Shaquille O’Neal shared a wild story about the time when Phil Jackson told Robert Horry that he was Horry’s ‘master’ during training, prompting Horry to check the legendary coach on his words.
“Phil had this thing: when he go (whistles), he wanted you to look up, he wanted you to call the play. So, one time, we didn’t look up. We get to a timeout, and he looks at Robert Horry, and he goes, ‘Hey, I’m your master. When I whistle, you look up.’ Robert Horry said, ‘I’m from Alabama. You ain’t my goddamn master. I don’t play that.'”
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Naturally, a White coach telling a Black player that he is their ‘master’ is incredibly out-of-touch. Jackson has made comments over race which people have been offended by, so his making this sort of an indiscretion was probably not a big deal to him. It wasn’t the same for Horry, who hails from Alabama, a state with a very pronounced past of slavery.
A modern coach making a statement like that to a Black player would cause absolute upheaval in the NBA, and rightfully so. Comments like that should be discouraged, given the heavy connotations behind that.
A comment like that to the wrong player, even in the early ‘2000s, could have led to an ugly situation, but Horry used his words to let Jackson know how he felt, and we can assume it calmed the situation going forward.
Jackson cemented his case as one of the greatest coaches during that stint with Horry and the Lakers, winning three titles. Horry was integral to that success, hitting some of the biggest shots in the team’s history, as Jackson relied on him heavily to enable the team’s winning habits.
Robert Horry Once Compared Phil Jackson And Gregg Popovich’s Coaching Styles
Robert Horry had once opened up on the difference between Jackson and Gregg Popovich’s coaching style, showing that he prefers Pop over Jackson.
“Phil wouldn’t really talk to you. [He] would just come and talk to you [about] basketball — [say] read my book that I gave to you for a Christmas present… Pop would come and talk to you, take you to dinner, buy you a glass of wine,” said Horry. “Pop would really try to get to know you.”
Horry played a crucial role in the championship success of both coaches, hitting crucial shots for Jackson’s Lakers as a role-player in their three-peat from 2000 to 2002. He replicated the same after leaving the Lakers for the San Antonio Spurs, winning two titles in 2005 and 2007 with Popovich.
Horry averaged 6.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in his years with Jackson and the Lakers, with those numbers reducing in San Antonio to 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds. Jackson relied more on him, but he played a crucial veteran role for the Spurs during his time there. Maybe that’s why he saw different sides of both coaches, as Popovich was trying to connect with Horry to also stay in sync with a powerful voice in the locker room.
Jackson’s teams have always been run more unilaterally, with him implementing his vision on the teams he has coached. Both are incredibly successful and earned their success in a different regard, with Horry having the opportunity to work with both.
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