He’s lost a step. Maybe a step and a half.

He’s not even close to the pressure defender he used to be. And even back in the day there were those moments when he could be exposed. And not just a little. Sometimes he could be exposed badly by really quick young guards. And the league today is nothing but quick young guards.

Derek Fisher guard Rajon Rondo? John Wall? Derrick Rose? You can hear the chops slurping at nearly every stop around the league. These young people want a piece of that old man.

And finishing with the basketball? Fisher’s mix ups at the basket used to keep Lakers assistant and triangle offense guru Tex Winter grumbling, except when it came time to think about replacing him. Then Tex, like most everyone else on the coaching staff, turned strangely silent.

They knew.

No one else can do all the things that Fisher does for the Lakers. And absolutely no one can do them in the heat of the biggest battles, which is what Fisher has done time and again. He has proved himself every single day of his career, ever since he came out of the University of Arkansas/Little Rock as a late first round draft pick back in 1996.

Fisher has delivered so many big moments in so many games that … Oh, why go on? We could spend all day adding them up here.

Let’s just turn it over to Phil Jackson. Here’s what he had to say after Fisher hit the big shots to deliver the Lakers their 2009 championship:

“Well, it’s character,” Big Chief Triangle replied when asked about Fisher. “We’ve always said the character has got to be in players if they’re going to be great players.  You can’t just draft it.  It’s not just about talent, it’s about character, and he’s a person of high character, brings that to play, not only in just his gamesmanship but also his intestinal fortitude.”

But who cares about that stuff in these smart-ass days of pro hoops?

Yeah, it’s true. Fisher’s market value is no where near $5 mil a year. That’s a joke.

So, yes, for all the stat geeks out there with their calculators and formulas, Fisher is obviously past his prime and not worth the money. They say, “Don’t pay that guy, Dr. Jerry. He’s not worth it.”

Some of these jerks send me messages too. Fish doesn’t fit the XYZ, they say, and if Phil Jackson really knew anything about basketball he’d bench the guy.

Never mind that Fisher just delivered the most amazing performance of his career to secure the 2010 NBA title for Los Angles.

To the stat geek naysayers, Fisher is the joke who’s time has passed.

The Lakers seem to subscribe to that XYZ geek talk because they’re reluctant to bring him back unless he cuts his $5 mil salary in half.

Besides, the Lakers need to save money this year. Things have just gotten too tight financially.

Yes, Mitch and Jerry, you can certainly buy that line of thinking. You can start to believe that Fisher is a luxury for this very talented team.

But that’s sadly narrow thinking. Fisher is an essential. Remember when you brought him back to the Lakers in the 2007 off-season? People said he then he was washed up, a joke.

All he did was play a giant role in three straight trips to the NBA championship series and two titles.

Derek Fisher is a proud, determined man. That pride and determination are the bedrock of his heart. Pay him for that.

Screw these ignorant people who want you to get rid of him. Screw ‘em. They’re just a bunch of booger eaters in my book.

Really it’s very simple, Mitch and Jerry. You must make the smart play. You must reward that pride and determination. Do it, and you will look very smart.

Just Pay Derek Fisher. Please.

Do yourselves, do all of us, that favor. Don’t buy that conventional thinking about market value. The market doesn’t know shit.

Pay Derek Fisher. Please. He’s earned every penny. And he’ll keep earning.

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

Don’t hold your breath.

Although Buss could have lauded Jackson any time over the past two years as the Lakers won back-to-back NBA titles, the owner’s silence on the matter has been deafening.

I’ve been pointing this out for months, by the way. And Mark Heisler of the L.A. Times, who just this week has offered a ringing endorsement of Byron Scott as a Jackson replacement, has repeatedly taken me to task for it.

But the truth that insiders have been telling me for months is clear.

If Jackson’s going to return as coach, he’s going to have to do it to despite the stony silence of the owner. And he’ll likely have to take a pay cut despite his success.

If Buss doesn’t want to pay Jackson the unheard of price of $12 million per season to coach the team, then he should never have agreed to such a deal when he gave Jackson a pay raise two years ago. You wanted and needed a championship so badly back then that you agreed to boost his money, Dr. Buss?

