Jackson Looks to the Stars

In a little more than 13 years as an NBA coach, Phil Jackson has seen his store of superstar players rise from one to two to four, from Michael Jordan to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to O’Neal, Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton.

Mention his good fortune and typically he’ll agree, then raise his eyebrows as if to say, “You try it.”

This season alone, Jackson’s good fortune has had him alternately trying to draw his superstars together and separate them, depending on the mood and the morning’s headlines.

He has won nine NBA championships this way, along with 783 regular-season games. A victory tonight against the Miami Heat will draw him even with Gene Shue for 11th place on the all-time list. It should be noted that Jackson has coached nearly 600 fewer games than Shue did.

He got here because of his touch with the massive personalities of this time, because of philosophies formed in his time, often at the knee of Red Holzman, of whom he speaks often.

“In the process of replaying the history of the NBA, I look back on a team I played on with the New York Knicks,” Jackson said last week. “With [Bill] Bradley and [Dave] DeBusschere and [Willis] Reed and [Walt] Frazier and [Earl] Monroe. Also, a team that had Cazzie Russell and Jerry Lucas.... They weren’t bona fide, certified and sanctified Hall of Famers at the time they were playing. But they got that honor as they finished and won two championships. So it was a process evolving.

“Still, in all, they were that kind of a quality team. The intelligence on that team was quite high. They were all bright, mindful players.... We don’t have five or six of those kinds of players, but we have four that are such outstanding players that it’s remarkable. The two we were able to snare and entrap this summer to come to the Lakers are players that have done so much for their ballclubs.... This is an opportunity for them to get back to that championship [level].”

After getting O’Neal and Bryant through their latest rough patch, Jackson has turned again to the group. The Lakers are 7-2; their execution of Jackson’s triangle offense is choppy at best, leaving pick-and-rolls and fastbreaks and O’Neal in the post.

“Right now, we’re still in a bare-bones kind of operation,” Jackson said. “We’re doing things in baby steps, so to speak. We’re learning. The advantage is, we’ve got two guys that play full-out all the time, in Gary Payton and Malone. They run the ball and run the court with the kind of intensity that gives us easier baskets than we’ve had in the last couple of years.”

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O’Neal passed rookie Luke Walton on the practice court last week, pressed a forefinger into Walton’s right shoulder and said, “That’s the worst tattoo I’ve ever seen.”

O’Neal should know. He has many of them.

“Aw, c’mon,” Walton mustered in defense.

What Walton lacks in Superman and self-image art, however, he makes up for in originality. The four skeleton figures represent the four Walton boys -- Nate, Adam, Chris and Luke -- the orange balls that spin on the fingers represent their love for basketball, and the whole image is a tie-dyed-like ode to the Grateful Dead, father Bill’s preferred band.

O’Neal laughed. “Naw, it’s cool,” he said.

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O’Neal’s representatives and the Lakers have exchanged figures on a two-year contract extension, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

O’Neal is eligible for more than $68 million over two seasons. The actual deal, however, is expected to be for significantly less.

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While Kurt Rambis undergoes and recovers from surgery to reposition a tendon in his left foot, Brian Shaw is expected to take on greater duties around the club. Rambis is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday.

Rick Fox not only suffers from an injured tendon in his left foot, he apparently is a carrier. He was playing one-on-one with Rambis on Thursday in El Segundo when Rambis landed awkwardly on his left foot and limped from the practice floor.

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Second-year guard Kareem Rush made two fourth-quarter baskets to help fend off the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, a nice rally from the first three quarters, when he missed his only shot and wore his shorts backward. As a general rule, the NBA logo points to the front.

Rush’s reputation out of Missouri was as a shooter. But he shot 39.3% from the field as a rookie and was four for 21 in eight games this season before consecutive possessions against the Pistons, when a 22-foot jumper and a 13-foot fade-away gave the Lakers a nine-point lead.

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TONIGHT

vs. Miami, 6:30, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records -- Lakers 7-2, Heat 2-7.

Record vs. Heat (2002-03) -- 1-1.

Update -- The Heat is out of last place in the Atlantic Division, having won two in a row while the Orlando Magic went poof. Malik Allen, Rasual Butler and former Laker Samaki Walker are on the Heat injured list. Lamar Odom left the Clippers for a six-year, $65-million deal and could lose more games in Miami than he would have in Los Angeles. Former Laker Eddie Jones averages 22.1 points for the Heat, which hasn’t won three consecutive games since the middle of last season.