Phil Jackson, summoned by the Lakers at considerate expense to teach the young infidels all about love, peace, harmony and sacred hoops, is the right man for such a daunting undertaking. No challenge is too great for this fellow.

Jackson the adventurer has taken many roads less traveled. He was living in Woodstock, mecca for aging hippies, and coaching the famous Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association in 1986 when I became exposed for the first time to his unconventional manner and brilliant mind.

We were seated at press row at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, the Nets and some other NBA team engaged in an exercise not nearly as entertaining as conversation with this tall, bearded fellow who was on a scouting mission.

Jackson, as I recall, was taking notes with his right hand. Noting that he was a lefty on the court, I asked him about the inconsistency. He launched into a discourse on right brain-left brain, enlightening me in on the quirky matter of creativity vs. order, the universal dynamics of the mind. It was just one of many unusual subjects to surface that night.

Clearly, this was not just another basketball lifer. On and on we talked as we watched the Nets, Phil taking his notes. He simply amazed me with his warehouse of knowledge on any and all topics. Not long after that memorable night, we were seated together again at the Meadowlands, and it was more of the same. I couldn't help wondering why such a man was laboring in the obscurity of Albany. He said he had greater aspirations but so far his attempts to move into the NBA had failed.

Without his prodding or, for all I know, his knowledge, I tried to assist Jackson in his quest. In my column for the New York Post, I began lobbying for Phil to succeed Hubie Brown as head coach of the Knicks.

This did not endear me to Hubie, who enjoyed coaching the Knicks even if he wasn't very good at it, but it was obvious to me that Jackson, with no NBA head coaching experience, would be more successful overnight than Brown with his stifling approach.

The Knicks, to condense a long account, did unload Brown, but they did not turn to their old

maverick power forward from the glory days of the '70s. Phil remained in Albany, interviewing for assistant coaching jobs here and there before finally hooking on with Chicago for the 1987-88 season.

Two years later, Doug Collins having failed to lift the Bulls past Detroit's Bad Boys, the organization promoted the tall, lanky assistant who spoke so much about the glory days in New York. Phil was asked to take Michael Jordan and friends to the Promised Land.

In his second season -- his first Bulls team having been KO'd by dreaded Detroit in the East finals -- Jackson orchestrated a rock classic in a city known for its blues. The Bulls finally slayed the Pistons, going 15-2 in a playoff run culminating in a five-game dismissal of the Lakers in The Finals.

Jackson repeated the act again and again, six times altogether, before the dynasty was torn asunder 12 months ago.

Jordan, who'd been so resistant in the beginning and had to be convinced that Phil's way was the right way, was so committed to his coach at the end that he said he would play for no one else.

True to his word, Michael walked away after a weary Jackson, true to form, literally rode a Harley into the sunset with championship rings covering six of his fingers.

There are revisionists out there who now say Jackson had about as much to do with the Bulls' reign as the club's PR director. Absurd. True, Jordan was the best of his era, if not all eras, and Michael and Scottie Pippen gave Chicago an unmatched tandem all through the '90s. But this is also true: Jordan played for three other coaches in Chicago (Kevin Loughery, Stan Albeck, Collins) and won titles only with Jackson.

Michael, believe it or not, was not that easy to coach. Iron-willed to a fault, he had his own ideas how the game should be played, and they involved about 30 shots per night from No. 23 and the ball in his enormous hands at all times.

Jackson, coming from New York and a Knicks team that passed the ball as no NBA team ever had or has since, brought another vision to Chicago -- the same vision he'll bring to LA. It clashed initially with Jordan's vision, but Michael was smart enough to adjust.

Jackson's offense is called the triangle and involves a triple-post. It is not designed around a low-post presence, which calls into immediate question his future relationship with Shaquille O'Neal.

Shaq, like Jordan when Jackson arrived, believes the offense should run through him from start to finish. That is not the Jackson way. In his offense, the ball moves rapidly and so do bodies in a revolving post. Shaq will be just another cog in this machine -- a huge one, yes, but no more important than Kobe Bryant or . . . Scottie Pippen?

That deal making the rumor rounds -- Pippen from Houston for Robert Horry and Glen Rice -- makes perfect sense from both ends. Horry has flourished with Hakeem Olajuwon during their two championship seasons together, and Rice is the ideal spotup shooter for Houston's system.

Scottie and Kobe can be Scottie and Michael all over again. Jackson will need all the former Bulls he can round up to make the triangle click; it is not an easy offense to learn. Free agent Ron Harper is another former Chicagoan who should be on the Lakers' most wanted list.

Jackson knows what it takes to win championships -- commitment, intelligence and selflessness. Jordan would not have seized six titles without the Zen input of his coach. Michael understands that, if few others do.

In winning 545 regular-season games and 111 more in the playoffs with percentages unmatched in league history, Jackson did not just roll out the balls and tell Mike to go dunk them.

Phil coached and taught, using language that would make a sailor blush, using literature, field trips, whatever it took to get his points across. There was the time in New York, after a '93 playoff loss, when he took the team on the Staten Island ferry ride. The theme? Life sometimes presents stormy seas that must be navigated.

To those who believe Jordan was the sole reason for Jackson's success in Chitown, we point to 1995. With Michael off playing minor-league baseball, the Bulls won 55 games -- two fewer than the previous season -- before losing a Game 7 to New York in the playoffs after a highly dubious foul call against Pippen at Madison Square Garden.

If Shaq and Co. are smart, they'll check their egos at the door, pull up chairs and listen quietly, for a change. The guru of hoops will lead them down the righteous path, if they'll let him.

Published 6/16/1999