His Job May Be Holding Onto One

By BILL PLASCHKE

May 9, 1999 12 AM PT

The playoffs are upon us, the Houston Rockets are in town, the season’s most intriguing story has begun.

It’s about a big man who hasn’t grabbed a rebound in four years.

It’s about a new guy who has never begged for more shots.

How ironic that on a team of the NBA’s most splendidly gifted athletes, the story is about the one who wears glasses.

It’s about Kurt Rambis.

And whether his first Laker postseason as a head coach will also be his last.

For most everyone else in these NBA playoffs, the next six weeks represent the culmination of their job.

For Rambis, it is an audition for one.

Most everyone else is working for those intangibles of personal satisfaction, dream fulfillment, glory.

Rambis is also working on keeping his desk.

Not that the on-court action won’t be nice and all.

The Lakers could stay hot and we could all have fun; counting the number of passes between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, the number of picks run for Glen Rice, the number of times somebody mispronounces the first name of Tyronn Lue (You’ve had three months, you figure it out).

But the real intrigue is on the Laker sideline.

It seems clear that if the season ended today, Rambis would be replaced, victimized by inexperience in a season marred by insolence and insurrection.

But it also seems clear that he now has a chance to change all that.

Until the Lakers season-ending four-game win streak, the bosses had apparently decided that Rambis’ mentality wouldn’t work with today’s players, that the wheel of this high-octane franchise shook too badly in the hands of a man still finishing driver’s training.

But then Rambis won the battle with Kobe, won the battle with the clipboard, won the battle of the big-man distractions. What was formerly the league’s most disappointing team comes into today’s game as one of the most dangerous.

And while it was has been only four games, less than two weeks, it has been enough to buy Rambis time.

The question is, how much time does he need?

Is it enough for the Lakers to beat Houston and be competitive in a second-round matchup with San Antonio?

Or does he have to at least lead them to the Western Conference finals again?

But what if they are swept by Utah in those finals again, will he be saved?

There are some who feel Rambis should be rehired already, even if the Lakers don’t win another game until next fall. That argument contains the weight of a 24-13 regular-season record under highly irregular circumstances.

The only problem is, Jerry Buss made the same sort of decision at this same time last year. Remember when the Laker owner decided he would retain Del Harris no matter what happened in the playoffs?

You saw what happened. If Harris was fired immediately after last summer’s stunning collapse, instead of 12 games into this season, maybe this season isn’t such a supermarket-lot carnival.

Considering Buss was probably the only owner in any sport besides rodeo to appear in a team photo wearing frayed blue jeans, who knows what he’s thinking?

Here’s hoping, though, that this time he actually is thinking.

And that he waits to make a decision until he see how Rambis handles himself in the one playoff area that has bedeviled Laker coaches.

Adjustments.

Rambis’ future should not be determined on how far they go, but how they play in arriving there.

If he can make adjustments after losses, after watching mismatches, after enduring opponent hot streaks and Laker cold spells, then he deserves to stay. If he can’t, then Buss’ confidants should start surrounding him with ways to budget for Phil Jackson.

As Rambis himself repeatedly said, he didn’t have time for these adjustments during the regular season. He does now.

“This will be the true test of his coaching, and this is where I think he will shine,” Magic Johnson said. “He’ll have time to break down the film, do the matchups, get the team ready. Everybody will finally get to see what he does best.”

Johnson said he supports giving Rambis a chance to coach again, but acknowledges that it has been a very tough year, and that he’s not sure if Buss is convinced.

“It’s all up to Jerry [Buss], and I don’t know what’s going through his head, although I know he’ll do what’s best for the team,” Magic said. “Kurt has worked hard, and this will be his time.”

Rambis won’t say that, of course. He won’t act like it, either. He behaves as if it’s not about him, as if it has never been about him.

That is why even skeptical fans have fallen in love with the man, even as they are wondering if he can coach.

“Of course, it’s not about me,” Rambis said with not a small degree of irritation. “The players are the ones who win championships. This is about their success, not mine. I’m just here as part of the helping process.”

He is to be commended with approaching his new job exactly as he approached his old one. He is not afraid to do the dirty work--benching and scolding--while remaining reluctant to take any credit for it.

He teaches the players during practice, and throw elbows at them afterward. He has that baseline intensity during the game, and the Manhattan Beach cool afterward.

He would be the perfect coach for this town--a buttoned-down Laker who acts like an old Laker--and there is probably not one “dee-fense”-shouting fan who is not cheering for him.

But is he the perfect coach for this team? Is he the perfect coach for these personalities?

This being crunch time, and this being Kurt Rambis, I’m guessing we’re about to find out.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

It’s a ‘90s Kind of Thing

How the Lakers have fared in the playoffs in the 1990s:

YEAR COACH

1990: Pat Riley

* Lost to Suns in 2nd round, 4-1

1991: Mike Dunleavy

* Lost to Bulls in finals, 4-1

1992: Mike Dunleavy