Lakers Try a Feel-Good Rudy Story

Rudy Tomjanovich boarded a plane to Los Angeles on Friday night, bound for what exactly he could not know. He had reached an agreement to coach the Lakers, or what will be left of them, and today will sign his contract -- five years for about $30 million -- and attend an introductory news conference.

A little more than a year ago, Tomjanovich had stepped down as coach of the Houston Rockets because he needed to deal with cancer.

His general manager, Carroll Dawson, held his hand and promised him that one day he would feel “the itch” again, that he would coach basketball as if it were something fresh.

Tomjanovich shook his head. No way. He was 54, and felt it. He’d worked a dozen years in the NBA, won two championships, had his time.

“I bet him a steak dinner,” Dawson said Friday afternoon. “I don’t know if I’ll collect, but I think I was right on that one.”

From here on, what will happen is anyone’s guess.

Kobe Bryant, who has said he hoped to be a Laker for life, is a free agent and apparently deciding between the Lakers and Clippers.

Shaquille O’Neal, who has talked about putting a jersey in the rafters and a statue on Chick Hearn Court, wants out in the worst way, and the Lakers are willing to comply.

The Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat have become the front-runners and, along with the Indiana Pacers, are most aggressive, according to sources. The Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Hornets and Orlando Magic also have made O’Neal’s list of acceptable destinations -- unlike the Pacers.

Complicating potential trades, according to general managers, is that O’Neal has insisted there be someone with whom to play when he arrives in his new city. Therefore, Mitch Kupchak might get Lamar Odom or Dwyane Wade from the Heat, but not both. Dirk Nowitzki is said to be untouchable in Dallas, just as Peja Stojakovic cannot be had from the Kings, all as the Lakers shop the league’s dominant player. Bryant, according to one team executive, is pushing for the Lakers to acquire Wade in any deal with the Heat.

Also, a league general manager not on O’Neal’s list said he was led to believe that if he traded for the Laker center, O’Neal would undergo surgery, sit out the season, then opt out of his contract.

An O’Neal trade by Wednesday, the first day free agents can sign contracts, is “a possibility,” according to an NBA insider. O’Neal is expected to meet today in Orlando with his agent, Perry Rogers. The reason for their meeting is unknown, but the Heat is playing in a nearby summer league and Dallas owner Mark Cuban has a home in Miami.

The Magic, the team of O’Neal’s adopted hometown, has withdrawn from a process in which it never really was involved. Magic General Manager John Weisbrod said Friday that trading for O’Neal, who is due about $59 million over the next two seasons and wants a $60-million extension, was “a numerical impossibility.”

“I heard from Shaq’s representation and obviously we’re aware that based on the fact that he lives here and has been here before that he would have some interest in being here,” Weisbrod said. “But ... we really are not in position to go. As much as the DeVos family is fond of Shaq and they have a good relationship, it’d be fantastic for the organization in a lot of ways to have him back, in the here and now, with him being owed [59] million bucks over the two years, it’s really not worth us talking about.”

Added Weisbrod: “I think he’s genuine and sincere about wanting to move, and from what I see, from a distance, the Lakers are genuine and sincere about wanting to do what they can to keep Kobe around. I think the only thing that could keep him from being moved is it’s so difficult for teams to do. I mean, we’ve done the math and we’ve looked at it, but the only way we could take on a contract like that would be if we fielded a roster of eight guys. So it’s just not very realistic for us.”

That’s what awaits Tomjanovich. Apparently free of the bladder cancer that led to his resignation, he replaces Phil Jackson, who kept Bryant and O’Neal together long enough to win three championships in five seasons.

Tomjanovich outlasted three other serious candidates -- Mike Krzyzewski, who was offered the job July 1 and turned it down July 5, Pat Riley and Roy Williams -- and now gets the wheel of the NBA’s glamour franchise, for the moment.

Along with potentially losing All-NBA first-teamers and Los Angeles icons O’Neal and Bryant, Tomjanovich arrives as Karl Malone, Derek Fisher, Slava Medvedenko and others also could leave.

Asked Friday about Tomjanovich, for whom he played four seasons, former Laker Robert Horry said, “He’s respected. In this league, guys don’t respect you, you’re in trouble. He’s played. He was a good player. So he’s got that. He’s coached championships. He coached one of the five best players ever in Dream [Hakeem Olajuwon]. Players respect that too.

“The players will really like Rudy if they just give him a chance.... I think Rudy can adapt to the old-head mentality there.”

But, as to whether Tomjanovich could solve all that could be happening to the Lakers, Horry sighed.

“That’s a deep question right there,” he said. “That’s a deep, deep question.”

Tomjanovich had hoped to speak to Bryant about re-signing and O’Neal about returning. If one or both continue as Lakers, Malone probably would too, and perhaps then they would contend for a title. If not, if they’re all gone, then the rest would play to simply make the playoffs.

There is, perhaps, one solution, according to Horry, who played 6 1/2 seasons for the Lakers and won three championships, all of them with O’Neal and Bryant.

“Everybody there,” he said, “has got to apologize to the big guy.”

O’Neal probably won’t take their calls.

Tomjanovich won 503 regular-season games and two NBA titles in 12 seasons as coach of the Rockets. Tomjanovich’s physician, Bernard Goldfarb, has been in contact with Laker physicians, and all agreed Tomjanovich was healthy enough to handle the rigors of the position. Tomjanovich served the Rockets over the last year primarily as a scout, and in recent months felt well enough to request a greater workload.

He was drafted by the San Diego Rockets out of Michigan in 1970 and is not a Rocket for the first time since.

“I’m happy for him,” Dawson said Friday. “He’s one of the best friends I’ve got. I’ve been in the foxholes with him. The Lakers are lucky to get this guy.... It’s going to be very strange for me seeing him at the other end of the floor for the Lakers. It’ll be sort of traumatic for me.”

Tomjanovich, who once won a championship and then defined it when he shouted, “Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” again has a large job ahead of him.

He has a coaching staff to build, probably around Larry Smith, who served him in Houston, and perhaps with Frank Hamblen, a holdover from Jackson’s staff. Also, Tomjanovich is expected to bring along Robert Barr, who worked for the Rockets in a variety of capacities.

Horry, who is without a contract next season and said he was not sure he would play again, said he was not surprised Tomjanovich was back in the league. Just as Dawson believed, Horry said, Tomjanovich couldn’t stay away.

“He’s always loved it,” Horry said.

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The File on Rudy T.

* Full name is Rudolph Tomjanovich, born Nov. 24, 1948, in Hamtramck, Mich.

* Averaged 25.1 points and 14.4 rebounds at Michigan, including averages of 30.1 and 15.7 to earn All-America honors as a senior in 1970.

* Averaged 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in an 11-season NBA career with San Diego and Houston.

* Came back from a life-threatening injury when punched by the Lakers’ Kermit Washington on Dec. 9, 1977, to average 19 points the following season.

* Compiled a 503-397 record in 12 seasons coaching Houston, with Midwest Division titles in 1993 and 1994.

* Coached Houston to a 4-3 victory over New York in the 1994 NBA Finals and a four-game sweep of Orlando in the 1995 Finals.

* Coached the United States to a third-place finish in the 1998 World Championships, and a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics.