It Would Be Foolish to Let Jackson Go

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. —  For five seasons, he has been the Great Laker.

For five seasons, an unmoving force amid great change, even on those rare occasions when he actually stands up.

History will remember the last five Laker seasons not by one of the stars -- what, and risk having the other guy sue? -- but by the man who brought them, a team, and a city together.

This will be forever, and properly, known as the Phil Jackson Era.

Back in the promising autumn of 1999, it started because of him.

Here in the strange summer of 2004, it should not be allowed to end because of him.

Today could be the final day of the Lakers’ fourth NBA Finals appearance in those five seasons, yet their coach does not have a contract for next season. His bosses haven’t negotiated with him in four months. What am I missing?

Allowing Phil Jackson to leave before allowing anyone else to leave?

Are you out of your Zen?

Before Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were decorative bookends.

Before Jackson, the Laker mystique had become an aging smile and antique goggles.

Before Jackson, one could travel the league for an entire winter without hearing the chant, “Beat L.A.”

Today, you don’t hear much else.

Today, O’Neal and Bryant have become Hall of Famers, Derek Fisher has become beloved, Rick Fox has become brilliant, Robert Horry has become legendary.

Today, Dodger Nation has become a Laker town.

And Staples Center has become the House that P.J. Built.

Remember when Jackson arrived in the summer of 1999? The new arena hadn’t even opened. Nobody knew whether folks would pay high prices and travel downtown for their basketball.

The Kings owned the building, but the Lakers were the highest-profile tenant, bearing the burden of the buzz.

Five seasons later, it is the trendiest spot in America’s trendiest town, a source of pride for its neighbors and a cash machine for its owners.

No offense to a good man, but does that happen if Del Harris is still coaching the Lakers?

Even if Jerry Buss doesn’t fully recognize Jackson’s wins and championships, he certainly understands his contributions in another area:

Money, money, money, mon-ey.

Jackson has made Buss a ton of money.

And as much as Buss loves Kobe Bryant, there is no way one star can match the financial windfall of three championships. Just ask the guy who does the books for Tracy McGrady’s team in Orlando, or Vince Carter’s team in Toronto.

There are, reportedly, two reasons Jackson has not yet signed.

Money and Bryant.

Understandably, neither Jackson nor the team will have much to say about this stuff until after the season, but footprints are there.

There were indications last fall that Jackson would be willing to coach for a couple of more years here at around $10 million a year.

That would be a $4-million raise for him.

That would be a steal, considering he has brought in at least that much every year in late-round playoff games.

Yet there are indications that Buss, who has traditionally relied on lower-paid coaches from inside the Laker family, was offering no more than his current $6-million annual salary.

This was before the Lakers suspended negotiations in February to, they say, avoid the distractions.

But they may have also been backing off to see what Bryant was going to do.

If Bryant stays, Jackson probably goes, because Bryant doesn’t like him as a person and thinks he has been restrained as a player.

Whom would the glamour-loving, fast-lane-hanging, young-forever owner pick?

Whom do you think?

Buss loves Bryant, and essentially already picked him over Jackson in a rare midseason interview with ESPN.

Buss said he would offer Bryant the maximum contract, noting that he wasn’t sure about Jackson.

“I can’t read Phil’s mind,” Buss said in the interview. “There are times I feel he definitely wants to coach, and there are times it seems he doesn’t want to coach.”

The feeling is that Buss will offer Bryant not just money, but a chance to make personnel recommendations.

See ya, Phil.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Lakers allowed a star to nudge aside a coach, as those who remember the saga of Magic Johnson and Paul Westhead can attest.

But what an ironic mistake it would be.

Jackson, run off by the guy he spent their toughest season protecting.

Jackson, who said his biggest mistake this season was being too nice to Bryant.

For years, his critics said Jackson was strictly a sunny-skies coach, a guy who could win championships only with star players.

(We’re not going to mention names but, Red Auerbach, you know who you are.)

Yet this season was possibly the most stressful for any coach in NBA history, and he still managed to gracefully guide the team into the Finals.

Sure, they trail the Detroit Pistons, three games to one, but ...

“Any other coach, they wouldn’t have gotten us this far,” said Horace Grant. “Lots of other coaches would have just said, ‘The heck with it.’ ”

His most precocious player was charged with sexual assault. One of his star acquisitions refused to play in his offense. The other star acquisition sat out nearly half the season because of a knee injury.

“The expectations on this team were very high and then, when stuff started happening, they were not lowered,” Grant said. “He did a tremendous job just getting this team to the Finals.”

Through it all, it seemed nearly every member of the team occasionally took leave of his senses except Jackson.

Through it all, he answered every question, dealt calmly with every bit of wackiness, and if he seemed aloof and arrogant at times, maybe that was the shield for the only man on the team who had none.

The only times it seemed as if he had lost control were after the first two playoff games in San Antonio, when his team seemed to be ignoring him in the final moments of two bad losses.

So what happened? Back in Los Angeles, in their private, Native American-themed meeting room, Jackson gathered his team and asked each of them to stand, individually, and make a pledge.

“He wanted each of us to state that we believed we could win this series,” recalled Rick Fox. “There’s something about individually stating a commitment that makes it seem more real.”

It was corny. It worked. They all stood. They all believed. They won the next four games, becoming only the eighth team in NBA history to come back from a two-games-to-none deficit and win a seven-game series.

Now they are trying to become the first team to come back from down three-games-to-one to win a championship.

No matter what happens tonight, it is expected that the Lakers will again take the floor filled with faith in the improbable.

Five seasons with Phil Jackson have taught them that.

Five seasons during which his bosses, if they let the best coach in history walk, have learned little.

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The Eliminator

Phil Jackson’s record in games in which his team faced playoff elimination:

*--* Year Team Rec. Opp. 1990 Chicago 1-1 Detroit 1992 Chicago 1-0 New York 1994 Chicago 1-1 New York 1995 Chicago 0-1 Orlando 1998 Chicago 1-0 Indiana 2000 Lakers 1-0 Sacramento 2000 Lakers 1-0 Portland 2002 Lakers 2-0 Sacramento 2003 Lakers 0-1 San Antonio

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.