Lavin Could Save Lakers, but Who’s Saving Him?

When I saw the advertisement last week for the movie, “The Man Who Saved Christmas,” it reminded me I knew the man who could save the Lakers, and so I met with Steve Lavin to see if he had some advice for Coach Phil Jackson.

Jackson’s team is off to a Lavin-like start with ESPN asking the question Tuesday on its Internet site: “Are the Lakers lottery bound?”

“I’m not sure I can really tell a guy who has won three straight NBA titles anything,” Lavin said.

I told him, however, the Lakers have come out of the gate flat this season. The coach appears clueless. The team is losing to crummy teams they should clobber. Everyone is upset. And Lavin nodded -- as if he’d heard it all before.

“The first thing I’d tell him is to get some fresh air at the beach,” Lavin said, and I took notes so I could pass them on to Jackson. “Next, I’d tell him the universal challenge is to have his team play with sustained intensity -- after that, when it’s all said and done, I’d be surprised if the Lakers aren’t in the NBA Finals.”

And if they aren’t in the Finals? “I’d give him one more year [before firing him],” Lavin said, and these folks at UCLA are tough, really tough.

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LAVIN, of course, is gone after this season. He’s been “gone” after every season for the last six years, but this time he’s really gone, as everyone knows, because UCLA hired an athletic director for this basketball school, who then fired the Bruins’ football coach just for practice.

“I’m no more gone or less gone than any other point in my tenure here at UCLA,” Lavin said, and I said, “Oh no, you’re gone -- I mean going, going, gone.”

Lavin laughed. He laughs a lot because he hears he’s gone a lot, and when you’ve stood before the firing squad time after time and they keep missing, what else are you going to do?

“After what happened to Bob [Toledo], everywhere I went the first question everyone asked me was, ‘Are you next?’ And I would tell them, ‘No, I have no interest in being the next football coach at UCLA. In fact I’m taking my name out of consideration.’ ”

Now when he does get fired I wouldn’t suggest seeking work at the Comedy Store, but you do have to like his attitude, and his remarkable resiliency while being pummeled with criticism. He’s one of the most successful college coaches in the country -- just check the statistics -- but it’s nowhere near enough for the Bruin faithful.

This season began with a pair of exhibition losses that had fans crying for his dismissal before the first game that counted was played, and then he lost that one too. Before Tuesday night’s game with Northern Arizona, students outside Pauley Pavilion were passing out “LoseLavin.com” pamphlets detailing all that has gone wrong during his tenure here.

“Listen, nothing has changed here,” Lavin said. “We won the national championship in ‘95, and there was no criticism of Coach [Jim] Harrick until after the first game the very next [season] when we lost to Santa Clara. And when we started 1-2, they wanted Harrick dismissed -- six months after winning the national championship.”

Well, some things have changed here. The “FireLavin.com” site on the Internet lost steam, and now sits unused. And the running clock on another Internet site timed to coincide with Lavin’s dismissal has run its course, and he’s still here.

But for how much longer? Traditional basketball powerhouses such as Purdue, North Carolina, Syracuse and Temple did not make it into the NCAA tournament last season -- what would happen if Lavin’s UCLA team failed to make the tournament?

“I’d be fired,” he said.

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HE DIDN’T mention anything about losing to Northern Arizona, so I presume this morning he is still employed.

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IT’S TOO bad something couldn’t be worked out here with our two losing coaches. The final score just came in, and the Lakers got ripped again. It’s going to take a miracle to make the Lakers one of the NBA’s 16 playoff teams, but bringing a team from the brink of disaster and putting them in the Sweet 16 is a Lavin specialty -- something he has done five of the last six seasons.

Jackson, of course, doesn’t care much about the games leading up to the determination of the final 16, but once there, he’s a ferocious closer.

I’d suggest arranging some kind of swap -- Jackson taking over once the Bruins make it to the Sweet 16, but knowing the way both Jackson and Lavin coach against teams they’re supposed to beat, I’m pretty sure the results would have been the same against Northern Arizona.

Just for a second imagine Lavin coaching the Lakers -- Bruin fans can imagine him coaching almost anywhere but UCLA -- and you can’t tell me the final results would have been any worse in Minnesota. And for a change, wouldn’t it have been nice to see a Laker coach break a sweat?

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PAULEY PAVILION had that Mighty Ducks-like feeling to it with empty seats everywhere -- giving AD Dan Guerrero more ammunition for making the same kind of “bad environment” argument he made to fire Toledo. Lavin better win the national championship this season, and not lose the opener next season.

Who am I kidding? He’s already a goner.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Dave Gilmore:

“I thought your point about interviewing O.J. Simpson during the Heisman weekend was well said. Aren’t you worried ESPN will fire you from ‘Around the Horn’ for criticizing its decision to interview Simpson as part of the Heisman hype?”

I don’ think worried is the right word.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com