Lakers Rumors: Phil Jackson Blames Andrew Bynum's Increased Role for Los Angeles' Struggles [VIDEO]

The Lakers were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round in their first year without Phil Jackson at the helm.

The coach retired at the end of last season after winning five championships with Los Angeles. He led L.A. to the NBA Finals every year from 2008-2010, but the team lost to the Thunder in five games this season.

Los Angeles had its worst season since 2006-2007, and Jackson claims it had to do with a change in philosophy. The Hall of Famer appeared on HBO's Real Sports, and told Andrea Kremer that he and Lakers executive Jim Buss have some different ideas on how to build the team.

Jackson explained to Kremer that Buss wanted to expand Andrew Bynum's role, and doing so may have hurt the team.

Jim saw Andrew as a kid and thought Bynum was going to be a great pick for our team. But in the process he's wanted Andrew to have a bigger and bigger role, and I think he's hired his coach to have Andrew have a bigger and bigger role. And that kind of disjointed the symmetry of what the Lakers were really about.

Bynum had his best season as a pro this past year. He averaged 18.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He was an All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Second Team.

As Bynum's production increased, Pau Gasol's performance began to suffer. Bynum had his best year with the Lakers, but Gasol arguably had the worst season of his entire career. He averaged a career-low 17.4 points per game, and there have been rumors of the Lakers looking to move him in the offseason.

Jackson seems to think there's a direct correlation between Bynum's success and Gasol's failures.

Andrew is an All-Star center, he did a wonderful job. But what happened was it took Pau out of his game and it took the team away from some of their game. They changed the style dramatically.

Jackson indicated that the Lakers would be run differently if he was still the team's head coach.

He's got some ideas about how the game should progress, how talent should be picked up, said Jackson referring to Buss. They're his (ideas). He's a guy that believes a lot in statistics and in numbers and in stuff like that. I'm a guy that believes in what the product is and I see and can touch, and feel, and watch run up and down the court.

Mike Brown took over for Jackson before the start of the season. He led Los Angeles to a 41-25 record, as well as a division title.

Click here to watch the video of Phil Jackson's interview on HBO: