After ‘Posse’ fiasco, Jax out to round up new vocab

PHIL JACKSON would not apologize for calling LeBron James' long-time friends and business associates his “posse” in an ESPN interview last month.

Instead, Jackson, in his first interview since causing a firestorm, told CBS Sports Network that the “word choice could be something I could regret.”

James and his business manager, Maverick Carter denounced Jackson’s comments, claiming the word “posse” had racial overtones. On Monday, LeBron told Cleveland reporters that he has no interest in meeting with Jackson prior to tonight’s Knicks-Cavs game at the Garden. Coincidentally, Jackson has not requested a sit down with LeBron, nor has Jackson felt the need to apologize.

In an appearance on the CBS Sports Network program “WE NEED TO TALK” Jackson said his mistake was discussing LeBron’s departure from Miami during his ESPN interview.

“We are not supposed to discuss other team’s players in this position that I have here,” Jackson said. “So I violated one of the tenets . ... And the obvious thing is, the word itself carries connotation. And I just don’t understand that part of it, the word. So I guess word choice could be something I could regret. But talking about other team’s players, that’s out of the box.”

Jackson later called his issue with James “water under the bridge” even though James’ teammate, former Knick Iman Shumpert, as well as Carmelo Anthony felt Jackson was wrong for calling LeBron’s friends a “posse.”

— Frank Isola