Derek Fisher On ‘Podcast P With Paul George’

Derek Fisher speaks on Kobe’s Celtic obsession, 2000s Lakers dynasty, Phil Jackson’s coaching philosophy, and more on “Podcast P with Paul George”.

We share this week’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, where PG and the guys are joined by 5x NBA Champion Derek Fisher.

In this episode, Derek goes behind-the-scenes on the early-2000s Lakers dynasty, his iconic 0.4-second game-winner against the Spurs, and the dynamics between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as the impact of Phil Jackson’s coaching philosophy on his career.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• (07:33): DEREK LOOKS BACK ON ALLEN IVERSON’S MEMORABLE 2002 NBA FINALS GAME ONE PERFORMANCE AND TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR TY LUE GETTING STEPPED OVER BY AI

DEREK: “That whole week in practice leading up to game one, I was getting frustrated with myself because I felt like my timing and rhythm wasn’t the same as it was leading up to the finals…So game one starts, we start off strong, I start off strong and then I basically tanked. I didn’t have the energy and the force that I normally play with. So Phil Jackson had to make a choice for the team to like, okay, sure, let’s get [Tyronn Lue] out here and see if he can use his speed to try to impact what AI [Allen Iverson] was bringing to us that night. But it still wasn’t enough but that moment for me, I put Ty Lue in that position where he had to deal with that because I wasn’t at my best. That moment has always been a part of me and Ty Lue’s relationship anyway because we were super close and still are, but I respect AI like crazy and there’s nothing about that moment of that series that would change that, but I really feel like it was just all about me not being ready. Unfortunately, Ty Lue had to live through that man. So I personally feel responsible for it even though again, it’s not like Ty Lue didn’t deserve to be out there either.”

• (11:42): DEREK ON HIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF KOBE AND DEVELOPING THEIR RELATIONSHIP

DEREK: “I couldn’t fix my brain to understand that Kobe was so good that he was ready for that assignment coming out of high school. That wasn’t in my brain. I hadn’t seen him play, I hadn’t seen him work out. I knew nothing about him other than what you read in the media. So going in, I was not viewing Kobe as this Messiah teammate out of high school that this dude is going to be one of the best players we ever seen before. That wasn’t my energy. So when I really look back on it, I think that allowed us to form a relationship from day one that was built on just straight work, sweat equity, respect. I didn’t treat him different because his draft was higher than mine or his selection was higher than mine. He didn’t treat me different because I was drafted later or he was better than me. We just both came in with a level of work ethic that that’s the only way I knew how and even though he was insanely more talented than me, his work ethic was just as good or better than mine as well. So he didn’t rely on his talent to get him by. So our relationship that rookie year was what really formed the bond for us. We had a lot of similar experiences, but I was nowhere near what the expectations were on draft day.”

• (26:16): DEREK SAYS HE HAD MIXED EMOTIONS ABOUT THE 0.4 SECOND WIN AGAINST THE SPURS

DEREK: “For me I had mixed emotions about it because we didn’t win the title that year. So for a long time it reminded me of a down year, if that makes sense because we lost in the finals to the Pistons. So I’m like, I don’t want to be reminded of that. I do not want to remember 2004, but you can’t escape the moment. Yeah, the play wasn’t designed for me and if you’re on a team with Kobe and Shaq, the play is not for you. I’m not mad about that at all either. It was really the gravitational pull that the two of those guys have by pulling players towards them. I just kind of stood there and waited for the right moment to go to the open space and I always give Gary Payton a ton of credit because he was taking the ball out and most guys will force it to the superstars in that situation because they don’t want to be the one that had to explain why you try to throw it to this dude as opposed to try to throw it to Kobe or Shaq. So I always give GP major love for making what was the right basketball decision. It ended up working out, but a lot of dudes would’ve forced that ball to Kobe or Shaq for sure.”

• (36:55): DEREK SHARES HIS INSIGHT ON SHAQ AND KOBE’S TENSION WHILE ON THE LAKERS

DEREK: “I think Kobe started to feel like ‘In order for me to be the GOAT that I know I’m capable of accessing, I’m willing to put the time in. I’m willing to wake up at four in the morning, no sleep, train hard, play in every game, play through injuries, do everything to become one of the greatest players of all time. Why am I being asked to do less and be less when my teammate that is capable of just as much or more greatness isn’t maybe investing that much time, energy, et cetera.’ I think that was the year where it changed a little bit from healthy, some of the tension that great teams do need to a little bit more like one guy is maybe standing in the way of the other and so for the rest of us on the group, we just always made sure that both guys understood we’re not picking the side though.”

• (42:55): DEREK ON KOBE’S OBSESSION WITH THE BOSTON CELTICS AFTER LOSING TO THEM IN 2008 AND PROVING HIMSELF TO THE MEDIA

DEREK: “That’s how much we were paying attention to what the Boston Celtics were doing. We were obsessed with like, nah bro, they got us in ‘08, cool, enjoy your title, but that will never happen again and so that energy from K[obe] was on the surface of everything that we did from that season on. That’s what really drove the ‘09, the 2010 push was we are never going to experience that feeling again, bro, that we just experienced in ‘08. So when we get to the cusp of winning the title in ‘09, yeah, the energy of winning one without Shaq is there. More of that was media than Kobe really carrying it around every day, even though you knew in the back of his mind it was there, but it wasn’t just about, I want to show Shaq, it was also the same people that were questioning whether or not he could actually lead a team to a championship without Shaq. It was also for them too. So it wasn’t so much of a like I got to show Shaq this. It was also for the writers and the newspaper people and the ones that Cole can’t win without Shaq. Cole can’t do this. He doesn’t know how to be a leader. He also wanted, I think, confirm his ability to lead a team to the top.”

• (01:07:35): DEREK ON THE COACHING PHILOSOPHY FROM PHIL JACKSON THAT RESONATED WITH HIM THE MOST

DEREK: “That’s where Phil really started to help me. I think a number of his players understand the power of letting go of things that are not in your control so that you can actually focus on those micro details that you need to be focused on in order to excel at the right time. One of the examples he would use would be like a frog on a lily pad, which is super old school, but a frog sitting on a lily pad or wherever it’s sitting. It’s literally sitting there still the whole time and you might hear it ribbet, but there’s no movement. Before you know it, that mosquito or that insect flies by, that tongue comes out, he grabs it and he goes right back to the same spot, doesn’t move and so it represents this calmness and this ability to sit still before action. You can’t always be in action and then try to go make something happen. There are times where you have to literally just sit still so that the moment when it presents itself then you act and I hadn’t been presented with that approach before.”