What also might catch readers by surprise is who wrote the book’s foreword; none other than 13-time NBA Champion (11 as a coach, two as a player) Phil Jackson. “I talked to Phil and went out and spent three days with him in Montana and we hit it off a little bit,” Nurse said. “He was kind of my mentor back in the 90s, he didn’t know it, and I never met him until two summers ago, but he was gracious enough to write it and it was very kind of him.”
Phil Jackson Rumors
Nurse really had no idea what to expect or how long their meeting would be, he just knew he would fly out to Montana and get the opportunity to chat with Jackson. “I didn’t really know if we were going for a cup of coffee or if I was staying or what we were really doing”
They would ultimately have three-day coaching retreat. Nurse and Jackson would spend time doing a variety of things including talking through coaching philosophy. Nurse goes further into this once in a lifetime trip in his brand new book, Rapture. As we all know, Nick Nurse would go on to take the Raptors to their first ever NBA championship in his first season as a head coach less than a year after this retreat. It goes to show that the trip to see Phil Jackson got him off on the right foot and set him up for success.
AF: As a long-time Laker, you were coached by Phil Jackson, one of the all-time greats. Anything from the Zen Master that applies to business? Shaq: Yeah, he always taught us to think positive, and to see a maximization of your potential. For example, if I’m looking to open another 10 pizza stores, I’m thinking about not just the idea but realizing it in terms of the look and decor, putting in the neon lights and signs, and all the little things that makes it work and become super successful. And also—don’t worry or think negative. If, say, one of your stores was flooded, you don’t freak out about shutting down and losing business for two weeks, but you look for where the problem is to fix it. Call the plumber, boom. Call someone else to re-paint, boom. Do what you need to do get business going again. I think a lot of people go directly to panic mode.
How does your development team compare to Phil Jackson’s Lakers? Devean George: I bring those same team concepts to my business. Phil was very clear on roles. ‘George, we need you to do this. Shaq, go. Rick do that. Fish!’ I took that same concept to my business. We all have a role. It’s all a benefit for the good, and everyone has to do it. Everybody has to play their part.
The award recipient is selected annually by a committee comprised of some of the most respected coaches and basketball executives in the game, including Bernie Bickerstaff, Billy Cunningham, Joe Dumars, Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, Pat Riley, Donnie Walsh and Lenny Wilkens. The award has been given out since 2009. Tom Heinsohn was the first recipient and others to win the honor include Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Bernie Bickerstaff.
Anthony explained during an appearance on ?The Old Man and the Three podcast with New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick that Jackson rebuilt to roster with players who could fit the triangle play style, but it failed to deliver the same results it did with the 1990s Chicago Bulls and 2000s Los Angeles Lakers: “The game is getting faster. Guys are getting quicker. Guys are jumping out the gym. It’s like, ‘No, we can’t slow it down when we got a fast break. We can’t play in the two-guard front when we got Derrick Rose and Raymond Felton’—you can’t do that. “… Again, we start slowing the game down. That’s where you see guys wasn’t comfortable in that situation, and I was one of them.”
