Phil Jackson Work Quotations

I wouldn't ask him to go on the trip. We want him to stay behind, work out and get an opportunity to condition himself. It makes no sense for him to go along on the trip and stay in the hotel while we play.

He had a so-so game. He played adequately.... Everybody's a work in progress right now.

I'm not the panacea for this basketball club, ... It's going to take plenty of hard work and dedication over the course of the summer to change the face of this team.

Kobe was hell-bent on surpassing Jordan as the greatest player in the game. His obsession with Michael was striking. When we played in Chicago that season, I orchestrated a meeting between the two of them, thinking that Michael might help shift Kobe’s attitude toward selfless teamwork. After they shook hands, the first words out of Kobe’s mouth were, ‘You know I can kick your ass one on one.’

Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.

This trip, you've got to do a lot of PR work for the league, pump up that Miami game on Christmas Day because they're asking you to do this all the time. And don't forget, Orlando is just as important in the win-loss column.

This is about Phoenix going back to their home court, trying to rally. One win puts things right at the edge again, and we'd have to come back and hold home court, which is a single-game situation. So we know there's a lot of work to be done before we're finished with this thing.

This one is certainly a challenge. It's an enjoyable one and one without a whole lot of pressure on me. The boss' daughter told me if things don't work right, I can take a day off.

We had some dramatic plays down the stretch. Kobe stayed very well inside of what we were trying to do. We kind of died on the vine a couple of times when the shot clock was running down. Then we were able to find that penetrating pass. We were able to find a couple of things that worked for us.

My mother's families were Mennonites or Anabaptists that came to Minnesota from Russia. They were actually moving around Europe doing diking and lowland reclamation work, and they moved into Minnesota.

It's all about developing an atmosphere where players want to support and help each other. You want a nurturing place where they feel they can make mistakes, ... Philadelphia's got one of the great passers for a big man in Webber. And one of the great players as far as scoring guards in Allen. Certainly, that should give them some momentum to work with as they go through the year.