Phil Jackson has taken a seemingly endless amount of criticism for the remarks he made about LeBron James and LeBron’s business partners last month, but he has not taken the time to defend himself publicly.
That doesn’t mean he has no regret over it.
Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report describes Jackson as “saddened” by the way people interpreted his comment about LeBron’s “posse” as being a subtle form of racism. According to Ding, Jackson was in no way trying to offend James.
He’s saddened that LeBron James and others are upset about Jackson’s “posse” remark, particularly the racial interpretations. But if you think he’s going to give up his space in the public forum out of fear or embarrassment or old age, you don’t know how he operates.
Jackson is used to saying things, whether on or over the edge, that spark conversation or controversy for others. In this particular case, a 71-year-old man who is from and still spends every summer in Montana—where there is, literally, a Flathead County Sheriff’s Posse to maintain community order—had no intention to offend James or his friends. Jackson and many others now know there are differing cultural implications of the word.
If that is truly the case, there would be no harm in apologizing for the misunderstanding. LeBron and his business partner Maverick Carter have already uunloaded on Jackson for what he said about them, and James recently made it clear he has no interest in trying to Smith things over with the Zen Master. But if Jackson reached out, LeBron mind change his mind.
To this point, the only thing Jackson has done is give a subtle response on Twitter that seemed to hint he did not intend his use of “posse” to sound racist. Until he says more about it, we have no way of knowing how “saddened” he truly is by the backlash.
