Can the Zen Master become the Tweet Master?
Phil Jackson, the all-time winningest championship coach in NBA history, has joined Twitter, according to his fiancée, Jeanie Buss.
"Please welcome Phil Jackson to twitter @PhilJackson11," Buss tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
The avatar on Jackson's account is the photograph used as the cover of his upcoming book, "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success," depicting the six Chicago Bulls championship rings and five Los Angeles Lakers championship rings he earned as a head coach.
Jackson's Twitter bio simply states, "Coach and Author."
The book, written with Hugh Delehanty, will be released May 21. Jackson, 67, is also the author of "Maverick," "Sacred Hoops" and "The Last Season," and he co-wrote "More Than a Game" with Charley Rosen.
Jackson's Twitter account had amassed more than 23,000 followers before he sent out his first tweet, which also showed the Zen Master still has a ways to go before he masters social media.
"11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs" Jackson tweeted at 5:52 p.m. ET.
If anything, Twitter will give Jackson another way to reach the Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard. The All-Star center said last month that Jackson has texted him words of encouragement this season.
"I've had people really just help me out," Howard said. "Guys like Phil [Jackson], he texts me and he understands how it is to come off back surgery. He just said it takes a full year to recover, so you can't beat yourself up over the things that have happened this year."