Lakernoise

Of all the situations spawned by the internal division of the Los Angeles Lakers, the dealings with Andrew Bynum seem the weirdest.

That was Tex Winter’s description of the coaching staff’s relationship with Bynum. Not mine. And that was almost two years ago, well before Winter suffered a debilitating stroke.

At the time, the Lakers were nursing their humiliation at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the 2008 championship series. Bynum’s approach was clearly a function of the disconnect between coach Phil Jackson and basketball operations chief Jim Buss.

As Winter explained at the time, Bynum was Jim Buss’s prize draft pick. Buss was apparently concerned about how Jackson was handling Bynum. In fact, Buss would advise Bynum to hire his own big man’s coach because Jackson wasn’t a good coach for big men.

Sister Jeanie Buss, well known as Phil’s girlfriend, questioned her brother’s take on the situation by pointing out Jackson’s large success with Shaquille O’Neal and lesser talented post players in Chicago.

Jeanie Buss had long confided to friends that her brother was the main impetus for the team’s firing Jackson in 2004. With trust between Jackson and Jim Buss already at a minimum, it’s not hard to figure that Jim Buss’s coaching advice for Bynum damaged the relationship further.

Then there was Bynum’s decision to involve his own doctors in his knee injury that season, rather than relying on what the team had to offer in terms of medical support. Frankly, it’s not all that unusual for pro athletes to seek medical advice outside the team. But the sum of the situation left Bynum oddly distanced from the coaching staff, Winter confided at the time.

Two years have passed, and Bynum’s situation with the team has perhaps improved. But the internal trust level in general is not great with the Lakers, so you have to wonder.

Recent games have shown that Bynum’s return to the lineup from his recent injury will be key for the Lakers prospects in this spring’s playoffs.

Even with the Lakers posting the top record in the Western Conference, the Twin Towers look of Bynum and c/f Pau Gasol has brought mixed reviews, but this much is clear: With the two big men, the Lakers have been able to overpower a lot of opponents. Though at times it has seemed that the best pairing is either one of the big men with sixth man Lamar Odom.

The truth is, questions such as these often never find definitive answers in the NBA. Some nights, Bynum and Gasol will play very well together. Other nights, the Twin Towers will have their issues.

As it stands now, those questions are small beside the questions about basic trust within the organization. There have been all sorts of strange signals and communications coming out of the organization this season.

And while Jeanie Buss has tried desperately to put a good public face on it, the situation seems fragile at best. Jerry Buss recently tried to pose that it was normal for Jackson to finish out the season without a contract for next year. But it’s not.

Consider the Denver Nuggets. They found themselves in a similar situation with coach George Karl and reached an agreement with him right before the All Star Weekend just so they could avoid just such late-season craziness as the Lakers are facing right now.

As Shaquille O’Neal told me a few years back, he felt no trust in dealing with Jerry Buss, had no relationship with the man. Now Buss is known for being quite loyal to those with whom he shares trust and warm feelings. But that’s not the case with these Lakers, no matter how many coats of paint you put on it.

Jackson himself has sought to emphasize in his recent public comments that the Lakers only have five or six players under contract for next season. The last time Jackson was fired, the team tried to make a transition to a running team. Are they preparing to do the same now? Has the decision already been made? That’s a fair and legitimate question.

Are the Busses quitting on these playoffs even before they happen? Another fair question.

And is Bynum’s return from injury a wild card in the hand that’s being dealt by the Busses? Another fair question.

And in all of this where stands Kobe Bryant, who can opt out of his Lakers contract after the season? A truly intriguing question.

If this Lakers season disintegrates into the foul gas of mistrust, the blame will lie squarely with Jerry and Jim Buss. Now, as an owner, Jerry Buss has been hugely successful, and he’s earned plenty of favor with Lakers fans. So it may just be that he and son Jim would be forgiven for ditching Jackson’s last team that runs the Triangle offense.

As a friend of Jeanie Buss’s said earlier in the season, Jim and Jerry Buss are gambling that fans won’t complain too loudly if they end the Phil Jackson era with the Lakers. Maybe not.

Of course, all this conjecture winds up lining the bottom of the bird cage, if Bynum returns from injury and the team gathers strength down the stretch.

In the meantime, all Lakers fans can do is wonder. And try not to get a whiff of the mistrust that blows in the winds of El Segundo.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.s