Rules of the Waiting Game

Fifty-four days have passed since Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak called Phil Jackson a “viable candidate” to fill the Laker coaching vacancy, a span in which three other teams have hired coaches and the seemingly eternal NBA playoffs have almost run their course.

What’s the holdup?

Or, perhaps better phrased, where’s the vision?

After weeks of reflective time for both sides -- as in, “Could this really work?” -- the Lakers expressed serious interest in Jackson last week. But Jackson seems to be awaiting a revelation to clarify whether he should return to the game that has given him nine championships in 14 seasons.

He said last month he hadn’t “quite got the vision yet,” then said Thursday he would finally get “off the queue here in a day or two,” but still has not made a decision.

The Lakers want a coach in place by the June 28 draft and are committed to him, but ...

“At this time in his life, he wants to make sure he’s committed,” Laker assistant general manager Jim Buss said Monday. “I want him committed for three or four years, if that’s what he’s going to do. If he isn’t, that just shows you the class of the man he is; he’s not going to hurt us and put us in a bad position.

“He’s promised me he wouldn’t do a one-and-out. Rudy Tomjanovich hurt us. It threw us for a loop. We can’t have something like that. I understand totally and appreciate that Phil respects our position.”

Buss, son of the Laker owner, said he expects Jackson to reach a decision by the end of the week, “one way or the other.”

Financial negotiations are not expected to be overly difficult -- Laker vice president Magic Johnson said as much this month in estimating Jackson’s price tag would fall in the $7-million to $10-million range -- which leaves Jackson negotiating one thing.

His state of mind.

He is assessing the rigors of coaching at least 82 games a season, the unavoidable conflict that comes with some superstar egos and the pressures of winning with a Laker roster branded by Jackson as unappealing and underachieving.

Jackson, 59, would not be inheriting a championship-caliber team, a reason why he has slowly moved down a career checklist.

He initially considered health a possible holdup -- he had an angioplasty in May 2003 to clear a blocked artery and he suffers from arthritis in his knees and hips -- but his concerns were eliminated after a series of tests cleared him physically for a return.

Then he moved on to Kobe Bryant.

Jackson skewered the Laker guard in a tell-all book last fall, calling him uncoachable and writing about an ever-present psychological war between the two of them.

Jackson wanted to meet with Bryant last month to gauge his reaction to the criticism and to receive a sign that Bryant would buy into a team-first philosophy. But Bryant did not want to meet because of his own concern -- that he would be labeled the culprit if Jackson did not rejoin the Lakers, regardless of Jackson’s reasons.

Bryant’s reluctance is viewed by Jackson as a negative but is not a deal-breaker, a source close to Jackson said. Jackson would prefer to have held a meeting with his former player but somewhat understands the reasoning behind Bryant’s actions.

It is now up to Jackson.

“I think our guy is getting close to a decision,” a team source said. “There’s just a few things left to think about.”

If Jackson receives $10 million a year from the Lakers, he would pass George Karl, who made $7 million annually with Milwaukee, as the league’s highest-paid coach of all time and would earn nearly three times as much as the average NBA coach.

But Jackson would make several million less than most of the league’s top players and only about twice the average player’s salary of $4.9 million. He would rank about 40th when compared with a list of the highest-paid NBA players, well behind Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal, who will make $30 million next season if he exercises a player option.

Jackson would be the fourth-highest-paid member of the Laker payroll.

Bryant will make $15.9 million next season and will receive annual raises of $1.8 million until his contract ends in the summer of 2011.

Forward Brian Grant, who averaged 3.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in his first year with the Lakers, will make $14.3 million next season and $15.4 million in 2006-07. Forward Lamar Odom will make $11.4 million next season and average $13.2 million in the three years after that.

Although $10 million doesn’t compare with bigger-name players, such a salary would be quite a financial spectacle amid the backdrop of NBA owners heading toward a possible lockout on July 1.

The Lakers have been toward the top of coaching salaries recently -- they paid Jackson a base salary of $6 million and signed Tomjanovich to a five-year, $30 million contract before he abruptly resigned in February -- but Jerry Buss appears ready to set new standards.

Buss’ actions are worth noting after he suggested in November that player salaries were growing uncontrollably.

“The problem is I think every time a collective bargaining agreement came up, the players were able to win additional monies, additional favors, additional perks,” Buss said at the time. “I think they got in the habit of feeling that that was an endless barrel, but what they don’t understand at this point is it’s not. It’s over.”

If the Lakers don’t get Jackson, Detroit Piston Coach Larry Brown and Miami Heat President Pat Riley are longshot candidates who would also command Jackson-type money. Brown, who is still under contract with the Pistons, reportedly will become the Cleveland Cavaliers’ president; Riley has said he is content in Miami, where he owns a piece of the team and has unfinished business after the Heat’s conference finals loss to Detroit.

More-affordable possibilities include Laker assistant coaches Kurt Rambis and Brian Shaw, who would come at relatively inexpensive salaries in the $2-million to $3-million range.

Frank Hamblen, who took over for Tomjanovich and went 10-29 as Laker coach, is not interested in the position, a team source said. Hamblen, who has been working out draft prospects for the Lakers at their El Segundo headquarters, probably would stay on as an assistant coach if Jackson were hired.