Buss: Rodman Probably Won’t Sign With Lakers

Dennis is doubtful and Del’s future is not predestined.

In a wide-ranging 30-minute interview with reporters several hours before the season opener, Laker owner Jerry Buss expressed enthusiasm over the prospects of his team, and said he could not predict what will happen to Coach Del Harris after the season ends.

But Buss said it appears that his friend Dennis Rodman probably will not sign with the Lakers.

“It’s looking doubtful,” Buss said, when asked how discussions between the team and the flamboyant forward were progressing.

The Lakers are over the salary cap and can offer Rodman, who made $18 million the last two seasons with Chicago, only the veteran minimum of $1 million. And prorated for the games lost to the lockout, he would collect only $600,000.

“I was very interested in Rodman,” said Buss, who acknowledged that he considers himself a friend of Rodman’s.

“Dennis is someone that can give us rebounding like we have never had, really, at that position. He’s a true talent and in a way I was just hoping somehow if he chose a team it would be us.

“I know he wants to play here. . . . If he plays, and he plays for that kind of money, I just hope it’s here.”

A spokeswoman for ICM, the talent agency representing Rodman, had no comment Friday night.

Buss said he was not worried that the team’s pursuit of Rodman is sending out wrong signals to Laker fans about the team’s tolerance for outrageous behavior.

“Dennis is a talent on the floor,” Buss said. “As far as I can read the public, they want to win as badly as I want to win. They’re very hungry for a championship; it’s been awhile. . . .

“I think a lot of people would forgive him as long as he tried to act somewhat orderly. . . . Dennis is Dennis. We’re not about to tell Dennis how to be someone else. We’d take him the way he is.”

According to sources, as Laker Executive Vice President Jerry West expressed a desire to ICM to set a deadline for Rodman, ICM continued to examine the possibility of a side agreement with Fox, the entertainment company that has a minority stake in the Lakers.

In discussing a slightly less flamboyant character, Buss said extending Harris’ contract last off-season to avoid a win-or-else situation “never came up.” Harris’ contract expires in June.

Is Buss concerned that Harris will be seen as a lame duck?

“It’s not a problem with me,” he said.

Buss also said that there would be no contract talks during the season, but insisted there is no set level of accomplishment--say, getting to the NBA finals--that would be the firm trigger for Harris’ return or departure.

“I don’t think we have any predestined thoughts,” Buss said. “I mean, you’d have to be clairvoyant. . . . What if three or four injuries come and I say, ‘OK, we have to have 60 victories . . . ‘ well, I can’t foresee that.”

Buss said he likes Harris as a coach.

“I think Del is a very, very good coach,” Buss said. “I think he’s a terrific coach. . . . Every time you lose a game you’re disappointed. But overall, I think Del’s done a great job. [The team won] 61 games last year.”

Finally, Buss said he still thoroughly enjoys owning the team, and added that he foresees his daughter, Jeanie, running the business side eventually and possibly his son, Jim Buss Jr., running the basketball side.

“I can’t see selling the Lakers--I’m afraid of my children,” Buss said with a laugh.

Has Buss, who has recently sold out minority stakes, considered selling a controlling interest?

“Not even close,” Buss said, before adding a sly reference to Rupert Murdoch, a rumored Laker suitor.

“Of course, what did that guy pay for that soccer club in England somewhere? A billion? Well, the Lakers probably are twice as valuable as that. . . . It would take something like that.”