A Ringing Endorsement

Phil Jackson, former hippie, noted philosopher and one of the most successful coaches in the history of the NBA, on Tuesday agreed to terms with the Lakers, a frazzled, former championship-level franchise in search of peace, purpose and prosperity.

After whirlwind negotiations, Jackson, who left the Chicago Bulls in 1998 after winning six championships in his final eight seasons, was scheduled to fly from his Montana home into L.A. this morning, sign the deal and then be introduced as the team’s new coach at a Beverly Hills news conference at noon.

“Everyone within the organization is thrilled,” Laker spokesman John Black said Tuesday, after confirming that a deal had been struck. “And the sense we’ve gotten is the whole city of L.A. is thrilled about this as well.

“Tomorrow should be an exciting day in the history of the Lakers.”

The pace of the talks--Jackson was on an Alaskan vacation for much of the time and first spoke to Laker management Monday while his agent, Todd Musburger, negotiated with the Lakers--and site of the ceremony are signs that this is a distinctly upscale, new-horizons marriage.

Instead of staging the announcement at the Great Western Forum, where the Laker offices are located, or near the Staples Center, where the Lakers will play next season, Jackson will be officially introduced at the same hotel where he is scheduled to speak at a Thursday night fund-raiser for his friend, former senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

It is not an inexpensive union.

Jackson, 53, agreed to a five-year deal worth about $30 million, far more than the Lakers have ever paid a coach, and far more than, before the last few days, it was believed owner Jerry Buss would ever pay for any coach.

Among the current Laker players, only Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice are scheduled to earn higher salaries next season.

Among other NBA coaches, Jackson’s $6-million salary puts him below only Boston’s Rick Pitino, who reportedly makes $7 million a year, and possibly Miami’s Pat Riley, whose salary and other benefits push his yearly compensation to $8 million or more. Both Pitino and Riley, however, also hold executive titles.

But after a recent period in which Laker management pondered rehiring interim coach Kurt Rambis out of loyalty to a longtime Laker, Jackson’s earned reputation as smooth handler of large egos and disparate talents made him the obvious choice.

In Chicago, Jackson adapted to issues as diverse as Dennis Rodman’s eccentricities to convincing Michael Jordan to play team basketball to Scottie Pippen’s sitting out the final 1.8 seconds of a playoff game in 1994 because he was upset that the last shot was designed for Toni Kukoc.

In L.A., Jackson will inherit a team that won 61 games under Del Harris in 1997-98, but was tossed into upheaval when Nick Van Exel was traded in the off-season, when Harris was fired after 12 games this season, when Rodman was signed, and when Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell were traded for Glen Rice after a month of trade talk.

And now, literally and spiritually, the Lakers are coming to Jackson.

The Lakers have been without a championship since 1988 and have not been to the championship round since 1991.

Jackson, who took over the Bulls in 1989, compiled a 545-193 record there--the highest winning percentage in league history--and was 111-41 in the postseason.

Jackson, too, has something to achieve with the Lakers, namely, proving that he can win a championship without the elevating presence of Jordan, who was on all of his Chicago title teams and who retired after the lockout, in part, because Jackson had left.

Though West and General Manager Mitch Kupchak will continue to run the team’s personnel department, and though Jackson apparently never suggested that he wanted total control, Laker sources have said that Jackson will have input in all roster decisions.

Jackson also apparently will be free to assemble his own coaching staff.

Rambis, meanwhile, has been guaranteed that he can remain with the Lakers next season in some capacity.

The Lakers weren’t the only team to seek Jackson’s services in the year that he has been out of basketball.

Recently, Jackson turned down an offer from the New Jersey Nets that reportedly was for $8 million a season.

And in April, Jackson and Musburger held a secret meeting with New York Knick executive Dave Checketts to explore the possibility of Jackson, who played for the Knicks, replacing Coach Jeff Van Gundy.

But Jackson has never hidden his interest in the Lakers.

Even while he was still coaching the Bulls--as his power struggle with General Manager Jerry Krause intensified--Jackson openly contemplated coaching the Lakers, and suggested that the fast-motion “triangle offense” he employed in Chicago would perfectly suit O’Neal’s talents.

In the three seasons since O’Neal came to the Lakers from Orlando, the Lakers have lost miserably in the second, third and second rounds of the Western Conference playoffs.

The last two seasons have resulted in sweeps by Utah and this season, in a sweep by San Antonio.

With Jackson at the helm, Laker executives won’t have to worry about daily controversies about playing time or shot selection, won’t have to address the coaching search on a game-by-game basis and will be able to stand back and let Jackson settle in as the main voice and visionary.

Buss and the other Laker executives have been vastly disappointed with the chemistry of the past few seasons and watched in dismay as O’Neal and Bryant at times played as if they were on separate teams, even when they were on the same floor.

Jackson’s Bull teams also emphasized aggressive, ball-hawking defense--starring Jordan and Pippen--a quality recent Laker units have not displayed.

Interestingly, it was the O’Neal-led Orlando Magic in 1994-95--the season in which Jordan unretired after a hiatus in baseball’s minor leagues--that handed Jackson the last playoff defeat he suffered.

BY THE NUMBERS

.738: Regular season winning percentage (ranks 1st all time)

545: Number of regular season victories (ranks 19th all time)

.730: Playoff winning percentage (ranks 1st all time)

111: Number of playoff victories (ranks 2nd all time)

6: Number of championships won as a coach (ranks 2nd all time behind Red Auerbach)

2: Number of championships won as a player (New York Knicks in 1970, 1973)