Off-season left Jeanie Buss frustrated

HONOLULU -- The Lakers’ off-season was unpredictable, volatile and everything else, and Jeanie Buss has tried to put it in perspective.

Buss, the team’s executive vice president of business operations, watched the last several months mostly from afar, jumping into the mix for a bit to defend her longtime companion, Coach Phil Jackson, on a talk-radio show.

When Oct. 1 rolled around and Kobe Bryant put on a Lakers uniform at media day, an off-season of tumult faded a little further into the background.

“It was frustration,” Buss said of the discord, calling the team’s first-round exit the obvious flash point. “It’s like the other shoe never got to drop. We weren’t supposed to be done by then. That just makes people not happy.”

She was unhappy for at least one day, saying in May she was hurt by comments made by her brother, team vice president of player personnel Jim Buss, who criticized Jackson on a different radio show for not being able to relate to young players.

She now has a front-row seat as Jackson ponders an open offer to return to the Lakers. Jackson, 62, is beginning the final year of a three-year, $30-million contract, but it will be his decision whether to accept an extension for an undisclosed number of seasons.

He has had two hip-replacement surgeries in the last year and is walking with a cane.

“I think he was ready to sign it, but now, I’m not sure,” Buss said of the extension. “I do think he’s not moving as well as we’d like to see him move. He doesn’t have any pain. It’s really just muscle weakness. He doesn’t have a lot of time to rehab that right now.

“He’s committed to this organization. He loves living in L.A., he loves the fans. He wants to win more championships. If he’s the problem, I don’t think he wants to stay. If they feel he’s the reason they can’t win, if they’re not 100% behind him, he understands.”

Meanwhile, she has other hopes for the season in general.

“As long as we can stay healthy, all Phil dreams about is the playoffs,” she said. “The regular season is a grind, it’s difficult, with the payoff being the playoffs. It just hasn’t been long enough -- two seasons out in the first round, that’s agony for him.”

Bryant has been out of the headlines since training camp began, but he has been fiery inside practices.

“He’s been competitive,” Jackson said. “He’s been very vocal as a leader with these guys. Without Lamar [Odom] on the floor, I think he’s tried to pick it up a little bit.

“Some of it’s good. We talked a little bit about what I would like to see that’s not apparent yet. He has a new role, so it takes some kind of new guidance, I think, for him to see that.”

Bryant has been moved to the role of facilitator in the offense, with the aim being a more up-tempo feel and fewer sets depending on one-one-one play by him in the wing.

Jackson said he wanted to see Bryant “throwing the ball ahead, pushing guys to run, using lead passes to encourage passes.”

“Then, if nothing works out in the first seven seconds of the 24-second clock, organize the offense, but [don’t] come out of the backcourt with a thought in mind as to how it’s going to happen down at the other end of the court.”

Bryant, Derek Fisher, Chris Mihm, Vladimir Radmanovic and Ronny Turiaf started for the Lakers in their exhibition opener Tuesday against Golden State at the University of Hawaii. A recap of the game, which had not concluded by press time, can be found at www.latimes.com/sports. . . . Jackson smiled after hearing a report that rookie Sacramento Kings Coach Reggie Theus will install a team curfew of midnight. “Wow. Good luck, Reggie,” he said. “Way to start out on the right foot.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com