: The things going on, I guess with Kobe and Shack
Speaker 17: were well documented, but it was too much focus put
Speaker 17: on that, and I think, you know, for a lot
Speaker 17: of us as members of the team, you know, we
Speaker 17: kind of stepped back and also started attention to that
Speaker 17: a lot instead of really being held accountable for what
Speaker 17: we could do to help the team.
Speaker 1: In March, Kobe suffered an injury that kept him out
Speaker 1: of the lineup for nine games. It turned out to
Speaker 1: be the reset everyone needed during the.
Speaker 13: Period of time that Kobe set out. We had to
Speaker 13: change our style back to where Shaq had the dominant
Speaker 13: space on the floor, and once we got to that,
Speaker 13: we executed very well. And I think that when Kobe
Speaker 13: came back, it was really his impression that I'm going
Speaker 13: to come back and I'm going to make this transition
Speaker 13: into this team.
Speaker 4: I was underneath of the baseline with Kobe n figuring
Speaker 4: far and I'm selfish played by Kobe.
Speaker 1: The Lakers turned a corner and won their final eight
Speaker 1: regular season games, beating the Sacramento Kings to take the
Speaker 1: division titles.
Speaker 8: It again, O'Neil once again to Quidy two points, and
Speaker 8: then a.
Speaker 4: Better guard Kobe.
Speaker 1: The cacular Shocky Corby, and then they took off.
Speaker 5: I mean they only lost one game in the entire playoffs.
Speaker 1: I mean that's regarded as one of the best all time.
Speaker 1: Do you remember about that finals run? Why was that
Speaker 1: team just so dominant?
Speaker 5: You know it was it was about everybody finding their
Speaker 5: space in the triangle, trusting in each other, and then
Speaker 5: that just familiarity of having a core group of guys return,
Speaker 5: you know, they don't have to go through a learning
Speaker 5: process again, you know, and it was only going to
Speaker 5: get better now. Nobody could predict that the kind of
Speaker 5: run that they went on. It was a lot of.
Speaker 4: The posterized so long.
Speaker 1: The Lakers sweat the Western Conference playoffs, first the Trailblazers,
Speaker 1: who had taken them to a game seven the year before.
Speaker 1: Then the Sacramento.
Speaker 16: Man slam Dollar, who one of a friend you absolutely
Speaker 16: have to love what your cheek.
Speaker 1: And finally the top seeded San Antonio.
Speaker 4: Spurs comes outside to Bryant.
Speaker 8: He's hoping he shoots for three good over Bryant, connecting
Speaker 8: they have dealt a severe and perhaps fatal balls of
Speaker 8: a Spurs championship hulks man.
Speaker 1: Kobe dropped seventy three points in games one and two
Speaker 1: on the road, earning high praise from Shack.
Speaker 11: I told Kobe today he was my idols play. No,
Speaker 11: I'm sure he's playing phenomenal. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 11: what else to say. I think he's the best player.
Speaker 7: In the league.
Speaker 1: The Lakers wrapped it up in Game four at Staples.
Speaker 1: Shaq finished with twenty six points and ten rebounds. Kobe
Speaker 1: had twenty four points and eleven assists. I didn't even
Speaker 1: imagine how you look back on that time, like what
Speaker 1: what did you think and feel that your most important
Speaker 1: contribution was during that time, because that's just that was
Speaker 1: just iconic.
Speaker 7: That run.
Speaker 5: Whatever my dad needed, He'd tell me what he wanted
Speaker 5: and I'd go execute. Like that's just that's just how
Speaker 5: we worked. And as you know, the significant other of
Speaker 5: the coach, I felt a little bit like I was
Speaker 5: like Mama bear, you know, like this was I'm the
Speaker 5: like team mom in a way, and so however I
Speaker 5: could be however I could funnel information to Phil through
Speaker 5: the wives, you know, if one family was struggling, because
Speaker 5: you know, the kid's not sleeping at night. You know,
Speaker 5: I'd make sure phil would get that information. It was
Speaker 5: kind of like a wheel that, you know, everything kind
Speaker 5: of fed off of each other in and it was
Speaker 5: a cohesive unit.
