Phil Jackson has interest in a front-office NBA job

By Melissa Rohlin

May 17, 2013 12 AM PT

Phil Jackson apparently would like to have another stint in the NBA.

The 11-time champion coach said Thursday evening on “The Tonight Show” that he was interested in a front-office job with the Seattle group that failed in an attempt to relocate the Sacramento Kings.

“I had communication with the guy that’s trying to make this move,” Jackson said on the show, referencing Chris Hansen, the leader of the Seattle bid. “It was serious talk. I thought he was a really good guy for the league.”

Now that the team will remain in Sacramento, Jackson said he will not be working for the franchise.

“I won’t be doing the [front-office] job in Sacramento. I like Sacramento,” Jackson said. “Well, not that much.”

In his appearance, he also joked about the Lakers choosing to hire Mike D’Antoni as Mike Brown’s replacement, instead of Jackson.

“I told Jeanie [Buss], she was upset for two months. I got engaged,” Jackson quipped.

Jackson also talked about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, whom he compares in his new book “Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.”

“They both have this competitive zeal that’s unmatched,” Jackson said. “You tell them to run through a wall and they’ll say ‘how deep, and how wide, and how high’ and everything else. They’ll go through the wall.

“However, the competitiveness for Kobe stops at the end of the basketball court. He’s not competitive anymore. Michael, he wants to race you in the car, he wants to beat you in ping pong, he wants to play cards with you, he wants to beat you in golf, all of those things. He’s competitive all the way through.”