Lakers Turn to Hire Power

Phil Jackson stepped back into the Laker soap opera Tuesday, agreeing to return after a year’s hiatus in which he caught lobsters off the coast of Australia, built a lakefront home in Montana and wrote a memoir in which he bared his ill feelings about the organization that dumped him.

Jackson, who guided the Lakers to three NBA championships in five seasons, ended a slow-speed courtship by signing the richest per-season coaching deal in U.S. sports history: $10 million a year for three years. He takes over a team that went 34-48 last season, finished behind the perennially low-achieving Clippers and failed to sell out many home games down the stretch.

At 59, Jackson is reunited with owner Jerry Buss -- who jettisoned him last June, suggesting that his methodical triangle offense had run its course -- and star guard Kobe Bryant, whom he deemed “uncoachable” in “The Last Season,” his tell-all account of the 2003-04 campaign.

“It wasn’t about the money, but the intrigue of this situation,” Jackson said. “It’s a tremendous story and a tremendous opportunity. It’s a story of reconciliation, redemption, of reuniting -- a lot of things in this make for a wonderful opportunity for the team, the Lakers and myself.”

Jackson said his decision was influenced by his girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, the owner’s daughter and the team’s executive vice president of business operations. “I think Jeanie was the one person that was most supportive of this,” Jackson said, adding that she had told him that “I was perhaps too young to retire.”

Jackson, who coached Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to six titles in the 1990s before joining the Lakers in 1999, previously had guided primarily winning teams with Hall of Fame talent. The current Laker roster was nowhere near championship caliber last season, sliding to a tie for 11th place in the 15-team Western Conference without a capable replacement for center Shaquille O’Neal, who was traded to Miami last July.

Jackson sought to lower expectations Tuesday, saying that making the playoffs was an appropriate short-term goal.

“I’m not the panacea for this basketball club,” he told a Staples Center news conference. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take some time. But we do think there is some hope, and we can make some changes that will really benefit this team and we can get back into the playoffs again.”

Buss, in a statement, said he was “pleased to have Phil return to the Lakers.”

“His record speaks for itself, and his success in this sport is unparalleled,” said Buss, who is vacationing in Europe. “Quite simply, Phil is the best coach in the business and probably the greatest coach of all time. We feel that he is the best person to lead this team and hope that he will be able to lead us back to the point of being a championship-caliber team.”

Bryant, who turns 27 in August, remains the Lakers’ cornerstone, although he had expressed lukewarm feelings about a possible reunion with his former coach, saying late in the season that he would merely “roll with it” if Laker executives wanted Jackson.

Bryant, in a statement Tuesday, said Jackson’s hiring was “something I support.”

“When the Lakers began the search for a new head coach, I put my complete trust in Dr. Buss and [General Manager] Mitch Kupchak to select the person they thought was best for the Lakers organization. In Phil Jackson, they chose a proven winner.”

In Bryant, Jackson has the youngest player in NBA history to score 14,000 points and the league’s second-highest scorer in the 2004-05 season. But Bryant made only 43.3% of his shots, his lowest percentage since his second season, and slumped defensively, failing to make the NBA all-defensive team for the first time since 1999.

Jackson said Bryant called to congratulate him Tuesday morning.

“You know, I think after we play a few games and get kind of a feel of working together, we’ll really feel like we’re ready to go,” Jackson said. “I really encourage him to find a way to get his zest back for the game, not that he doesn’t lose his competitive edge, but the whole game.

“He wants to come back and make some people eat some words.”

The Laker years under Jackson blended domination with palace intrigue. The team’s three consecutive championships, beginning in 2000, captivated the city, as did the reports of friction among Jackson, Bryant and O’Neal. The organization also wrestled with the distraction caused by the sexual assault charge filed against Bryant in 2003, which was eventually dropped.

Despite months of indecision and soul-searching by Jackson, the process advanced rapidly once he made up his mind, Kupchak said.

“I think the whole negotiation process was very quick,” Kupchak said. “ ... There were no hang-ups, nothing substantial.”

Jackson’s previous Laker contract paid him $6 million annually for five years, plus a $2-million bonus for each championship. This time, the bonuses are much smaller, a source with knowledge of the deal said.

He will not become a part-owner of the team or receive an elevated job title.

“Just a coach,” said Jackson’s agent, Todd Musburger. “That’s what we wanted and that’s what he is.... He’s the coach.”

At the same time, Jackson will have considerable influence on personnel decisions, which Kupchak said would not be awkward “at all.”

“I think we have an agreement,” Kupchak said. “If there’s a player that Phil doesn’t want, we won’t go after him. If there was a dispute, it would have to be settled by the owner, but it’s not going to happen.

“There’s not going to be a problem. We both played the game. We feel the same about the game.”

Jackson had also received overtures from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks. He played 11 seasons with the Knicks, winning a championship in 1973, and considered Knick coaching legend Red Holzman one of his most important basketball mentors.

Though his nine championships as a coach tie him with Boston Celtic legend Red Auerbach for the league record, Jackson said the prospect of a 10th title was not a factor in his return.

He replaces Frank Hamblen, who went 10-29 after taking over from Rudy Tomjanovich. Tomjanovich, signed amid fanfare to replace Jackson, departed abruptly in February, citing physical and mental fatigue.

Hamblen and former Laker players-turned-assistant-coaches Kurt Rambis and Brian Shaw are likely candidates for Jackson’s staff, and triangle-offense guru Tex Winter could be brought in as a consultant. Jackson said he would also consider his former Bulls player Scottie Pippen as a coach.

In trying to rebuild the team, the staff will be constrained by the league’s mandated salary cap, as well as stricter rules governing free agency that were not yet in place when the Lakers lured O’Neal away from the Orlando Magic with a lucrative contract in 1996.

An additional impediment is the contract of forward Brian Grant, who is set to receive $14.3 million next season and $15.4 million in 2006-07. Grant, one of three players acquired for O’Neal, averaged only 3.8 points and 3.7 rebounds this season.

Last month, Jackson told The Times he found the Laker lineup “not appealing at all.”

“They had performers that were paid big money that were incapable of performing,” he said. “Brian Grant didn’t earn his lunch money this year. Vlade [Divac] didn’t earn his lunch money this year.”

On Tuesday, Jackson sounded a more upbeat note.

“Los Angeles still has perhaps the best floor player in the game today in Kobe Bryant,” he said. “They have two outstanding ballplayers in Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, and they have some complementary players that can help this team win. There are a still a couple of pieces needed to make this team a winning team.”

A winning team might reignite the buzz at Staples Center. Last season the Lakers failed to sell out 12 of 41 home games, more than the previous four seasons combined, as they became only the seventh team in league history to drop from NBA finalist to missing the playoffs the next season.

Though Jackson’s return to the team that cast him aside marks a rarity in pro sports, he mused Tuesday about the prospect, however slim, of an equally stunning reunion: that of O’Neal becoming a Laker again.

O’Neal is expected to exercise a $30-million option on his contract to remain with the Miami Heat one more year. But if he opts out, he would become an unrestricted free agent.

“We’re aware of where he’s at,” Jackson said. “It was a thought. It’s beyond the possibility in my mind’s eye, but it’s there.”

O’Neal, who helped lead his new team to the Eastern Conference finals, said he was “absolutely happy” for Jackson.

“I had a great relationship with Phil,” O’Neal told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel before a magazine photo shoot Tuesday at a South Beach hotel in Miami. “I thank him for taking me to a level I couldn’t get to by myself. I wish him the best of luck.”

O’Neal paused and smiled, adding: “He’ll need it.”

Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this report.