NBA Rumors: Phil Jackson Ruined One of the Greatest Dynasties

According to Robert Horry, Phil Jackson ruined one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the NBA by provoking and fueling the feud between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. 

Now the original interview is in Russian but here's the translation 

"

I think Phil Jackson started that feud. It happened many times that after team practice he would say, “Kobe said this about Shaq, and Shaq said that about Kobe… We couldn’t believe how could that happen, because just the day before we saw them together, jumping on one another. Phil liked it when there was conflict of some sort.

I always tell people; if you look at those championships, you’ll see who were the closest players on the team. Normally those are the guys who are the first to hug each other. And when we were winning, it was always Shaq and Kobe who hugged. I think this will answer your question. Later it was blown out of proportion by the media and both players started doing something that didn’t make sense.

"

I don't know how seriously we should take Robert Horry's comments. It's pretty evident that there were some conflicts between the two, and there are quotes form other players on the team other than Horry that more than suggest the opposite. 

Apart from that it's not like Jackson doesn't have a history apart from the two stars. 

I think that's probably Horry's honest read on the situation, but it's possible that even though he was in the center of things he was just wrong. Sometimes being in the center of things makes it the worst possible place to get real perspective. Personal likes and biases can color how we see things. 

It's possible that Jackson did some things that might have added fuel to the fire but to say that he started it seems a bit far-fetched to me. I think that has a lot more to do with two gigantic egos on one 12-man team.