And now you don’t need a title very badly? That’s what you’re saying with this silence.

To complain about money now that Jackson has delivered two championship teams is unheard of. Win titles and take a pay cut? That’s a low blow, Dr. Jerry. And it’s not just me saying that. It’s your remarkable team captain, Derek Fisher, who discussed the issue in an interview with Ramona Shelbourne.

“As much as it is about his quality of life and how he’s feeling, his energy levels,” Fisher said, “I think his decision could be easier if he wasn’t maybe feeling as though he’s not being fully appreciated, which is how it ultimately makes you feel.

“It’s sad to me,” Fisher told Shelbourne recently, “when you think about what he’s accomplished in his career, that he still always has to deal with these type of scenarios where there’s a question of whether or not he’s the best person for the job, or he’s not really coaching because of the players that he’s had. He’s just a remarkable human being in terms of his approach to managing and coaching the team.

“I think not even just the Lakers, but the NBA as a whole, would lose a big part of what this game has been about the last 20 years if he’s not back. If he’s not back, it changes the whole landscape.”

Fisher, of course, is a free agent guard and will turn 36 in August. Has there ever been a braver, more forthright NBA player? The guy not only laid his heart on the line for the franchise’s 17th title (yes, Lakers won one in 1948 in the old National League), but Fisher is speaking up right now, even though it could cost him dearly.

Teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have also spoken up, although their contracts are secure and in place. They’ve made it clear where they stand.

Some Lakers fans may let you off the hook for this one, Jerry. It’s obvious you’re gambling that your season ticket holders won’t protest if you let Jackson and Fisher slip away.

I’m not asking you to pay Jackson. I’m just calling for you to speak up and declare publicly how important he has been to the franchise.

I know that you don’t like that Phil’s an odd, distant kind of guy.

I know you don’t like the triangle offense he runs.

I know you don’t like paying him so much money.

I know you’re eager to prove that you can win one without Phil.

I know you’re not elated that he shacks up with your daughter and sometimes offers his disrespect in all those subtle little ways.

I know you like showing that it’s you, not Jackson, who is in control of the franchise.

I know you think your reputation and image are secure with all those championships you have in your pocket.

I know you’re a proud, stubborn man, but does this have to come down to ego and pride?

Yes, it’s a poker game. Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, one of two top candidates to replace Phil, is “close to accepting” the Cleveland Cavaliers job, according to his agent. What’s the last time an agent made such an announcement? And Byron Scott declared that he’s not waiting around on anyone, another obvious bluff. Are Phil, Scott and Shaw all trying to out-bluff Jerry Buss?

Does it all come down to yet more tiresome games?

Is that what you want as your legacy?

You have a chance to eclipse the Boston Celtics as the team with the most NBA titles, and you’re going to let ego and pride get in the way?

Say it ain’t so. Speak up and ask Phil to return. Show us you’re bigger than these silly games.

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

All good Lakers fans worth their salsa know about the balloons.

Game 7, 1969 NBA Finals. The Lakers have lost six NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, but for the first time in the history of the rivalry the L.A. guys have home-court advantage. Game 7 is being played in the Forum.

Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke is so sure that his team is finally going to win a title that he orders the rafters filled with balloons. As soon as the Lakers win, Cooke wants the balloons released as his pep band plays “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

Celtics player/coach Bill Russell walks into the Forum before the game, looks up in the rafters and says, “Those balloons are gonna stay up there a hell of a long time.”

To this day, Jerry West remains furious over Cooke’s blunder. The owner had ceded the emotional edge to Russell and his Celtics, who promptly sealed the Lakers in their private hell despite West’s furious effort with 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.

The moment revealed two seriously important truths about championship play in American professional basketball:

1) Emotion is the huge factor because it drives focus. The team that finds a deep emotional edge in the championship series is going to win, forget what should happen.

2) You better watch what you say in the Lakers/Celtics rivalry because it all sticks around forever. You could be eating your own trash talk for decades.

