Phil’s future

Lakers owner Jerry Buss said Sunday he expected Phil Jackson to coach the Lakers for many seasons to come, perhaps until he is “a very old” man. Jackson objected when a reporter relayed Buss’ comment to him Tuesday night. “Do you want to re-phrase that?” he said, breaking into a chuckle.

Jackson went on to discuss his future with the Lakers. Sort of.

Here’s some of what he had to say: “I’m just going one season at a time, really. That’s all there is to do in this situation. We’ve got a talented team this year. We want it to work well. We want to stay away from injuries. We want to measure it out, so we run the season the right way, so we go into the playoffs with the best possible chance. It’s always much more fun to win than to lose, there’s no doubt about that. …
“I served my sentence (his three-year, $30-million contract), now I’m on an extra year (of the contract extension he signed last season). This is what we wanted to do, you know, get the Lakers back to a competitive spot. They were able to reclaim that position (winning the Western Conference title last season) that Lakers fans have expected and Lakers people anticipate being there every year. And that’s what we hope (to do again).”