Lakers Increase Their Options

Phil Jackson continues to narrow his options as the Lakers slowly start to expand theirs.

The former Laker coach has taken his name out of the running for the Cleveland Cavalier job, leaving the Lakers and New York Knicks as the main players, the Portland Trail Blazers still in the game as a more remote possibility.

Jackson is the Lakers’ preferred choice, but he and owner Jerry Buss both would have to agree that a reunion is the right thing. Buss would have to determine that a return to the triangle offense wouldn’t be so bland after all, and Jackson would have to commit to a team that lost 19 of its last 21 and finished 34-48.

Jackson, 59, could decide on his future over the next week because some of his suitors are awaiting finality with an answer either way, sources said. The Lakers want a coach in place before the June 28 draft, where they will pick 10th overall unless they move up in the May 24 lottery.

Jackson could ultimately take a pass on coaching next season and start the process again in 2006-07, a main reason the Lakers have made initial contact with former Minnesota Timberwolf coach Flip Saunders, a league source said.

Saunders, 50, was fired in February after the Timberwolves struggled under increased expectations for a franchise that finally made it out of the first round of the playoffs but faltered amid team chemistry issues.

Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak would not comment specifically on Jackson or Saunders.

“Until we have a coach, we’re going to continue to consider all possibilities,” he said Monday.

Saunders has little pressure to coach unless the right situation presents itself. He is owed $5 million next season from the Timberwolves unless he gets a job with another team for more, in which case the Timberwolves would be off the hook financially. If Saunders were to get less than $5 million, Minnesota would only need to pay the difference.

Saunders went 411-326 in nine-plus seasons in Minnesota, taking the Timberwolves to the playoffs in his first eight full seasons but going 17-30 overall in the postseason.

With the important pieces of their roster intact from last season’s trip to the Western Conference finals, the Timberwolves were expected to excel but ran into early problems when owner Glen Taylor declined to extend the contracts of veterans Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell.

The Timberwolves were 25-26 when General Manager Kevin McHale fired Saunders and took over the team himself. They finished with a 44-38 record and were one game behind the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies.

Incidentally, the job that Jackson passed up could be the best fit for Saunders, who has deep Ohio roots and spent most of his career in the upper Midwest.

He was born in Cleveland, later became a high school All-American there for Cuyahoga Heights High and played at the University of Minnesota. He became an assistant coach with the Golden Gophers for five seasons and also spent five seasons as coach of the La Crosse (Wis.) Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Assn.