Now, there remains a long way to go in this series, which the Lakers lead 2-1 heading into tonight’s Game 4, but there’s absolutely no question that Pierce, the outspoken Celtics forward, presented the Lakers with a huge emotional edge when he announced after Boston won Game 2 in Los Angeles that the series was headed to Boston and wouldn’t be returning to L.A. for the sixth or seventh games.

His meaning, of course, was that the Celtics were going to win all three games on their home floor to take the title, four games to one. Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Hill heard the comment and couldn’t wait to pose the question to Lakers guard Derek Fisher on camera.

“Your reaction to Paul Pierce saying that the series is not coming back to LA?”

You can see the whole sequence in the excellent Fisher highlight video put together by up-and-coming producer Chris Manning ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hShtVQxuJQ ).

Fisher, the emotional leader of the Lakers, says nothing in response to Hill’s question. He simply stares with indignation.

If there’s any question about the depth of Fisher’s anger over Pierce’s comment and other insults from the Lakers, you need look no further than the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the series, when Fisher personally closed out a pivotal win for Los Angeles.

Now, the emotional and motivational power of Pierce’s words has become all too clear for the Celtics.

It’s true. The series could end in Boston — with Los Angeles taking all three games played in the Garden.

You’ll never hear Lakers players express anything close to that notion, yet there is no question that the insult drives their focus in the series. Fisher was answering post-game questions for the TV cameras immediately after Game 3 when he changed gears and began talking about Game 4.

Manning’s video also offers a scene from the ESPYs with the Celtics gloating over their 2008 humiliation of the Lakers in the championship series. The camera quickly cuts to a stone-faced Fisher, sitting in the audience.

There is a deep, deep reserve of emotion driving Fisher and his Lakers in this series.

The Celtics realize that all too well now. That’s why Boston coach Doc Rivers has stepped up his media complaints that the officials allowed Fisher to be too physical defensively in Game 3. The counterpoint to that, of course, is that Fisher has to move through the series of moving and brush screens that the Celtics set for Ray Allen every time down the floor.

So, in addition to an emotional war, the championship series is a public relations battle, with either side willing to pay the league fines for criticizing the officiating this time of year.

Boston minority owner Jim Pallotta reportedly went off on Commissioner David Stern over the officiating immediately after Game 3. Expect to see a hefty fine for Pallotta and possibly Rivers. If they can sway the officiating of the series, it will be money well spent.

Too bad they can’t come up with some strategy to erase Pierce’s fool-hardy boast. If the Lakers can ride the emotional tide to the superior kind of focus that allows them to out-rebound and out-defend the Celtics in Game 4, they’ll take a 3-1 lead and put huge pressure on Boston.

There’s no question that proving Pierce a good prophet is just the kind of motivation Fisher craves. He doesn’t have to say a word to confirm that.

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

On the good side for the Lakers, they’re older and wiser. They now have Ron Artest to help them defend Boston’s Paul Pierce, who is a major load.

And James Posey, Leon Powe and Eddie House no longer anchor Boston’s bench. They’ve been replaced by Tony Allen, Rasheed Wallace and little Nate Robinson.

More important for Boston is the growth of Rajon Rondo as a point guard. He’s fantastic and should cause Los Angeles plenty of trouble. Then again, the Lakers have played against an array of talented point guards in the Western playoffs and should have some confidence that they can at least stay in the gym with Rondo as Kobe Bryant will slip over and help teammate Derek Fisher deal with that headache.

But the things that worried Tex Winter then still play on my mind. Boston’s half-court defense is excellent, and their frontcourt still has the muscle to intimidate the Lakers.

Back in 2008, Tex told me that the Lakers couldn’t play well against the Celtics in the half court, that they needed to run, to get into the open court to have a chance to score more before Boston’s defense set up and smothered them. Some folks might think that’s funny, coming from Winter, the architect of the triangle offense.

Winter’s favorite method of attack is largely his controlled, half-court offense that stresses floor balance, spacing and team play. But he had always allowed for a break in his system, and he liked to use it when circumstances called for it.

Against the Celtics, circumstances scream for it.

He told me in 2008 that he thought Lakers coach Phil Jackson waited too long to try to get the break going. The Celtics got control of the series and the Lakers never recovered.

