One Buss Likes Ring of It

As Phil Jackson stood in the glare of TV camera lights in mid-June, he gave his reasons for returning to coach the Lakers.

The lure of the game. The challenge of a beleaguered roster. The girlfriend.

Jeanie Buss, Jackson’s companion and a Laker executive vice president, campaigned for his comeback from the moment Rudy Tomjanovich resigned in February, firing off urgent e-mails to Jackson while he vacationed in Australia, and, over the next few months, reminding him that 59 was too young to retire.

Jackson and the Lakers ultimately formed a $30-million reunion that Buss thinks will work, given enough time.

“I just have never seen him so up for a challenge,� she said. “I think it’s going to take some time to see all this come together, but it’s been nothing but a pleasant experience. I see such a lightness to him and such a happiness. I have to assume that things at work are going really well.�

The Lakers appear to be a borderline playoff team at best, which likely means improvement over last season’s 34-48 debacle but no guarantee of games beyond April. The Lakers haven’t missed playoffs in two consecutive seasons since 1974-75 and 1975-76.

“I’m as eager as anybody for the regular season to start and see what we’ve got going for ourselves but I’m also very aware of the fact that, if things don’t go well, how quickly people will turn on Phil,� Buss said. “Phil is by no means the savior, and I don’t think that he has ever presented himself as the savior, but I just know how hard an NBA season is, and Phil has his work cut out for him. I’m not going to be the person to say that now, all is right with the world. I know that people will one day love him and the next day boo him. That’s the nature of being a coach.

“Phil wasn’t afraid to take this job. Everybody can talk about our roster. Phil sees something that was worth coming back to this job. We’ve got Kobe Bryant, the best player in the NBA.�

There’s always that one final issue: Has Jackson popped the question?

“I feel so bad that it’s become such an issue [publicly],� Buss said. “There’s nothing on the horizon. It’s probably never going to happen. But if Phil said to me, ‘Jeanie you can have one of two things: One, we can get married, or two, I’ll come back and coach the Lakers,’ I would say my wish is for you to come back and coach the Lakers. I’ve gotten my wish to come true. Hopefully he’ll be giving me another championship ring.�

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A year later, the results were somewhat different in an NBA.com survey of the league’s 30 general managers.

Bryant, the unanimous choice as the top shooting guard before last season, received only 56% of the vote in a poll released Tuesday, while Dwyane Wade received 28% and Ray Allen took 8%.

Bryant also slipped in another category: Only 62% of the general managers said they would want him as the player taking a shot with a game on the line, down from 81% last season. Allen received 15% of the vote.

The San Antonio Spurs were the most popular choice to win the NBA Finals, taking 77% of the vote, while the Miami Heat received 15%. There was one similarity to last season’s poll: Nobody picked the Lakers to win the championship.

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Smush Parker made four of five three-point shots and had 15 points in the Lakers’ 95-85 victory over the Utah Jazz in an exhibition at the Arrowhead Pond. Rookie Andrew Bynum, who had sat out six games because of an abdominal strain, had two points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes. He made one of seven shots.