Kobe Knocks Phil Jackson to Recruit Melo?

Though Bryant missed the Lakers’ presentation to Anthony on Thursday because he was returning from a European vacation, he planned to be in Anthony’s ear all weekend selling Los Angeles. A league source from one of the four other teams in contention suggested it’s possible Bryant gave a not-so-glowing assessment of Jackson.

Bryant and Jackson had their difficulties, though they got along excellently in their final years together. It wasn’t always that way. Jackson sided with Shaquille O’Neal when Shaq and Kobe were teammates, and he famously ripped Bryant in one of his books. When Jackson was asked about Bryant recruiting Anthony on draft night, he said his former player could be “persuasive.’’

via Marc Berman of the New York Post