Pages 21-35

In the next 15 pages of this book, Phil Jackson writes about the upcoming off season. This off-season was interesting because Kobe Bryant, the star of the Los Angeles Lakers was about to go into free agency, because his contract was about to expire. "I would never oppose a player's decision to explore his true market value" says Phil Jackson on page 32 of his book. Kobe often reitrated the fact that his decision to re-sign with the team, or explore the free agent market would be mainly based on the actions of Shaquille O'Neal, the other superstar of the Lakers. What many people do not know is that off the court, Kobe and Shaq often had major disagreements. It is unknown where their fued started, but it is known that both of them wanted to be the star. I personally believe that this is why the two future Hall-of-Famers had constant confrontations. During the off-season, the Lakers were able to convince Kobe Bryant that his best shot at winning a championship was with the Lakers. In addition to role players like Derek Fisher, rookie Brian Cook, and rookie Luke Walton; the Lakers were able to pull a few strings and sign forward Karl Mailman, "The Mailman", and guard Gary Payton, "The Glove". At first, Jackson feared that Malone would try to come and take over the Laker's offense, since he was not that far away from the scoring; but after Karl promised that he wouldn't Phil Jackson began to trust that he would pass the ball. Jackson did not want three people on the team that wanted to be "superstars". After these accusations, the Lakers became an immediate threat to win the Western Conference. The only thing that stood in the way was the San Antonio Spurs, and the presences of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Duncan, the reingning MVP, was arguably the most talented big man to ever play the game, besides Wilt Chamberlain, in my personal opinion. "Nobody in the NBA can defend him" recalls Jackson, who debated on whether Shaq or Duncan should ATTEMPT to guard him. Later in the book, we will discover how the Lakers thrived with this unbelievable squad.

"The Squad"