‘Pain-free’ Jackson ends silence

Phil Jackson stood up straight, something he hasn’t been able to do in years, and expressed disdain.

Not for the new ball, or the city of Sacramento, but, rather, his metal cane.

“I hope to throw it away next week,” he said.

The Lakers’ coach is close to full-time duty after undergoing hip-replacement surgery Oct. 3. He won’t be at the exhibition finale Thursday in Anaheim but said he was still on track for Tuesday’s season opener against Phoenix.

Jackson, 61, elected for surgery after years of walking uncomfortably, the decades-delayed result of 12 seasons as an NBA power forward. Looking more upright, he said he was “pretty much pain-free” and said he was glad he had surgery.

“Without a doubt,” he said in his first public comments since the surgery. “I had trouble sleeping at night, had to find a position to just go to sleep. That was difficult because of the radiating pain. There’s a lot of things that are different for me now.”

Jackson has been attending Lakers’ practices on a part-time basis over the last two weeks.

Plenty of work awaits Jackson, who has never missed the playoffs in 15 seasons as an NBA coach. The Lakers are in various states of disrepair, seven players having missed Sunday’s exhibition victory over Phoenix.

Kobe Bryant scrimmaged lightly Tuesday but said he would not play in Thursday’s exhibition. Centers Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown are out until at least mid-November.

Compounding the need to deliver quickly: Fifteen of the Lakers’ first 20 games are at home, and a 16th is a designated road game against the Clippers.

“If you’re playing the right kind of ball, you’re going to be fine, and that’s what we’ll get across to this team,” Jackson said. “Yes, we’d like to get off to a good start, but it’s an 82-game season and when you want to end up playing well is in April and May.”

There were other items on his list. He designated Andrew Bynum as the opening-night center, picked at two shortcomings -- too many turnovers and missed free throws -- and found praise for a few players.

“You could see that Sasha [Vujacic] is playing good basketball, [Maurice] Evans is a sparkplug and does things defensively,” Jackson said. “Jordan Farmar’s given us an inspiration when he’s come in. So right away you know that there’s been three players that would normally come off the bench that you could be looking to give important minutes to out on the floor.”

One of the Lakers, in turn, complimented Jackson.

“He looked good to me,” Bryant said. “He had his armor on today, which is the Laker sweat suit. When he puts that on, it’s time for business.”

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Nether Bryant nor Jackson seem concerned about Bryant’s knee -- yet.

“I don’t want to push this,” Jackson said. “He’s stalled out a little bit on his rehab. I really want him to be healthy when he comes back because a lot is asked of him and he plays heavy minutes. If things don’t go right, there could be a setback. I don’t want to have that happen.”

Bryant scrimmaged lightly last week but eased up after experiencing soreness in the knee. He said Tuesday he “should be ready” for the season opener.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com