Phil didn't like Kobe either *

It turns out that Phil Jackson told the Lakers in January that he didn't want to coach the team any more if Kobe Bryant was on it, saying "he won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid." Jackson's diary of last season will be out this month and a 5,500-word excerpt will be in the November issue of Los Angeles magazine, which appears Monday. The Times ran a piece based on the excerpt today, including the revelation that Jackson wanted to trade Bryant early in his stay with the Lakers, and that last season Shaquille O'Neal said of Kobe, "I'd like to pound the chump." He said the Kobe-Shaq feud was at times "unbelievably juvenile." While he will cherish his experience with O'Neal forever, Jackson wrote that he ended up deeply angry about Bryant and his lack of professionalism. For those who didn't follow it, the Lakers let Jackson go, traded O'Neal and rebuilt the team around Bryant.

* More excerpts: Sports Illustrated's website has a section of the book posted now. Jackson's book, by the way, is The Last Season.