Of course, there was this other little problem. To run, you’ve got to be able to rebound, to get the ball and get it out and go.

The Lakers couldn’t win the battle against Boston’s frontcourt. The Celtics kept them bottled up for the series and wound up humiliating them.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol has stated many times this season the importance of rebounding. He knows what it means now. If the Lakers can win the rebound game with the Celtics, they should win the series in six or seven games. If they can’t win it, they’re going to have to come down the floor each time and play against that impressive Boston defense.

The Lakers do not want to do that.

Thus, the battle for the boards will be fierce and could well determine the champion this year. It’s obvious that Phil Jackson wants to do everything he can with his commentary to get Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins to back off their physical play.

If the Celtics can control the boards and the tempo, they have a chance to win even though the matchups elsewhere are a mixed bag. Of course, rebounding is a team issue. The guards will have to do their part on both sides. Bryant and Rondo, in particular, have gotten to the ball a lot in these playoffs. They will join in the battle for the boards.

So it’s down to Pat Riley’s adage from the days of Showtime: No rebounds, no rings. Lamar Odom must be aggressive for the Lakers. And Jackson has to hope that Andrew Bynum can play through his injured knee to have an impact.

Bryant obviously is another huge factor. He is playing the best basketball of his life, less athletic, wiser. In a way, his knee injury and other ailments have been a blessing for the Lakers. Those things mean he usually hasn’t tried to do too much. If he gets impatient and tries to win it all and attack the Celtic defense off the dribble, he’ll play right into Boston’s hands this time around.

Obviously, Game 1 and 2 are huge. The Lakers were humiliated by Boston in 2008, and if they fail to hold home court in the first two games, their doubts will grow through the series. On the other hand, that humiliation could steel the Lakers’ resolve.

Either way, hopes are high for a classic series, one that folks will remember for years to come.

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

The Lakers knew that last summer when they signed Artest and passed on bringing back promising young forward Trevor Ariza. Artest brings plenty of defense to help make up for his deficits on offense. But the Lakers won the league championship last year in part because they were finally able to execute the complicated offense at a high level.

This year that simply hasn’t been the case. The offense requires that players be able to make sophisticated “reads” of the action to trigger facets of the offense. Artest simply isn’t ready to make many of those reads.

Lakers Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom report that the team hasn’t been able to use the more complex levels of the offense because Artest isn’t ready to go there.

Artest’s adjustment might have gone better if backup forward Luke Walton hadn’t been troubled by back problems. Although he’s faced consistency issues over the years, Walton has always been a smart passer and a key sub who makes the offense work. Walton’s absence for much of the season has made Artest’s protracted adjustment all the more painful, although there is some hope that Walton could return to action by the playoffs in April.

Usually in March, coach Phil Jackson’s teams are starting to round into major form, but the Lakers show some uncharacteristic signs of struggle this year down the stretch. A recent three-game losing streak has Lakers fans fussing that Jackson too long clings to veterans like 36-year-old guard Derek Fisher. Jackson likes Fisher, even at an advanced age, because of his competitiveness, his ability even still to pressure the ball on defense, and most of all, his knack for getting the team into the offense and guiding its execution.

Fans who complain about a Fisher or a Walton often miss the point. Jackson’s teams are always greater than the sum of their parts. That is the main power of the offense, it’s ability to create opportunity for lesser players. Jackson’s teams have always shown an ability to bind these lesser players with stars like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Like other critics, Jordan himself once snidely derided the triangle as an “equal-opportunity offense” because it required that he share the ball with less talented teammates. But Jordan later said repeatedly that the offense gave his teams an operating format, one that allowed them to relate to each other and become champions.

The numbers back that up. In the 19 seasons that Jackson and triangle guru Tex Winter have employed the offense in the NBA, it has won 1,089 regular season games and lost just 453, an astounding winning percentage of .706.

The offense has been even more effective in the playoffs, where Jackson has used it to win 10 titles in those 19 seasons, with two more appearances in the league championship series. It has allowed Jackson to win 209 of the 300 playoff games he has coached. The Lakers recent troubles are unfortunate, because there’s more than a bit of pressure on the team this season, with Jackson’s future unclear because the team’s front office hasn’t offered him a contract.