Speaker 1: The lakers perfect playoff run would come to a screeching
Speaker 1: halt in Game one of the NBA Finals. The Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers, led by league MVP Allen Iverson, had
Speaker 1: come to play, backed up by.
Speaker 4: Iverson down the floor.
Speaker 6: He goes against O'Neil Allen by the big man Scoop
Speaker 6: lap As Good and.
Speaker 8: The Lakers are being humiliated here at this point of
Speaker 8: the ballgame, this.
Speaker 12: Is not going the way Los Angeles and its fans.
Speaker 1: Iverson was unstoppable, scoring forty eight points. The Lakers lost
Speaker 1: in overtime at home, one oh seven to one oh one.
Speaker 4: Shot blocked down to three.
Speaker 15: Snow with the ball.
Speaker 5: He's gonna have to do it himself.
Speaker 15: Back go to Allen.
Speaker 4: He comes out the right side baseline paint open. Good.
Speaker 6: What an incredible shot by Iverson, spinning like a top
Speaker 6: through the paint.
Speaker 1: The Lakers responded with two straight wins, taking control of
Speaker 1: the series with an end of game dagger in Game
Speaker 1: three by big shot Rocks Robert or Oi'll.
Speaker 3: Take a.
Speaker 16: Running away in the face of Philadelphia nails the three
Speaker 16: ball for the left corner of Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 1: I mean Magic's called you, which rightfully so one of
Speaker 1: the greatest clutch players in history. In Game three in
Speaker 1: the finals against Philly, I mean, this series is tied.
Speaker 1: You know, you hit this three pointer with forty seven
Speaker 1: seconds left and then you hit a free throw and
Speaker 1: you guys win the game. What do you remember about that?
Speaker 15: In particular, I remember me running to the corner. I
Speaker 15: was feeling and I think what people don't understand about
Speaker 15: when you are who you are. What I mean by
Speaker 15: that not not the upper echelon players who get plays
Speaker 15: right for them. You might be shooting the ball pretty good,
Speaker 15: but you might not get it again because the ball
Speaker 15: is going through Shaq, going through Kobe.
Speaker 7: And that's one thing I love about b Shaw.
Speaker 15: B Shaw is I'm gonna go to the hot guy,
Speaker 15: and he knew I had been shooting the ball pretty good,
Speaker 15: so he came to me in the corner, and instead
Speaker 15: of me looking for anybody, I took the shot from
Speaker 15: the corner to put us well, to put us up
Speaker 15: and I remember fans yelling behind you know what, Philly
Speaker 15: fans are saying outrageous stuff, and I never respond to anybody.
Speaker 15: But after I made that shot, I look at the
Speaker 15: guy and I say some things I know I shouldn't
Speaker 15: have said, like shut the f up.
Speaker 16: I couldn't help because the Philly fans, they just get
Speaker 16: under you. Sometimes when you do something spectacular, you got
Speaker 16: to say it. And plus I'm the type of person
Speaker 16: I'm not gonna say nothing doing the game, but I
Speaker 16: will say something at the end of the game when
Speaker 16: I know he got in at hand, because I ain't trying.
Speaker 7: To give anybody no spark or no bulletin board material.
Speaker 5: You know, that's a momentum changer because then once that happens,
Speaker 5: you know you've struck your your enemy, you know, the
Speaker 5: person that you're fighting. You've drawn blood, and like, how
Speaker 5: are they going to deal with that that wound? Are
Speaker 5: they going to be able to pull it back and
Speaker 5: get back on track? Are they gonna drop down a
Speaker 5: notch and your team is gonna move ahead? You know,
Speaker 5: sitting in the stands and watching that, it's it's like
Speaker 5: where you're like, Okay, I'm I'm gonna stay really quiet
Speaker 5: because I don't want to draw attention to myself.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh my gosh, do you get really nervous because
Speaker 1: you always you you always look pretty calm on the outside.
