Lakers need to take charge

LA Daily News: When Phil Jackson goes on the NBA Finals pregame show this evening to say heaven knows what, Lakers executives will be sitting on their sofas, punching the volume button on their remote controls so as not to miss any precious multi-syllablic sentences.
This is not the sort of control the Lakers’ brass needs to project these days when everybody’s wondering if the franchise can bounce back.

The front office needs to show it’s in charge. It needs to convey its old air of competence. It needs to look as if it’s doing more to get the Lakers back to where the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs are today than just sitting back waiting for others to act.

Unfortunately, the image projected by everyone from owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak on down is of powerful people rendered powerless.

I hate to use a cliche and say the inmates are running the asylum.

So I’ll say the tail is wagging the dog.

Actually, it’s several tails, one motion-sick dog.

Will the Lakers ever name a new head coach, replacing Frank Hamblen, the fill-in for Rudy Tomjanovich?

They’ll find out when Phil Jackson tells them.

Maybe he’ll have something to say on the subject tonight on ABC. Or maybe he’ll propose to Jeanie Buss. Or maybe he’ll just break down the Pistons and Spurs, and Nielsen ratings for the region, including the Lakers’ El Segundo offices, will reflect a sudden switch to “Home Improvement.”

Would Jackson really want to coach the Lakers again after writing all those bad things about Kobe Bryant?

They’ll all find out when Bryant tells them.

Jackson has tried to set up a meeting with Bryant to see if they can work together. Whether Bryant wants to have that meeting is anybody’s guess. If they meet, and Phil doesn’t become the Lakers’ coach for any reason, then Kobe will get the blame.

Speaking of Kobe getting the blame: How are the Lakers feeling about themselves nearly a year after Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat?

They found out by watching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

The Lakers had their best night since Derek Fisher’s miracle shot against the Spurs when the Pistons held off the Heat on Monday. It meant that the Pistons, who beat the Lakers in last year’s NBA Finals, were not one-time wonders. It meant the O’Neal trade did not automatically hand an NBA championship to the Heat.

Detroit won and Los Angeles celebrated.

None of this should make Lakers fans feel more confident that the people in charge are actually in charge of this difficult situation.

Plan A has Phil Jackson coming back to try to make the best of what’s left of the roster he coached to the 2000-01-02 titles.

Plan B has yet to be spelled out.

Is Jackson the best choice or simply the obvious choice? He’ll turn 60 before opening night and he’s had health problems. Before Buss declined to offer him a new contract after the 2003-04 season, Jackson sounded as if he had a couple of years left.

Now he’d be signing on to help in the rebuilding of a franchise that sank to 34-48 without Jackson and O’Neal, tied for last in the Pacific Division and finished 11th in the Western Conference.

Modern teams have gone from 34 wins (or worse) to NBA championships in two or three years. But Milwaukee (1969) did it after drafting Lew Alcindor, Portland (1977) after drafting Bill Walton, Boston (1981) after drafting Larry Bird, San Antonio (1999) after getting David Robinson back from an injury, and Detroit (2004) after an almost total makeover of its starting lineup.

On average, since the end of the Celtics’ 1960s dynasty, teams that went from 34 wins (or worse) to NBA championships needed 5 years and a couple of coaching changes to do it.

Does Jackson have five years in him?

There’s nobody bigger than Phil Jackson in the pro basketball world, no story juicier than a Phil-Kobe reunion. The trouble is that this is supposed to be the Lakers’ rebuilding project, not Phil’s and Kobe’s. The Lakers ought to be in charge of it.

Maybe, after Jackson says whatever he says tonight, it’ll be Buss’ and Kupchak’s signal to get off the couch. About time somebody stood up.