Even if Jackson does coach the Lakers or some other team next season, it seems the remarkable run of the triangle offense is just about up, its era coming to a close. Tex Winter predicted as much a few years back.

Why? Other coaches have tried the offense in the NBA and failed famously because of the time commitment and learning curve for professional players. Only coaches with the stature of Jackson and Winter, supported by stars with the abilities of Jordan and Bryant, have made it a success. As tirelessly as he has promoted his offense over the decades, Winter himself would admit it’s an awkward fit with modern pro players.

MINDS MADE UP?

Back in 2004 when he was seething, Lakers owner Jerry Buss would have a few pops and tell anyone within earshot — even a Lakers beat reporter or two — how much he despised the triangle. Buss made it clear even to random strangers. He loved fast-break basketball ala the Lakers’ vintage Showtime teams, and he was tired of the unbalanced floor look that Jackson’s triangle teams employed.

Former Lakers VP Jerry West worked with Buss for years and knows him well. West says that when Buss makes up his mind on something, he rarely changes it.

Even though Jackson’s team had won three straight championships, 2000-2002, with the triangle, as soon as the Lakers stumbled in the 2004 championship series, the owner gave his approval for his son Jim Buss to fire Jackson as coach.

The triangle offense got a reprieve the next year when Buss abruptly rehired Jackson. Why did the Lakers owner relent and return to the triangle? 1) Because he faced a well-organized revolt by season ticket holders who demanded Jackson’s return; and 2) because Jim Buss’s hiring of Rudy Tomjanovich proved such a disaster, financially and competitively.

But six years later those basic feelings of the Lakers owner haven’t changed. Buss and his son have held off on making Jackson a contract offer for next year, and they’ve implied they want him to take a pay cut from his $12 million salary.

The circumstances mean that the 2010 playoffs are a referendum on the offense pioneered by longtime Jackson assistant Tex Winter. If Jackson somehow drives the Lakers to a repeat of their 2009 NBA championship, then the Busses may begrudgingly invite Jackson back for a shot at a three-peat.

One key inside observer says Jerry and Jim Buss are calculating that fans won’t mind if Jackson doesn’t return next year, that there won’t be a revolt by season ticket holders this time around.

It seems showtime vs. triangle are the competing visions for the team, with former Lakers greats and some factions in the front office feeding the desire of Jim and Jerry Buss to move away from the formula that has won four championships over the past decade.

At the center of the controversy is the development of young center Andrew Bynum. The Busses have great belief in his future, and they have articulated a beef that Jackson doesn’t have a reputation for developing young players.

It’s certainly true that Jackson prefers to rely on veterans to run his teams, just as it’s true that Winter himself upbraided Jackson about his handling of a young Kobe Bryant. But the Busses might be overlooking Jackson’s track record for developing players such as Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant in Chicago, where Jackson guided the Bulls to six championships.

Another irony in the Buss opposition is that the triangle, or “triple-post” offense as it is also called, is great for getting the ball to post scorers, such as Shaquille O’Neal or Bynum.

Critics such as Orlando Magic assistant coach Brendan Malone, who has battled Jackson’s triangle teams many times over the years, point out that the Lakers defeated the Magic in last year’s championship because they used the screen and roll to devastating effect, rather than the triangle.

But Winter has long countered that the triangle gives teams a basic philosophy from which to operate. That means a triangle team can use its format to employ screen and roll, fast breaks, or any other number of offensive looks at any time, Winter has explained.

“The triangle is a philosophy for playing the game that allows you to just about use whatever you need in any given circumstance,” Winter once explained. The 88-year-old Winter continues to recover in Oregon from the effects of a stroke suffered last April and may soon move back to Kansas, where he enjoyed years as a highly successful college coach.

For all of Jackson’s 18 NBA coaching seasons, Winter has been a strong presence with his teams, alternately teaching and sternly correcting players who violate the principles of his offense. In all of those seasons, Winter has been an infectious promoter of the offense he developed. He has not been able to fill that role this season, leaving Jackson to press on without him.

HALL OF FAME?