Speaker 5: Do you get nervous? Yes? Absolutely right, It never ends.
Speaker 1: The Lakers took the title in Game five at Staples,
Speaker 1: finishing with the best record ever in the history of
Speaker 1: the NBA Playoffs.
Speaker 6: Back to back titles for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 5: I remember my dad after the first one saying to me,
Speaker 5: why does why does he have to make it look
Speaker 5: so easy?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 5: But it really is about everybody committing to what the
Speaker 5: goal is, and everybody kind of sacrificing what they're about
Speaker 5: their ego and about their game and how they can
Speaker 5: fit in and create something bigger than just the sum
Speaker 5: of its part.
Speaker 7: You know. Kobe comes first with the Jeff and then
Speaker 7: you follow with me the knockout.
Speaker 1: Kobe and Shaq began the next season as co captains,
Speaker 1: Perfect Cash.
Speaker 4: And Kobe Bryan Great execution by Shock.
Speaker 15: So many people talk about the riff, the beef, whatever
Speaker 15: you want to call it, between Shack and Kobe. If
Speaker 15: you ever just hung out with us as a team,
Speaker 15: locker room practices bus. They never once said anything to
Speaker 15: us about what was going on between them. It must
Speaker 15: have been some much that was handled with Field because
Speaker 15: we're going to practice, laugh and joke and this is
Speaker 15: what you can tell, well, you don't like someone after practices,
Speaker 15: everybody sits in the locker room their icing and doing
Speaker 15: it is them. Dudes would laugh and talk to each other,
Speaker 15: tell jokes either. I was just you know, in my
Speaker 15: own world and never I never saw the beef. You know,
Speaker 15: do you think about this when you looking back at
Speaker 15: the first championship that we won there, who were the
Speaker 15: first people to embrace shacking Kobe?
Speaker 7: Right? And then next championship Shack and Kobe And for me,
Speaker 7: I'm like, where is this beef?
Speaker 15: I remember going into a third championship it started coming
Speaker 15: out that you know, it was, you know, a hierarchy
Speaker 15: going on. It's beef going on. And I remember telling press,
Speaker 15: you know what, we don't need them anymore. Let's just
Speaker 15: trade Shack and Kobe. I said that's a joke, right,
Speaker 15: and they both come to like, oh, you're gonna trade me.
Speaker 15: I'm like, there was a joke, dude, it was a joke.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, you were trying to point out just
Speaker 1: how like kind of ridiculous it was. You guys were
Speaker 1: winning winning championships, but I never.
Speaker 15: I personally, I never saw it. And because I you
Speaker 15: know me, I'm just a fun loving guy. I've never
Speaker 15: played with anybody I didn't like. I'm always trying to
Speaker 15: have a conversation with people and trying to get know
Speaker 15: people off the court, because you know, basketball is basketball,
Speaker 15: but we are at the basketball we are human beings
Speaker 15: with fathers, and I just tried to get to know
Speaker 15: everybody on that on that playing field, and it was
Speaker 15: great to get to know those guys. And and for me,
Speaker 15: the beef was so ridiculous because we both get in
Speaker 15: the same championship ring, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: The Lakers quest for a three peete began with the
Speaker 1: sweep of the Blazers in Round.
Speaker 4: One brows there comes frying where a shot.
Speaker 1: They dispatched the Spurs in five. In the semis Kobe
Speaker 1: dropped forty five in Game one and average thirty three
Speaker 1: for the series.
Speaker 4: Coming off the strip shot homing.
Speaker 1: The real drama began in the Western Conference Finals against
Speaker 1: a familiar foe in the Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 4: These two teams backla both dings. There is some there's
Speaker 4: not a lot of loss between theaster.
Speaker 1: Clot So Game four Western Conference Finals in two thousand
Speaker 1: and two and you hit this three porter with a
Speaker 1: second left on the clock over Chris Weber, uh huh,
Speaker 1: and you guys win one hundred and ninety nine. The
Speaker 1: Kings were leading that series, by the way. The Staples
Speaker 1: Center was going like berserk.
