Shaq Destroys New York

Yes, he’s happy.

Sitting a few rows from the court for the Lakers’ dismantling of the New York Knicks on Sunday, Laker owner Jerry Buss, in his first lengthy comments since October, reveled in his team’s purposeful play this season and happily suggested that Coach Phil Jackson was the savior of the franchise.

“I felt like we had all the ingredients,” said Buss, who also plans on attending tonight’s game in Miami. “I was just waiting for the messiah to come and put them all together.

“And by luck or by crook or something, we were fortunate enough to get Phil, and that seems to be the right combination. . . . Suddenly, it seems like the good times are about to roll again.”

After winning five NBA championships from 1979-1988, Buss called the following frustrating 11 seasons of non-title Laker basketball “kind of sad” for the organization, highlighted by playoff failures in the last three seasons with possibly the most talented team in the league.

“I think anybody that watched the Lakers knew that something was missing, we didn’t know exactly what,” Buss said. “But we made some small personnel changes, and then the big addition was obviously the coach.

“I think everybody knew he was a very talented man, but I don’t think anybody knew just how talented, because he had the great Michael Jordan with him all the time.

“So, suddenly now they realize that Phil, in himself, is a type of legend.”

In a way, Buss agreed, the chaos of last season--from the firing of Del Harris after 12 games to the trade of Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell for Glen Rice and especially the strange, 23-game odyssey of his friend Dennis Rodman--showed the franchise what it did not want to ever experience again.

“Yes, in a lot of ways, I think that’s true,” Buss said. “I think the Dennis Rodman scenario led us to seeking more stability. I think that was very good for us.

“I think the insistence on a lot of people’s behalf that we needed an outside shooter instead of a player similar to Kobe [Bryant] . . . turns out to be the right decision. Glen has been marvelous for us; and right now, we’re just crossing our fingers [about the team’s success] and hoping it’s not just an illusion.”

Eventually, Buss, used to paying his coaches less than $2-million salaries, became convinced that the Lakers had to meet Jackson’s $6-million-per-season salary level.

“That’s a difficult decision,” Buss said. “But on the other hand, at this point, you have to say he’s a bargain.”

Does he expect his team to win an NBA title in June?

“You can never expect that,” Buss said. “There was a year when we were 11-0 in the playoffs and Magic [Johnson] and Byron Scott went down before the next series and I think we were swept [by Detroit in the 1989 finals]. . . .

“You realize that this is a very fragile situation. So I don’t expect anything. I hope for it, though.”

Meanwhile, Buss acknowledged that he has no plans to take on the kinds of big salaries that would put the team in jeopardy of paying a luxury tax after next season.

Buss also confirmed that he is leading a handful of owners--believed to also include the New York Knicks, Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves--who want the NBA to exempt old mega-contracts signed before last season from calculations toward a future luxury tax.

That would remove, for instance, the salary-cap busting deals given to Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett and Juwan Howard from the tax figures.

“I think they should be grandfathered,” Buss said. “I was instrumental in suggesting that. But at least to this point, it has fallen on deaf ears.”