Like his offense itself, Winter also faces a referendum this spring as he attempts yet again to gain election to the Basketball Hall of Fame. His name has been put into nomination many times, but he has been turned down because the bulk of his NBA experience has been as an assistant coach hired as a mentor for a younger coach, Jackson. Winter has a brilliant record as a coach for several colleges, most notably Kansas State where his teams were among the nation’s best for a number of years.

USA Basketball’s Jerry Colangelo says the Hall of Fame is trying to expand its scope to take in a rare and special genius like Winter. But this year’s field of Hall nominees is crowded with excellent players, coaches and teams and Winter once again faces uphill odds for selection. Hall of Famers Bill Walton and Magic Johnson both said Winter deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, as have many others.

Walton pointed out that generations of players have absolutely loved playing for the passionate Winter. Walton also said that of the special generation of coaches who competed against and successfully challenged John Wooden, Winter is the only major figure yet to be named to the Hall. At a time that the highly successful offense he created is being challenged, Winter is without voice to speak up for it or himself.

Jackson, though, has been diligently coaching in his absence, and although Winter’s strong presence has been missed, if the Lakers find success this post-season it could well mean yet another season for the offense.

Otherwise, this could be one of the last pro seasons for the triangle system, which is still used in pieces at some colleges, mostly by women’s teams at Tennessee and Connecticut. Winter has long predicted that his system wouldn’t be used much beyond his and Jackson’s tenure as coaches. A basketball visionary in so many ways, Winter also seems to have a clear view of the future for a system he created.

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

1. Can Ron Artest keep it real?

Anyone following Ron Artest the last few months has to wonder if he is all there or if, like Shaquille O’Neal, he is all about marketing. That is, about generating buzz by what he says and does. Artest has certainly said and done some strange things. Stories filtering out of Houston say that in one of his last Playoff games there he took the last bus to the game, the bus the media and staffers ride and which players never ride unless they are LATE, wearing nothing but his underwear. Is he plain loony and if so, will he be able to fit into the Laker team chemistry? On the other hand, there are signs that he may just be shrewdly playing the media. The good news for the Lakers is that Artest has also said if the Lakers do not repeat, the players and fans can blame him. Can he keep that focus?

2. Will Andrew Bynum stay healthy and contribute?

Bynum is frustrating to the Lakers. There are moments, brief flashes so far for the most part, where he reveals signs of potential greatness. Those flashes can take one’s breath away because of the vision of what could be. Then they disappear and Bynum is making the foolish mistakes of a young, unseasoned player or, worse, getting hurt. There is little doubt that being mentored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been good for him, but he has to step up now. He’s getting the contract big bucks – now he has to show that he deserves them. Can he do it?

3. Is Fisher still a factor at 35?

Every Laker fan loves Derek Fisher. He is the Southern California version of the “little Engine That Could.” He just keeps plugging away. Yes, at times he looks like his feet are in deep, thick mud against quicker point guards. And yet at key moments, especially during the Playoffs, he comes up big. It will be a sad day the day he has to step aside. The good thing is that he is egoless and could come off the bench without complaint if he has, in fact, lost another step.

4. Can the back-up point guards provide productive minutes?

The Fish that ate San Antonio lost some effectiveness late in the regular season last year because Phil Jackson was forced to overplay him because of injuries and some bench weaknesses. Like Bynum, the two Laker back-up point guards, Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown, have shown some signs of being keepers. Farmar has changed his jersey number to number one, as symbolic a move as there is. In the past, he has balanced out some good moments with poor decision-making and weak defense. Has he matured? Is he ready? If he isn’t, he will be challenged as he was during the Playoffs last season by newcomer Shannon Brown who earned a permanent moment in replay heaven with a rocking slam dunk over Denver’s Chris Anderson in the Playoffs in May.