Speaker 4: Yes, we're a lot of shoven. Second, what an more
Speaker 4: about question?
Speaker 1: What do you recall about that?
Speaker 15: If you if I could take off my jack you
Speaker 15: see I'm getting, I would be getting goosebumps.
Speaker 7: I've made a lot of big shots.
Speaker 15: That shot is the only shot when you just mentioned it,
Speaker 15: I get goosebumps because to me, making that shot was
Speaker 15: like the birth of one of my kids.
Speaker 7: That's how special it is to me. Because give me
Speaker 7: a little history. I grew up a big Laker fan.
Speaker 15: I grew up a big Magic Johnson fan, and then
Speaker 15: able to knock down that shot in Staples and have
Speaker 15: the fans chant my name is. It is the greatest
Speaker 15: feeling I started having your kids and being drafted into
Speaker 15: the NBA.
Speaker 7: For me, I remember walking off and in the locker room.
Speaker 15: The fans I think stayed there maybe five to ten
Speaker 15: minutes after the game, still chanting my name. As a player,
Speaker 15: your ego always gets some gets in the way of
Speaker 15: gets the best of you sometime, but this is the
Speaker 15: one time the ego.
Speaker 7: Was just like, yeah, you deserve this dog. And for me, man,
Speaker 7: it was it's like when I go to meet my maker,
Speaker 7: I want that video played at my funeral.
Speaker 15: It's the best moment, like, you know, in my basketball career,
Speaker 15: you know that shot, doing it in the Laker uniform
Speaker 15: for one of the greatest franchises ever.
Speaker 7: Man, it's extra special.
Speaker 5: It's hard to explain the faith that you have, like
Speaker 5: because it's just it's always seemed something would change the tide.
Speaker 5: And whether that was you know, Phil changing you know,
Speaker 5: like his substitutions, or Kobe's determination and will Shacks physical dominance,
Speaker 5: something would break open and then there'd be this like okay,
Speaker 5: we're making a run. Okay, you know, and oh we're
Speaker 5: catching up. Now we're only down by twelve. And then
Speaker 5: when you have somebody like Robert or who is so
Speaker 5: underrated the fact that he could win in so many
Speaker 5: different roles and so many different offenses and contribute to
Speaker 5: championship teams in various organsanizations like that doesn't happen, you know,
Speaker 5: like it's it's so rare, and he's one of them,
Speaker 5: and him not afraid to take that big shot.
Speaker 8: Christy inbounds to Weber underneath tiped away by the Lakers,
Speaker 8: Fisher has.
Speaker 1: It and the King came close, game seven overtime.
Speaker 8: To the world champion Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But the Lake Show wasn't over. An anti climactic sweep
Speaker 1: of the nets.
Speaker 4: Swing again, the open shot up again.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers had their three people, three p.
Speaker 6: And a sweep for the world champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 8: Phil Jackson has won for his night NBA Championship.
Speaker 1: The Purple and Gold standard upheld. As you look back
Speaker 1: on it, what do you think was the hardest part
Speaker 1: of achieving a three peat? Because it hasn't been done since.
Speaker 1: You might have made it look easy the Lakers, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't.
Speaker 5: Well, you can see it like we didn't win four
Speaker 5: in a row, and then what happens isn't you know?
Speaker 5: I would I would think the Warriors, you know, and
Speaker 5: the Bowls of the nineties, they could talk about what
Speaker 5: happens just internally that you know, Phil even has a
Speaker 5: saying there there isn't enough success to go around the
Speaker 5: success of the team that all of a sudden, any
Speaker 5: ego gets involved, Well, they wouldn't have won without that,
Speaker 5: you know, Robert or hitting that shot. You know my contracts, Uh,
Speaker 5: where am I getting paid? And it's really difficult to
Speaker 5: sustain that kind of success, you know, it it carries
Speaker 5: its own weight and you know, you like to think
Speaker 5: that it would fortify you, but it's it's a leading
Speaker 5: time and you got to make the most of it
Speaker 5: and try to maximize the amount of wins that you
Speaker 5: can get.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of ways to look back
Speaker 1: on the past, right and you can look back on
Speaker 1: that era and say, wow, had Shack and Kobe say together,
Speaker 1: there would be even more rings. Or you can look
Speaker 1: back and say that's the way it was meant to be.
