USA TODAY International Edition
James loses respect for Jackson
LeBron James isn’t happy about some comments New York Knicks President Phil Jackson made during a recent interview with ESPN.
So unhappy, in fact, that he said Tuesday that at the team shoot- around that he has lost respect for the famed coachturned- executive.
“I had nothing but respect for him as a coach,” James told reporters. He was asked: “Had respect?” James responded: “Yeah” He was asked: “Until now?” James: “Yeah” Jackson was featured in a Q& A on ESPN. com this week. In response to a question about how it hurt the Miami Heat when James signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he said:
“It had to hurt when they lost LeBron. That was definitely a slap in the face. But there were a lot of little things that came out of that. When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland and he wanted to spend the night.
“They don’t do overnights. Teams just don’t. So now ( coach Erik) Spoelstra has to text ( team President Pat) Riley and say, ‘ What do I do in this situation?’ And Pat, who has iron- fist rules, answers, ‘ You are on the plane, you are with this team.’ You can’t hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.”
James and his business partner, Maverick Carter, objected to Jackson’s use of the word “posse.”
Said Carter: “It’s the word ‘ posse’ and the characterization I take offense to. If he would have said LeBron and his agent, LeBron and his business partners or LeBron and his friends, that’s one thing.
“Yet because you’re young and black, he can use that word. We’re grown men.”