Best-selling author Jeff Pearlman joined me recently to discuss his new book on the 1996-2004 Lakers. The book titled “3 Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty”. In putting the book together Pearlman never got the chance to talk to Kobe Bryant but did get 8-hours with former Lakers coach Phil Jackson. Bryant was “pretty guarded about that era…I never got to speak with him.”
Pearlman, a southern California resident had finished the book before Bryant’s death and described the impact of Kobe’s death like this…”What he represented…the idea, if you have a dream and you work hard…you can accomplish it. It wasn’t just about him being a Laker, it was what he represented.” As for the other Laker superstar Shaquille O’Neal, Pearlman says Shaq was great.
A lot was made of the relationship between Shaq and Kobe during their playing days and in retirement. Pearlman says Shaq wanted to be loved, wanted to be a Santa type figure. Kobe, according to Pearlman, never saw Shaq that way. Pearlman shares several stories he uncovered about Shaq as a teammate, including buying suites for teammates to wear on the road, paying for funeral expenses for teammates family and flying teammates families to games. “I would have said Brett Favre was the best superstar teammate…I would say Shaq was even better.” Pearlman wrote the book “Gunslinger” about Brett Farve, which includes some great stories on Favre as a Falcon.
Pearlman also wrote the best-seller about the 80’s Lakers called “Showtime”. I asked Pearlman to compare the two eras. Pearlman says, “lot more drugs and sex” with the Showtime Lakers. According to Pearlman there were some similarities. Both had domineering head coaches (Pat Riley, Phil Jackson) center driven teams (Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal) and transcendent guards (Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant). As far as who was better Pearlman says that if Kareem and Magic took on Kobe and Shaq in a game of 2-on-2…Kobe and Shaq would dominate.
Thanks to Jeff for spending some time to talk about his new book. You can find it in bookstores or you can order it online, it’s out and available now.