It was one of the great NBA combinations of all time… Superstar players Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, along with legendary coach Phil Jackson. Kobe and Shaq made for one of the most dominant, high-powered offenses in the game, and with Phil and the rest of the team, the Lakers were – as history shows – one of the greatest teams ever.
Now an older interview with Kobe is showing how Jackson managed to bring together two gigantic forces of the game, and put together a record-setting, winning team.
As Laker fans know, both Kobe and Shaq put on LA unis for the first time in 1996. Shaq coming as a free agent from Orlando… Kobe on a draft-night trade with the Charlotte Hornets. If that wasn’t one of the biggest, best draft plans ever, we’re not sure what is!
More Shaq-history: Success for the dynamic duo did not come right away. The Lakers were swept out of the playoffs in both 1998 and 1999. At that point, team owner Jerry Buss brought in former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson as head coach. Of course Jackson was already a legend, having led the Bulls (with MJ, Pippen and others) to a whopping six NBA Championships.
It didn’t take long for Jackson to set the tone for the team, and to get to the business of winning rings. For Shaq, Jackson’s leadership led to the big man becoming the most dominant player in the game at that time. Kobe… will, he became Kobe.
Under Jackson, the Shaq-and-Kobe-led Lakers would go on to win that historic three-peat of Championships, from 2000 to 2002, a feat that only one other team has accomplished in the last 50-odd years. Those rings also belong to Jackson, as it was his Bulls that set the very high bar.
While the Bulls were definitely Michael Jordan’s team, the Lakers had to deal with the competing egos of Kobe and Shaq. How did Jackson pull that off? In an interview from 2019, Kobe talked about Jackson’s management style, and how it worked so well for the team.
With popular podcaster and interviewer Patrick Bet-David, Kobe talked about how Jackson got he and O’Neal on the same page: “He (Phil Jackson) would see the friction between myself and Shaquille and say ‘Okay how can I use that? I know Kobe has a passion to play so come hell or high water, doesn’t matter what’s going on in his personal life, doesn’t matter what’s happening here with the team, he’s gonna show up and perform no matter what.”
As for Shaq, Kobe voiced coach’s ideas: “Shaq is more emotional, if something’s going on he won’t, so therefore I got to figure out how to create a wedge between myself and Kobe because then that brings me closer to Shaquille, and then that helps me better manage Shaq.’ So, that was his ability to manage the team, which was absolutely brilliant.”
Jackson was (is) certainly an expert at leadership and getting the best from people. He understood how Kobe and Shaq would respond to certain situations. He figured that a difficult relationship between his two superstars would not last forever, and they would (and did) learn to play together.
Of course there were some difficult behind-the-scenes times too. Challenges with led to Shaq leaving LA in 2004. Jackson left that year, too. Still, Jackson returned a year later, as his relationship with Kobe improved. It would take some time to heal the bond between Shaq and Kobe. Fortunately, they had gotten back together – even closer – before Kobe’s tragic passing.