Phil Jackson Seattle statement last night confirms Phil Jackson was going to be an executive in the Seattle organization if the Chris Hansen-led group had successfully purchased the Sacramento Kings.

The retired coach, Phil Jackson, was Seattle bound before the Seattle group was denied in its attempt to purchase the Sacramento Kings from the Maloof brothers.

The Phil Jackson Seattle plans came about last night when Phil confirmed on "The Tonight Show" he would have been an executive with the new Seattle organization, if the the group led by hedge fund manager, Chris Hansen, and Mircosoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, had been able to purchase the Sacramento Kings.

The Phil Jackson Seattle confirmation occurred when he spoke with Jay Leno during last night's "Tonight Show." Here are the Phil Jackson Seattle quotes:

"I had communication with the guy [Chris Hansen] that's trying to make this move. It was serious talk. I thought he was a really good guy for the league."

When pressed about whether Phil Jackson would take a front office position with the Sacramento Kings, now that they'll be staying in town, Jackson replied, "I won't be doing the [front-office] job in Sacramento. I like Sacramento," Jackson said before pausing and adding "Well, not that much."

Phil Jackson was on the Tonight Show as part of the media rounds for his new book: Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. In the new book, the Phil Jackson Seattle rumors aren't mentioned, but he does compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan, something fans have debated since Kobe won his fifth NBA title in 2010 with Phil as the coach.

Phil Jackson coached Michael Jordan to six titles with the Chicago Bulls during the 1990s, and he also coached Kobe Bryant, earlier flanked by Shaquille O'Neal, to five titles during the 2000s. Since he coached the two superstars he's been repeatedly asked to compare the two competitive titans, but before the book had always resisted that urge.

But in the book, Phil Jackson finally does compare Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and clearly gave the advantage to Michael Jordan in nearly every respect, writing:

"Michael was more charismatic and gregarious than Kobe. He loved hanging out with his teammates and security guards, playing cards, smoking cigars, and joking around

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"No question, Michael was a tougher, more intimidating defender. He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense.

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"Kobe has learned a lot from studying Michael's tricks, and we often used him as our secret weapon on defense when we needed to turn the direction of a game. In general, Kobe tends to rely more heavily on his flexibility and craftiness, but he takes a lot of gambles on defense and sometimes pays the price."