Speaker 1: How do you look back on that in retrospect? What's
Speaker 1: your perspective?
Speaker 5: I think, you know, with the experience that I have,
Speaker 5: what I'd like to share with the younger people, the
Speaker 5: younger players in our organization is enjoy the moment. You know,
Speaker 5: it's so hard to get there, and it's really special
Speaker 5: when you do like, savor it, savor it as long
Speaker 5: as you can. And what I really loved about Phil
Speaker 5: was every year he would start a season, no matter
Speaker 5: you know, who was coming back, who leaving, he would
Speaker 5: start a season like, Okay, here's how we win a championship.
Speaker 5: Some years it was, you know, kind of like a
Speaker 5: straight line to the championship. And sometimes literally you're going
Speaker 5: to have to climb the Himalayas in order to win
Speaker 5: a championship. That's how hard it's going to be. But
Speaker 5: there's always a chance that we can. We can win this,
Speaker 5: and here's how we're going to do it. And this
Speaker 5: is what I need from you, and each player set
Speaker 5: their expectations. Here's here's how you're going to contribute to
Speaker 5: us winning. And you know that that's really a message
Speaker 5: that I try to pass to to everyone involved in
Speaker 5: this organization. And and why I was so against teams
Speaker 5: who would tank, Like tanking is uh saddling coaches and
Speaker 5: players with losing records that have nothing seem to do
Speaker 5: with them, and like the arrogance of a front office
Speaker 5: to say, we don't think we can win a championship,
Speaker 5: so we're going to just pile on and be as
Speaker 5: bad as possible. It's such a disservice to people who
Speaker 5: have spent their entire life trying to win.
Speaker 1: Is there a part of you that wishes, maybe a
Speaker 1: large part of you, that people would stop focusing on
Speaker 1: the Kobe and Shack relationship and appreciate what they accomplished
Speaker 1: together rather than the differences that they had when they
Speaker 1: were both young men. I mean, Kobe is a teenager
Speaker 1: coming into the league. Certainly the two of them put
Speaker 1: that to rest, but I'm wondering their perspective on it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it just it's as time goes on,
Speaker 5: it will it won't be the story that people will
Speaker 5: want to talk about. Then want to talk about what
Speaker 5: they did accomplish together, you know. And I know that
Speaker 5: they had appreciation and the love for each other. I
Speaker 5: saw it, you know, not in front of the cameras.
Speaker 5: They really really did appreciate each other and support each other.
Speaker 5: And you know, I even you know, when Shaquille said,
Speaker 5: Sharif had, you know, his heart surgery. You know, Kobe
Speaker 5: was like the first one to check on him, and
Speaker 5: they really had a special bond and they knew it.
Speaker 1: That Lakers team was the last in the NBA to
Speaker 1: three peat. The Shaq Kobe era ended in two thousand
Speaker 1: and four, Shaq traded to the Miami Heat, where he
Speaker 1: would win another title. As Kobe led the Lakers to
Speaker 1: two more championships. Genie gave him a forty eight and
Speaker 1: a half million dollar contract late in his career, coming
Speaker 1: off an Achilles injury. He retired wearing the Bull and Gold,
Speaker 1: dropping a magical sixty points in his final game.
Speaker 6: From one last gamer, Ryan are the moves with the
Speaker 6: jump berd He fine fifty eight points and the Lakers leave.
Speaker 4: I can't believe it's come to an end.
Speaker 18: You guys will always be in my heart and I sincerely,
Speaker 18: sincerely appreciate it. No words can describe how I phil
Speaker 18: about you guys, and uh, thank you, Thank you from
Speaker 18: the bottom of my heart.
