Because of his pal Phil, his future couldn’t be brighter

SO I’M talking to my good pal, Phil Jackson. Great guy. A Hall of Famer, you know, but still just good old Phil to me, and really just a great guy.

Anyway, we’re talking before the Lakers game, just yucking it up as we do, and I don’t know how it came up, but it turns out Phil goes way back with Sam Zell, the billionaire who just became my new boss at The Times.

Small world. Phil, Sam and I. The way I look at it -- any friend of Phil’s has to be a friend of mine.

“I’m thinking of inviting him to a Laker game,” Phil said. Maybe Sammy and I can sit together.

Now I know some people have already been critical of Sam, and I’ll be happy to give him their names when Phil, Jeanie, the wife and I join the new boss for a barbecue this summer at his home in Malibu.

I prefer giving people a chance before being critical, as you know, which explains why I was quoted in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday morning saying of my new boss, “I’ve only seen pictures of him [and] I think he’s a handsome man.”

Phil, meanwhile, said he goes way back with Sam to his Chicago days with the Bulls, living in the same vicinity as Sam and sharing a mutual interest in motorcycles. They had a two-hour dinner in Paris, and Phil said the story about Zell buying a stack of Playboys when younger and selling them for profit to classmates “is a true story.”

Phil was also invited to speak to a group of about 60 of Sam’s prized executives, giving Phil the chance to ask them about Sam’s approach to business.

“He lets people do what they do best,” Phil said, which I thought was the perfect opening to ask my good pal a little favor.

“Do you think you could put in a good word for me with Sam?”

Phil smiled. “I’ll tell him you have a broadcasting career ahead of you.”

With friends like my good pal, Phil....

IT DOESN’T get any more exciting than this these days with the Lakers in Staples Center: the battle for sixth place. Just feel the tension.

The Lakers’ magic number to keep the Nuggets behind them was 8 before the start of the game, 7 to keep the Clippers from catching them, and forget about fifth place. A win over Denver and then again over the Clippers tonight and the Lakers would all but cinch the sixth spot and a playoff assignment beginning in San Antonio.

How’s that for progress -- the Lakers and Clippers swapping sixth- and seventh-place finishes from a year ago? Makes you feel good today, doesn’t it -- being a Lakers’ fan.

OK, so maybe it’d be better if the Lakers stumbled a little, and finished seventh. Maybe that’s what the Lakers were thinking too down the stretch against Denver.

The Spurs are playing the best basketball these days in the Western Conference, Phoenix plays no defense and the Lakers and the Clippers thought they had Phoenix beat a year ago.

Remember those years when it didn’t matter, and everyone feared playing the Lakers?

BRITNEY SPEARS was wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey the other night as a dress for a Lakers game along with two friends, who were wearing Chris Mihm and Luke Walton jerseys. I wonder where you can find a Mihm jersey these days?

At one point during the game, Spears and her two pals held up a sign that read: “We love you, Kobe, Chris and Luke.”

It’s against Staples Center policy for anyone to bring a sign into the building, let alone hold one up, and while a Staples Center official took notice, no one made a move to stop them.

I ASKED Phil if he has any idea before a game whether he’s going to get “Kobe the facilitator or Kobe the shooter” on a given night, and his immediate response was “no.”

Then he amended that, to say, “I do on some nights.”

It took less than 30 seconds to find out which Kobe the fans would get against the Nuggets, the shooter scoring the Lakers’ first points.

CAN YOU be honest? Which would you take?

Kobe the shooter, putting up 44 shots against Houston like he did the other night, scoring 53 points, but the Lakers losing -- or Kobe the facilitator, putting up only 14 shots and working the ball to his teammates in a win over Sacramento?

I’VE GOT a tougher/easier question.

Who had a better game? Kobe scoring 39 points against Denver with three rebounds and four assists, or Lamar Odom with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for the team’s first triple-double of the season?

HUGH HEFNER and his entourage were guests of Jerry Buss in the owners’ box, and while there were reports that Hefner showed up with 20 Bunnies, no one complained about the crowded conditions. The whole affair was filmed for “The Girls Next Door,” the E! Network’s reality TV show featuring Hefner’s close friends. Reality? Twenty Bunnies?

THE DODGERS announced the other day they have established a network of 25 bars and restaurants where fans can gather to watch Dodgers games this season. The way the team is playing so far, I can understand why the team would want to provide a place for people to cry over their beers.

Instead of joining the team in Milwaukee, the Parking Lot Attendant and Frank’s Old Lady appeared at Barney’s Beanery on opening day to make sure the beer was flowing for the game’s 11 a.m. start. Anything for you fans.

Fernando Valenzuela, meanwhile, was at the Hooters in Pasadena, while Steve Garvey was at the Hooters in Burbank. Now kids can dream one day of growing up and watching a Dodgers opener with all their friends and a former Dodgers star at a Hooters near them.

TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Big Red:

“[Mr. HGH] is right, you got off on the wrong foot ... the only people who give a hoot about this are in the media.”

And possibly his alleged supplier.