Phil Jackson, the philosopher, the teacher, the Yoda of basketball, should have uncrossed his legs, got up from that bench and slapped Kobe and Shaq upside their heads a long time ago.

But I do have to look at it from his side. What can you do when you have two superheroes (two egos) on one team? There's Superman and then there's Batman. Just like Superman, Shaq (who calls himself Superman) only brings his best when he has to face a big opponent, fighting out in the public so everyone can see him and say what a great guy he is. Then there is Kobe, who, like Batman, worries about the petty criminals and the big time villains at the same time, returning stolen purses to old ladies and saving Gotham City from the likes of Joker.

Then there's Phil, who I think is more like Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, always using mind tricks and supposed words of wisdom to get through to his young fighters. It hasn't worked yet Phil, so it's about time to try something new.

I know what it's going to take to make Phil angry. One day in practice, Kobe and Shaq are going to be fighting for the ball and the ball will slip out of there hands and hit Jackson right on the back of his head, knocking his glasses straight off his face and almost making him swallow his whistle.

Phil had it coming like the plague on the Pharaoh of Egypt, because it's his fault to begin with. He knew what was going on with the team when he first got there. Forget the reason that Kobe isn't a good teammate because he won't hang with the team, or because he chose to travel to a game by himself on his motorcycle rather than on the team bus, or didn't show up for a team function.

Since Kobe came into the league at 17, do you think anybody wanted to have a teenager who could play better than any of them tagging along, knowing he couldn't get into anywhere being under 21? No, they shut Kobe out early, and he had no one to talk to. Kobe has always been about winning anyway, not about making a rap album or acting like Shaq.

In the off-season, while Shaq is in the studio, Kobe is in the gym working out. Jackson should have acknowledged Kobe's hard work in the beginning and told Shaq he needed to step up to Bryant's level of work ethic. Instead, he let a 20-year old figure out for himself that he was the only one who took basketball seriously in Los Angeles.