Under Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, NBA Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant, completed the legendary Threepeat, winning 3 consecutive NBA Championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The Zen Master Phil Jackson coached the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time) Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990’s that completed 2 Threepeats. Phil Jackson might be the GOAT NBA Coach. He won 11 NBA Championships in his career. 6 with the Chicago Bulls. 5 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Although they achieved their Threepeat together, Shaq and Kobe, had their conflicts. Shaq was Kobe’s Big Brother. Like all families, there was love, there were disagreements, and there were fights.
In his era, Shaquille O’Neal was the most dominant force in the NBA. Shaq is one of the GOAT NBA Centers. He’s in the NBA Hall of Fame. 4-time NBA Champion. 3-time NBA Finals MVP. Shaq personified greatness.
On New Heights, Shaq told Hosts Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce that his favorite landing spot was with the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaq reminisced, “I had another guy, who was as crazy as me.” That was the late Kobe Bryant.
Jason asked Shaq, “What was it like playing for him (Phil Jackson) in LA?”
Shaq said, “Phil treated you like a man. I always used to go to Phil. ‘Hey man, you better get this mother f***er.’ Phil’s like, ‘No!’ Why? ‘I always want him to have that aggression. If we take that aggression away, you will ruin him. You need him down the stretch. Just work through it. I’m never taking that aggression away. Michael (Jordan) had that same aggression. I see something in that kid (Kobe). Y’all gotta work on that.’”
In Game 4 of the 2000 NBA Finals, the Lakers trailed 1 -2 games to the Indiana Pacers. Shaq fouled out in Overtime. Kobe waved his hands down to Shaq. He said, “I gotcha Diesel. Watch this.” Kobe shot the basketball 4 -5, scoring 8 points in Overtime. Lakers won Game 4. They won the NBA Finals 4 -2 games. Shaq and Kobe won their first NBA Championship together.
Shaq said of the late Kobe Bryant, “I needed him. We used each other. We drove each other crazy… But they always ask, ‘What would you do different?’ Nothing. Nothing, at all.”
The Big Aristotle spoke truth.
Like Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal, I think that no one coaches someone to be great. They have to pull out their innate greatness from inside themselves. They have to figure it out. They have to figure themselves out.
A good Coach, good Sensei generates the space for others to be themselves. That it’s okay. That it’s safe. That Coach, that Sensei doesn’t really teach; they guide others on their journey. The late Mizukami Sensei did that for me. He created the space to fail, to succeed, and grow from both. The Coach, the Sensei generates the space for others to figure it out. They create the space to figure themselves out. The player, the student still has to find their path. They’re the only ones who can. Just train.
Using anger, aggression to succeed, to win, is for the young. There’s wisdom getting that it’s part of the path, part of maturity, part of evolution. I used my anger, aggression, and my profound need to prove that I was good enough, when I started training in Aikido with the late Mizukami Sensei over 35 years ago. Aggression and anger only carried me so far. I was still angry inside. That doesn’t work. That’s no way to live.
Maybe, aggression sourced the late Kobe Bryant in winning 5 NBA Championships early in his career. Later in his career, he had injuries, his body broke down, he got old. After his 20-year NBA Hall of Fame career, Kobe retired. He left it all on the court. He gave his best. He moved on to what’s next. That was making movies like his Academy Award Winning Short Film, Dear Basketball. Tragically, Kobe and his daughter Gianna passed away in a helicopter crash in 2020.
After his Hall of Fame NBA career, Kobe evolved his Mamba Mentality, his legendary desire to win, as curiosity. “What can I do better?” “How can I be better?” It wasn’t about anger. Kobe evolved. That’s just life.
Ishibashi Sensei said, “The purpose of Aikido is to release your fear.” He said , “The safest place to be is under the attack, in the danger.” In Aikido, I enter the attack, get under the attack, in the danger. I take a glancing blow if I have to. It’s one time. In the danger, I hold my position under the attack. I apply the Aikido technique to myself, not the attacker. Aikido Founder O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba said, “True victory is victory over oneself.” It’s me against me.
Under the attack, in the danger, I don’t get angry. Don’t aggress against aggression. I open up. I let go my fear inside that I’m not good enough over, and over, and over again. I’m quiet inside. I give up what I need to and do what I have to. I figure it out. I figure myself out.
In Aikido practice, I trained with teenager Nico. In practicing yoko-iriminage (strike to the side of the attacker’s head), I told him to strike me to the face with his feeling out, from his one point ki. It’s one time. What the late Mizukami Sensei taught Ishibashi Sensei and me. I said that I would take the fall. He didn’t have to be afraid to strike me to the face. Nico listened.
As Nico threw with his feeling out, over, and over, and over again, he figured it out. He figured out that he was stronger than he knew. He was strong. He always was. I simply guided him to find what was already inside himself. I have nothing to do with what goes on inside someone else. I have a say in what goes on inside of me and in how I can be of service. There’s greatness inside all of us. We all have to figure that out. Figure ourselves out.
I can’t change others. That’s life. I let them be themselves. Create the space for them to fail, succeed, and grow from both. I create the space for them to figure it out. They still have to put in the work. Put their heads down. They work on themselves, not on others. Just train. They figure it out. They figure themselves out. They can make the world a greater place, too.
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