Rambis Comes Full Circle

The game-worn eyeglasses were hung up a long time ago. The Clark Kent references have also been retired.

Kurt Rambis looks at those days and smiles, employing a pop-culture analogy to describe his past life as a Lakers power forward.

“Wham! was still big,” he said, a reference to the former George Michael--led pop-music duo that peaked in the mid-1980s.

Rambis, now 48, has long since shifted into the coaching part of his career, entering his ninth season as a Lakers assistant. He is guiding the team while Coach Phil Jackson recovers from hip-replacement surgery.

He has been in charge before, taking over in the interim for Del Harris 12 games into the strike-shortened 1998-99 season. He tied a league record at the time by winning his first nine games, but then the season began to unravel.

Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell were traded to Charlotte for Glen Rice, B.J Armstrong and J.R. Reid, a move that failed to bring the desired results. Then Dennis Rodman was signed. The Lakers were swept by San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals.

Rambis could not shed his interim tag. Jackson was hired before the 1999-2000 season.

“The way I look at it, it was a great opportunity for me,” Rambis said. “I was thrown into the fire and just about every bad thing that could happen to a coach during a season happened to me that year. It was just unfortunate I didn’t get an experience to have my own team, run my own team and come back with the Lakers, but if I’m sitting in the Laker business office at that time and Kurt Rambis is your interim coach and Phil Jackson is available, it becomes a very easy decision about which coach you’re going to take.”

Jackson did not pick Rambis for his staff, so Rambis became a consultant for the Lakers.

“He obviously had a tremendous amount of success here with this organization, but it did kind of push me to the back side,” Rambis said. “It was disappointing, but I understood it. It was probably a good break for me too, to get me away from the team. He brought me back later and has meant an awful lot to me as a coach and a mentor.”

Rambis was asked to join Jackson’s staff before the 2001-02 season, the result of a budding friendship. The players have reacted favorably to him.

“He has a high basketball IQ,” forward Lamar Odom said. “The guy played on championship teams with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He looks younger now, with the shaved mustache, contact lenses ... those glasses were kind of thick.”

Eventually, Rambis wants another chance as a head coach.

“I definitely want to be a head coach in this league, as long as the team has realistic expectations,” Rambis said. “If you go to a less-talented team and the owner and general manager are expecting you to win a championship, that’s just completely unrealistic. As long as there’s support from management and realistic expectations and a realistic timetable for a team to improve, it would be enjoyable to coach just about anywhere in this league.”

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The Lakers defeated Seattle, 104-101, in an exhibition at the Honda Center. Brian Cook had 16 points on seven-for-10 shooting and Ronny Turiaf had 15 points. Rookie Jordan Farmar had 10 points and five assists.

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Guard Sasha Vujacic did not play Thursday and will be out three or four days because of a strained muscle in his left foot.... Andrew Bynum sustained a slightly sprained left ankle and left in the third quarter.... The Lakers waived forward Marcus Douthit and center Mamadou N’Diaye. They now have 18 players, three more than the league maximum.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com