Speaker 4: God, I love you guys, and uh, I love you guys.
Speaker 4: What can I say, mambou?
Speaker 1: How gratifying is it for you? Because of the family
Speaker 1: aspect of the Lakers, that Kobe was able to be
Speaker 1: a Laker for his entire career, That's just an incredible
Speaker 1: accomplishment and also rare.
Speaker 5: He loved the Lakers so much and I am so
Speaker 5: grateful that, you know, he spent his entire career as
Speaker 5: a Laker, because he could have easily failed or asked
Speaker 5: to be traded. He didn't. He stuck it out for
Speaker 5: twenty years, and that we were able to retire his
Speaker 5: jerseys and celebrate him so that he would you know,
Speaker 5: there was no doubt how much we loved him as
Speaker 5: fans and as an organization, and we got that opportunity
Speaker 5: to celebrate him and retire both his members, and you know,
Speaker 5: I'm grateful that we had that.
Speaker 1: The Lakers remain essentially a family business, from doctor Buss
Speaker 1: to Jeanie to the stars treated Lake family and manifested
Speaker 1: in a tangible way in this year's NBA Draft.
Speaker 12: With a fifty fifth pick in the twenty twenty four
Speaker 12: NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select Ronnie James from
Speaker 12: the University of Southern California.
Speaker 1: It does always kind of go back to a family.
Speaker 1: You know, you would go into the press conferences afterwards,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's because it was really run by a family.
Speaker 1: You know, you and your dad, your brother there did
Speaker 1: feel like that extended to the players.
Speaker 5: You know, I saw it on the other side when
Speaker 5: when you know, I dated Phil for fifteen years, and
Speaker 5: so when I was his significant other, I learned how
Speaker 5: to look at the team through the lens of a coach.
Speaker 5: And I remember getting in a fight with him because
Speaker 5: he was bringing the team in on Thanksgiving to practice,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, why are you doing that? Give them
Speaker 5: one day off? And he said, Genie, what I'm trying
Speaker 5: to show them by having them practice on Thanksgiving and
Speaker 5: they'll have enough time to go home and have their
Speaker 5: dinner with their family. But I wanted to. I want
Speaker 5: to establish that this is their family as well, and
Speaker 5: that's a that's powerful. When a coach can harness that
Speaker 5: and create that family dynamic, then then you know you
Speaker 5: have something really special.
Speaker 1: The genesis of this podcast was because I wanted to
Speaker 1: tell my father's story as a former commissioner of the
Speaker 1: a BA. And that's something that you and I have
Speaker 1: always gone in common, how inspired we were by our
Speaker 1: dads and how our dads change our lives. When you
Speaker 1: think about your dad today as we sit here, what's
Speaker 1: the first thing that comes to mind?
Speaker 5: You know how passionate he was about the Lakers team,
Speaker 5: and you know, winning and building something that was his
Speaker 5: dream and accomplishing the goal of making the Lakers want
Speaker 5: of the most dominant teams in the NBA, because he
Speaker 5: felt that there was such a bias with the East
Speaker 5: Coast media that teams on the West Coast really didn't
Speaker 5: get their due. And you know, he really had something
Speaker 5: to prove, and he did it. He proved it. So
Speaker 5: he's just really remarkable.
Speaker 1: Next time on NBA DNA, The Doves Dynasty NBA DNA
Speaker 1: with Hannah Storm is a production of iHeart Podcasts, The
Speaker 1: NBA and Brainstorm and Productions. The show is written and
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Hannah Storm, along with Julia Weaver
Speaker 1: and Alex French. Our lead producer and showrunner is Julia Weaver.
Speaker 1: Our senior are Peter Kowder, Alex French, and Brandon Reese.
Speaker 1: Editing and sound design by Kurt Garren and Julia Weaver.
Speaker 1: The show's executive producers are Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean
Speaker 1: ty Tone, Steve Wintraup, and Jason Weikelt