LA Times HONOLULU — The Lakers began training camp Tuesday, but Phil Jackson, author, took the daily intrigue award with the paperback release of his tell-all diary, complete with a new noteworthy epilogue. Criticism of Kobe Bryant was not edited out of "The Last Season" — after all, it became a bestseller last October partly because of its high degree of detailed conflict — but a gentler tone was struck toward Bryant in the extra 16 pages at the book's end. Like the book itself, the epilogue is a series of journal entries, including one last November in which Jackson sympathized with Bryant after being peppered with questions from reporters and talk-show hosts during a monthlong book promotion tour. "The only difficult moments emerged when the interviewers kept pounding away at Kobe's troubles in Colorado," Jackson wrote. "I found myself, despite the criticism I had given him, becoming very protective, even defensive. I was no longer his coach or mentor. In fact, I was quite sure he was angry at me for the things I wrote about him in the book. Yet I still feel a great deal of compassion for the young man, for the difficulties he endured while awaiting trial, and for the challenges he will face in repairing his tarnished image. Even though the trial was called off, in the minds of many of his detractors, a verdict has still been rendered: guilty." Jackson also wrote that getting away from the Lakers "probably saved my soul," springing him free from countless dramas and allowing him to spend more time with family. Source
I see Phil coming back as being a challenge for him that he decided he wanted to take. It will be the greatest challenge Phil and Kobe have ever faced. I'd love to see Kobe break his own streak of 40 point games. Surreal.
