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Everyone remembers the glorious Phil Jackson, the championships, the genius, and they forget the way they had watched him so tired, so beaten in his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers. They forget the way the work ethic had eroded within the franchise, the way that he lost discipline within the roster.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss wants to bring Jackson back to coach again, and perhaps he's holding onto something that left long ago: the coach's drive and determination to withstand the grind of the job. He'll come back, cash those checks and leave everyone unsure whether he's still hell-bent on molding championship teams. His old assistants – Jim Cleamons and Kurt Rambis – are out of coaching jobs and anxious to come back to the bench with history's greatest coach.

Everyone's going to get paid again, but you wonder: Do they have the stomach to chase championships again?

The old band could get back together, and it is fair to suspect that one of those staggering $10 million-a-season salaries could be the most compelling reason for Jackson to return to the bench in Los Angeles. Jackson has the Lakers right where he wants them: desperate, needy and perhaps willing to pay a steep price to bring him back a third time.

Mike Brown had arrived at the Lakers' practice facility for the morning shootaround believing he needed a victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night to spare his job. Ownership and management had been meeting about his future throughout Thursday, and general manager Mitch Kupchak advocated to give the beleaguered Brown longer than five games before firing him, sources said.

[Related: Lakers fire coach Mike Brown after 1-4 season start]

Jim Buss, the Lakers' executive vice president, had gone along with the plan on Thursday, but something changed overnight into Friday. Jerry Buss wanted Brown out, and wanted him out now. As Brown gathered his assistants to plan for Friday night's game, a request came for him to step outside the room. The forever chipper, eager Brown returned to his coaching staff 10 minutes later with a decidedly different disposition.

"They fired me," Brown simply said.

All around the franchise, the belief was that the decision had come from Jerry Buss, who had lost patience with his $100 million roster investment losing four out of five games to start the season. He was tired of the Princeton offense, tired of the season-ticket holders' complaining, tired of the coach who he let his son, Jim, hire two years ago. For the $100 million of payroll – and the $30 million more of luxury tax – the old man wanted to bring Showtime back to the Staples Center. This was Jerry Buss playing the part of patriarch again.

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