Lakers Turn to Hire Power
Former coach Jackson gets a three-year, $30-million contract, but he says he doesn't expect the team to turn around overnight.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
Phil Jackson stepped back into the Laker soap opera Tuesday, agreeing to return after a year's hiatus in which he caught lobsters off the coast of Australia, built a lakefront home in Montana and wrote a memoir in which he bared his ill feelings about the organization that dumped him.
Jackson, who guided the Lakers to three NBA championships in five seasons, ended a slow-speed courtship by signing the richest per-season coaching deal in U.S. sports history: $10 million a year for three years. He takes over a team that went 34-48 last season, finished behind the perennially low-achieving Clippers and failed to sell out many home games down the stretch.
At 59, Jackson is reunited with owner Jerry Buss — who jettisoned him last June, suggesting that his methodical triangle offense had run its course — and star guard Kobe Bryant, whom he deemed "uncoachable" in "The Last Season," his tell-all account of the 2003-04 campaign.
"It wasn't about the money, but the intrigue of this situation," Jackson said. "It's a tremendous story and a tremendous opportunity. It's a story of reconciliation, redemption, of reuniting — a lot of things in this make for a wonderful opportunity for the team, the Lakers and myself."
Jackson said his decision was influenced by his girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, the owner's daughter and the team's executive vice president of business operations. "I think Jeanie was the one person that was most supportive of this," Jackson said, adding that she had told him that "I was perhaps too young to retire."
Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to six titles in the 1990s before joining the Lakers in 1999, previously had guided primarily winning teams with Hall of Fame talent. The current Laker roster was nowhere near championship caliber last season, sliding to a tie for 11th place in the 15-team Western Conference without a capable replacement for center Shaquille O'Neal, who was traded to Miami last July.
Jackson sought to lower expectations Tuesday, saying that making the playoffs was an appropriate short-term goal.
"I'm not the panacea for this basketball club," he told a Staples Center news conference. "It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take some time. But we do think there is some hope, and we can make some changes that will really benefit this team and we can get back into the playoffs again."
Buss, in a statement, said he was "pleased to have Phil return to the Lakers."
"His record speaks for itself, and his success in this sport is unparalleled," said Buss, who is vacationing in Europe. "Quite simply, Phil is the best coach in the business and probably the greatest coach of all time. We feel that he is the best person to lead this team and hope that he will be able to lead us back to the point of being a championship-caliber team."
Bryant, who turns 27 in August, remains the Lakers' cornerstone, although he had expressed lukewarm feelings about a possible reunion with his former coach, saying late in the season that he would merely "roll with it" if Laker executives wanted Jackson.
Bryant, in a statement Tuesday, said Jackson's hiring was "something I support."
more
Go Lakers !!!! Yeah!!!!
Ok now that I have that out of my system. I am so glad Phil is coming back. I hope he can teach Kolbe to be humble and become a team player. I think then we will have a fighting chance.
Linear Mode
