“Phil wanted Jim Buss to walk away with his tail between his legs,” one source with knowledge of the discussions told Yahoo! Sports. “He thought he had time to still negotiate with them, and see how much they would give him.” Now, the Lakers are going out of their way to spare Jackson the embarrassment of his overreaching, but this is pointless spin. They’re working with him to sell the public that he hadn’t asked for too much, that somehow the franchise chose D’Antoni over Jackson on sheer merit. It’s noble, but laughable. Jackson heard those chants in Staples Center and never believed the Lakers had the guts to call his bluff before circling back to him on Monday. “Phil’s assistants convinced him that they had his back on the concerns [Jackson] had about his load as head coach, and he was ready to get a deal done on Monday,” a source with knowledge of the talks said. “But this was about Jim Buss giving him a royal you-know-what in the end.” If Jackson was ever to return to coaching to chase a championship in a preferred locale, this job offered him the opportunity. His instincts were wrong on how to play these negotiations and it blew up on him. The Lakers could live with making Jackson the highest-paid coach in the NBA again, but Jackson had to come back in full, and the Lakers were wise to have those uncertainties.”
Others like Kurt Rambis, who would have been an assistant to Jackson had the teams agreed on a deal, have denied such talks ever even took place.
Rambis debunked the notion that Jackson asked for too much during negotiations, from Sam Amick of USA Today: “No money was discussed,” said Rambis, the former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach who was expected to rejoin Jim Cleamons on Jackson’s staff. “All of these things that are out there about partial ownership, and lack of travel, and no practice time – all of that stuff is categorically false. None of those conversations ever happened. Ever. It was about whether or not he wanted to come and coach the team.” Rambis, who was filing live reports from the facility for Time Warner on Monday, disagrees with the notion that Jackson would not have been the best fit for this group of future Hall of Famers. “If you’re talking about having success and having this team and someone who knows how to guide a team to an NBA title, Phil is that guy,” he said. “There’s no second, third, fourth or fifth choice at this point in time. He’s that guy. I don’t know if Jim Buss knows one system from another in terms of how it fits with players, or what works best for players, or what’s the difference between them. I don’t know if he really understands that, so a lot of times decisions are made on gut feelings and with outside sources that have an influence on it.”
Jackson was certainly caught off guard when he was told about the team’s decision to walk away from him. Here is his official statement about what went down between him and the Lakers, from Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles: “Saturday morning, Jim Buss, called to ask if he could come and visit,” Jackson said in a prepared statement released on Monday evening. “I did not solicit or ask for the opportunity, but I welcomed both he and Mitch Kupchak into my home to discuss the possibility of my return to the Lakers as the head coach. We talked for over an hour and a half. No contractual terms were discussed and we concluded with a hand shake and an understanding that I would have until Monday (today) to come back to them with my decision. “I did convey to them that I did have the confidence that I could do the job. I was awakened at midnight on Sunday by a phone call from Mitch Kupchak. He told me that the Lakers had signed Mike D’Antoni to a 3-year agreement and that they felt he was the best coach for the team. “The decision is of course theirs to make. “I am gratified by the groundswell of support from the Laker Fans who endorsed my return and it is the principal reason why I considered the possibility.”
Jackson also discussed the way the Lakers handled the situation, laughed at the claim that he wanted to skip road games, and was candid about how the team may fare against certain teams in the East, from Bresnahan of L.A. Times: “I wish it would have been a little bit cleaner,” a relaxed and chatty Jackson said in a phone interview Monday night with The Times. “It could have been much more circumspect and respectful of everybody that’s involved. It seemed slimy to be awoken with this kind of news. It’s just weird.” Jackson said he vacillated every few hours last weekend whether he wanted to coach the Lakers for a third time. Just the same, he insisted he made few demands when he met informally with team executives Saturday at his home. He laughed at Internet reports that he wanted to skip road games this year if he returned to the Lakers. He also said he didn’t have eyes on taking over the team’s front office. “There’s nothing about that,” he said before mentioning team executive Jim Buss. “Jimmy and I had an agreement when I came back for the second tenure that there would be complete transparency in personnel decisions. I did bring up [Saturday] there were a couple things that went by me that time and I would be part and parcel of such a thing this time.”… “I do think the Lakers have the personnel that could come out of the West,” he said. “I don’t know if they have the mobility and agility to contend with the East. To call this a championship-bound team, that’s a misnomer. That’s one of the things where I had to think about with expectations and did I want to go through that again?”
I don’t think it’s too complex regarding the hiring of Mike D’Antoni. Simply Jim Buss was afraid Jackson would infringe on his control of the team. Afterall Buss cleaned out every remnant of Jackson’s previous tenure to insure his position as head honcho. I’m sure Jim approached his father on the subject of the hiring and maybe presented it as a confirmation that the Lakers were under his control. Whatever the circumstances, Mike D’Antoni better produce a winner or there will be more discontent in LA.