5. Will the players keep listening to Phil?

There were moments last season – the darkest and most depressing times – when the Lakers seemed to have shut coach Phil Jackson out. These were games when they played foolishly and without energy, basically giving away games. Every team has some of those games in the long 82-game season and the Lakers’ ability to rebound and win a championship suggests that it was nothing more than temporary bits of boredom or fatigue. Most coaches run into a stone wall after a while, where players get tired of their message. Jackson, along with Gregg Popovich and Jerry Sloan, has been one of a small handful who have yet to experience players rejecting their message. But Phil is getting up there in age, is missing his trusty aide Tex Winters, and is satisfied with thinking one year at a time with regard to his own status as the Lakers coach. In addition, Phil considered just coaching home games in order to avoid the rigors of the travel schedule – until GM Mitch Kupchak vetoed that idea. All this suggests Phil’s time as the coach may be winding down. The most important thing is for the Lakers to keep listening to Phil’s message. Will they?

6. Will Pau’s summer “vacation” tire him out?

Pau Gasol, the MVP of this summer’s Eurobasket tournament and a member of the team from Spain, which won its first Eurobasket title after six runner-up results, could be exhausted. The best thing for Gasol would be if Bynum is healthy and active, which would limit Pau’s minutes, at least in the early going. Pau did all right last season coming off the Olympics. Can he do it two years in a row?

7. Has The Machine been repaired?

Sasha Vujacic, aka The Machine, had an abysmal season last year and Jackson urged him to cut his hair as a way of regenerating himself for this season. Last season his long hair and a hair band that Sasha wore attracted a lot of attention. Phil, ever the sensitive Zen master paying attention to small details, appears to be making the hair cut a symbolic move for a change. The Lakers definitely need a three-ball threat off the bench. Will Sasha fill that role?

8. Can Adam Morrison make a contribution?

In the event that The Machine is still under repair, Adam Morrison could step forward and take that three-ball specialist spot. Like J.J. Redick, Morrison can shoot. The problem is that he is coming off a year-long injury and on top of that is dealing with what has to be some loss of confidence. Morrison has no pressure here. So can he step up?

9. Can Luke Walton continue to excel in a cameo role?

Laker haters and even some Laker fans like to snicker about Walton, a slow, can’t-jump, can’t shoot small forward for the Lakers. Why is he even on this team? Maybe it’s his genes, but Walton has a superb basketball IQ. He improves the Lakers’ triangle offense when he is in the game and manages to get key rebounds. The real question is: on a team this deep, can he even get some playing time?

10. Can Kobe keep this team together?

No one doubts Kobe’s preparation and motivation, the fiercest since Michael Jordan was still playing. Kobe knows by now that this is a team game and he needs his teammates to know he trusts them. He did that last season and they came through. This year, the delicate task of getting Ron Artest to fit into the mix falls largely on Kobe’s shoulders. He also needs to coax more out of Bynum and perhaps help rebuild Morrison’s confidence. Can he do it?

If the answer is “Yes” to six or more of these questions, opposing teams will have to watch out.

Damn, he was one lonely boy. Ambition will do that to you.

I was speaking to a group of high school kids last year and trying to give them a little bit of an idea about Kobe Bryant.

I asked how many of them had jobs. Several hands shot up. One kid was 17 and had just started working at a grocery store.

I asked him to imagine going into work that afternoon and announcing to your bosses and co-workers that you may be just 17 but you plan on being the greatest grocery store worker who ever lived.

Imagine telling them that you’re just 17 but you have plans on one day running not just the grocery store, but the entire chain of grocery stores.

Imagine telling them, “I just want to be the man.”
And to make that happen, you’re going to stay extra hours after work each day, practicing so that you can get faster at bagging the groceries and running the cash register. You’re going to walk through the aisles after work memorizing the thousands of products and studying late at night for ways to make them sell faster.

You are going to work insane hours to be the world’s greatest grocery guy.

Not only that, but you’re going to invite your older co-workers to stay overtime with you, to work for free to get better and better at what they do.

I asked the young student how he thought the co-workers would respond. He gave me a blank, sort of stunned look.

That, I explained, was how 17-year-old Kobe Bryant had approached the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996-97.

It didn’t take long, of course, before Bryant was alienated from his teammates. Some of them soon came to express a hatred for him. Raw ambition will do that for you.

The Kobe Bryant I got to know was this pretty miserable person. He told me he was determined to be the greatest. He knew he was going to be, but he just didn’t know how it was going to happen.

