Never a Del Moment

When gods collide, humans usually pay the price, so Del Harris really had no chance.

These first calamitous weeks of the NBA season have been about intrigue and unsettled issues in the Laker cosmos--not, as gossiped, between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant--but higher up, as high as you can go.

Way above Harris, of course, who was probably the most grounded Laker of them all.

This was between owner Jerry Buss and franchise-builder Jerry West, the twin celestial, untouchable beings of Lakerland, who do their struggling indirectly, but with searing results.

And when this all finally came into mortal view, when all the lightning and thunderbolts flashed and roared, two things happened:

* Buss, who paid West the big money to keep him last summer, wrestled his flamboyant friend, Dennis Rodman, onto the team, despite the heated disagreement of West.

* And West finally fired Harris, with or without Buss’ immediate involvement (though certainly not against his direct wishes).

They both got something. They both had good reasons for doing what they did. You could also argue against either one, vociferously.

Maybe, in their own strange balance--Rodman in exchange for Harris, though that’s not exactly how it went--Buss and West have renewed this team, and settled their differences.

Rodman’s strengths and weaknesses have been discussed too much.

But it was apparently clear to Laker executives months ago that Harris, a good man unable to conjure greatness out of his players, was not their championship coach.

West apparently wanted to fire Harris in the off-season. Buss opted to let the situation play out, refusing either to fire him or to give him a contract extension, setting up this terrible lame-duck scenario, but also letting Harris get one more shot at winning a title.

Harris had too little influence to even force a showdown last summer.

And once the players started quitting in the fourth quarter at Denver on Monday, West knew the time had come.

The players knew it then too.

“The thing about this management here is we never have to go upstairs,” O’Neal said when asked if a player revolt caused the firing. “We have guys on this management team that played the game, that dominated the game, that were legends of the game.

“So they know what we feel, they know how we feel, so we really don’t have to go upstairs and say certain things. It’s unfortunate, because Del was a good guy. He was very knowledgeable and it’s unfortunate that a good guy like him takes the blame for our lack of cohesion.”

Why did Harris have to go?

The simple answer, the one that West knew in his heart last summer, was that Harris stepped too lightly around the large Laker egos, that Harris, put in this tenuous situation, had no credibility because he lacked the will to confront on-court problems.

“We really need a coach with an ‘I-don’t-care’ attitude,” forward Robert Horry said Wednesday. “Not whether we win or lose. I mean, he doesn’t care what guys say. If Robert Horry doesn’t box out, tell him, get on him.

“If Robert Horry takes a bad shot, tell him. If Robert Horry keeps doing it, bench Robert Horry, don’t be afraid to. Sheesh, we’ve got a starting five on our bench, that could start for somebody else. You know, don’t be afraid.”

But Harris, the amiable, long-winded, decent, if-everybody-can-just-understand-everything-will-be-OK guy that he was, never saw the upside to cutting and direct comments at his players.

Said O’Neal: “I’m going to miss Del personally.”

Harris is the guy who paused in his own news conference Wednesday to flip over the tape for a reporter’s tape recorder, the man who wanted to be “friends with all the players, instead of coaching them,” according to one Laker insider.

The coach who let Derek Harper be the one to stand up and start tearing into the team’s attitude, who cooled his heels outside the locker room Tuesday night with reporters for 20 minutes as Harper’s voice boomed through the doors in a players-only meeting.

Harris couldn’t gain points by risking their immediate love, because if he stepped too far, if he crossed O’Neal or Bryant--neither of whom entirely bought into his coaching style--he figured he was probably asking to be fired.

Afraid of being the bad guy, Harris turned out to be the guy they couldn’t respect. Or at least the boring guy whose players sleepwalked through losses to Denver and Vancouver this week.

“You’ve just got to be not afraid to get on someone,” Horry said. “If the guy pops, that’s his problem, he can learn from his mistakes.”

And if the new coach, say Kurt Rambis or Larry Drew, makes a point to take on O’Neal or Bryant early on? “You have to talk to Shaq and Kobe about that,” Horry said. “It wouldn’t bother me at all. . . .

“Del’s such a nice guy, you hate to see something like this happen to somebody like him. But nice guys finish last sometimes, you know?”

Especially when they’re getting brushed aside by the gods.

*

You can hear an interview with Del Harris and comments by Times columnist Bill Plaschke and give your views of the Lakers shake-up on The Times’ Web site: https://www.latimes.com/lakers

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Del Harris By the Numbers

224-116: Harris’ record with Lakers (.659 winning percentage)

4th: Where Harris ranks among 13 L.A. Laker coaches in winning percentage.

17-19: Harris’ playoff record with Lakers (.472 winning percentage)

7th: Where Harris ranks among L.A. Laker coaches in playoff win percentage

0: Number of division, conference and NBA titles Lakers won under Harris.

7: Number of seasons since Lakers have appeared in NBA finals.

10: Number of seasons since Lakers have won NBA title

Road to Run

How the Lakers fared in their first 12 games (6-6):

W 99-91 Feb. 5 vs. Houston: Bryant has 25 pts, 10 reb. Shaq scores 30, Lakers rally to win.

L 91-100 Feb. 7 vs. Utah: Again, Lakers have no answer for Stockton and Malone.

W 80-75 Feb. 8 at San Antonio: Shaq dominates, scoring 26 points with 13 rebounds and holding Robinson to 11 points.

W 103-98 Feb. 10 at Denver: Bryant scores nine of Lakers’ final 14 points.

L 75-86 Feb 11 at Minnesota: Shaq out with injury, Lakers shoot only 33.3% from field.

L 99-101 Feb. 14 vs. Indiana: Lakers blow eight-point lead with 10 minutes to play.

W 116-88 Feb. 17 vs. Dallas: Lakers pull out sloppy victory against 1-6 Marericks.

W 106-94 Feb. 19 vs. San Antonio: Derek Harper comes off the bench to spark 30-point third quarter.

L 89-92 Feb. 21 at Seattle: Lakers manage only 37 points in first half and shoot only 41% from field.

L (OT) 113-117: Feb. 22 at Denver: Lakers blow 12-point fourth-quarter lead.

L 83-93: Feb. 23 at Vancouver: Bryant is five of 21 from field, Lakers lose to Grizzles for first time in team history.