They laughed at him behind his back, derided him and despised him. As veteran teammate Rick Fox explained to me, the older players saw Kobe as the punk kid in the school cafeteria who was trying to jump ahead of them in the lunch line. They spent their time thinking of ways to teach him a lesson.

If nothing else, the rest of the team bonded together in their dislike for this arrogant young guy.

All of them except for one.

Derek Fisher was a rookie with Kobe Bryant, but Fisher was already 22, having put in four years of hard work at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

When I first met Fish, he was young, open-faced, and honest, with a maturity that extended far beyond his years.

“Really,” Fish told me, “we should all be the way Kobe is. We should all be working as hard as possible to be the best we can be, to make this team the best it can be.”

Still, he didn’t know quite what to make of Bryant. And Bryant, who had quickly learned not to trust anyone, was wary of him too.

Bryant, though, had a pretty simple way of looking at the world. He gauged those around him based on how hard they were willing to work.

It didn’t take Bryant long to notice that Derek Fisher, while not the most talented guy in the world, worked really, really, really hard. And that became the basis for their trust, and eventually, their friendship.

Fisher’s main talent was his ability to work really, really, really hard.

Suddenly the world wasn’t quite so lonely for Kobe Bryant. He and Fish began working out together.

In 1999, Phil Jackson and Tex Winter were hired as coaches of the Lakers. Bryant had long dreamed that Winter would one day become his coach, and he had asked me to introduce him to my friend Tex, who was then an assistant coach in Chicago.

As he was preparing to come to Los Angeles, Winter asked me about the Lakers roster. Fisher leapt out from the page. Jackson liked length and athleticism in his guards. Fish was short and earth bound.

“He reminds me of Joe Dumars,” I told Tex and quickly added, “Not as a player. Not skill-wise. As a person. This guy has really got character. And he’s very bright.”

Tex didn’t say much once he got to L.A., except to grumble, “Fisher’s just not a good finisher.”

Which led me to worry for his future.

Somehow, though, Fish stuck around, mostly because of his work ethic and smarts. He embraced the triangle offense and made himself a fine shooter. It’s an offense for smart guys who can shoot.

And, of course, Phil Jackson soon came to discover that Fish had plenty of “length.” It was all in his heart.

I’ve often wondered over the years where Kobe Bryant would have been without Fish. They became deep friends. It’s sort of sweet to call him Bryant’s sidekick.

But Fish was the guy who embraced Bryant’s approach. They shared a vision, a work ethic and an understanding.

It stands to reason that the lowest times for Kobe with the Lakers were the years that Fisher played in Golden State and then Utah. They remained close with many phone conversations.

Bryant really didn’t get on the right track, the Lakers really didn’t get on the right track, until Fisher returned in 2007. It’s not surprising that they’ve made it to the Finals in both years since.

He was just the guy to make the triangle work. Except when he had trouble finishing. Except when his shots weren’t falling. Except when he had trouble defending the screen and roll. Except when he watched younger guards drive right by him.

Fortunately for Fish, fortunately for all of them, Jackson has always trusted old heads and character.

Then came Game 4 the other night. Bryant has done a fine job shouldering the Lakers, the only problem being Bryant’s not as young as he used to be. Like Michael Jordan later in his career, Bryant has reached that point in life where he needs more help from his friends.

Thank goodness, Bryant has friends these days. The greatest grocery guy of them all has learned to fit his ambition in with the team.

That, of course, happened only when the team was lifted to match his ambition.

There, doing the heavy lifting, was his oldest friend. As you’ve heard many times now, Fish had missed all five of his three-pointers prior to hitting those two late huge threes to defeat the Orlando Magic in Game 4.

Both shots came after Bryant gave up the ball and trusted in critical moments of the game. That, in itself, is no small thing.

Both shots went a long way toward guaranteeing that Bryant, that most ambitious of men, would win his fourth NBA title.

Once again I wondered, where would lonely old Kobe Bryant be in this world if not for Derek Fisher?

I’m pretty sure that Bryant, when he lies awake at night overwhelmed by the mystery of it all, wonders the same thing.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant. His next book, Jerry West, The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon, is scheduled for release by Random House/ESPN in January.