Phil Jackson will likely call it a career after next season, according to his friend and former college coach Bill Fitch.  Jackson, 64, ended speculation a few days ago about coaching for the 2010-11 season when he said he will return to the Lakers, a team he’s coached to NBA championships the last two years.

The hesitation to continue a 19 year NBA coaching career that has produced 11 titles was based on health concerns, presumably focused on discomfort caused by the travel and other physical demands of a 24-7 job that takes up about nine months of the calendar.  Yet Fitch, a former NBA championship coach himself who coached Jackson while at the University of North Dakota, wasn’t surprised about the decision to return to the Lakers for one more year.

Fitch said Jackson’s hips bother him but he isn’t “near death’s door” and that the Lakers players and others in the organization were counting on him to coach next season.  To make a rare three-peat as NBA champions a reality in 2011.

“What else is he going to do?” Fitch asked during an interview with Sports Headliners. “He’s a competitor.  They’re (Jackson and his staff) still coaching.  This season (the last one) never ended for the Lakers.  Any time you’re going after that three in a row… . That’s what he’s back for.  He’s back to play the second half of the game.”

But Jackson will be approaching his 66^th birthday by next summer and Fitch does believe the end will arrive for a coaching career that produced a record number of NBA championships. “This will be it,” said Fitch.  “He’s done after this year (2011).

“I think that’s probably part of the program.  He’ll either announce it before the season starts or he may announce it today… .It’s going to be a hard decision for him but I doubt very much that he’ll go past this (next) year, win, lose or draw.”

In his announcement last week Jackson referred to a “last stand.”  That willingness to return was predicated on his competitive drive and relationships with people including girlfriend Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss.  It wasn’t driven by money, in Fitch’s opinion.

There’s been speculation the Lakers didn’t want to compensate Jackson for $12 million or more as in the past.  Fitch said he could see Jackson telling his agent, “‘Hey, whatever it takes.  Whatever they (the Lakers) need.  We’re going to do this for a year.’ ”

Jackson is divorced and has dated Jeanie Buss for years.  She is a Lakers executive and has considerable authority in running the franchise.  Fitch said Buss has been a positive influence in Jackson’s life, a woman with magazine model looks and business school smarts.

“She’s a smart lady,” Fitch said.  “I’d be the first to tell him, ‘She could have done a lot better than you, Phil.’ ”

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Fitch, who coached the Gophers from 1968-70, has been “zinging” Jackson for years, going back to North Dakota days in the mid-1960’s.  It was there that the Fighting Sioux were among the elite of Division II basketball teams and Jackson, 6-10, became an All-American before starting a pro career with the New York Knicks.

Fitch, who also had a background in baseball, had known of Jackson when he was not only a basketball player but an imposing pitcher in Williston, North Dakota.  The location of Williston helped Fitch steer Jackson to North Dakota, even though Jackson’s basketball skills would have transferred well to bigger schools.

“…Not too many people east of the Mississippi (River) can tell you where Williston is, let alone get there,” Fitch said.

He admired Jackson as a person and player in college.  He never speculated that the studious and philosophical Jackson would become a coach.  “I thought he would end up probably being a college professor and president of a college somewhere,” Fitch said.

Instead Jackson became a great NBA coach, perhaps the best of all time.  Fitch said that success is based on Jackson’s extraordinary basketball knowledge and his full faith in using his assistant coaches and their abilities.  Obviously having talented players has been a huge factor as well.

What has characterized Jackson’s profile, too, is a calm on-court demeanor, at least somewhat a product of his Zen philosophy.  While coaching in a game, Jackson seems to accept player performance failures and sort of mystically store those failings away for teaching moments later.

“I don’t know one coach who could sit there and be that calm. …He’s a master of it.  He’s proven there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Fitch said.

Jackson has been able to associate himself with Zen philosophy when others in the NBA wouldn’t have dared to try or been successful.  “He’s on a different street there,” Fitch said.  “If nine other coaches tried to get by with it, out of the nine probably half of them would fail.”

Jackson has seldom failed and undoubtedly doesn’t plan to do so in 2011, likely his last magical ride.

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Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano, 9-6, has a 1.83 ERA in his last five starts.  His season ERA is 3.30.  Teammate Scott Baker is 6-2, with a 3.06 ERA in nine home games but 1-5 with a 6.55 ERA in eight road starts.

Wally the Beerman turns 76 on August 11 but he’s still selling beer in the Target Field stands (sections 100-108) for every Twins home game.

Ricky Rubio, the Timberwolves’ fifth pick in the 2009 NBA draft, has financial incentive to come here and play for the 2011-12 season.  The NBA collective bargaining agreement is up for negotiation next summer and with the nation’s poor economic environment owners are expected to push hard for less compensation to players.  If Rubio signs prior to the expiration of the existing collective bargaining agreement, it’s likely he will receive a better contract than if he waits another couple of years.

By next year Rubio’s contract buyout from his Spanish team will be under $2 million, much less than it has been to leave for the NBA.  Can the Wolves make a possibly reluctant Rubio play for them instead of another league team?  In the Wolves’ favor is that for Rubio to go back into the NBA draft he needs to sit out a full year of professional basketball.

Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn wouldn’t speculate as to how much his roster will turn over between now and the opening of the regular season but another franchise insider said 50 percent might be possible.

Wolves lottery pick Wesley Johnson chose uniform No. 4 because he has that many nieces and nephews.

The Timberwolves will begin play in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Monday.  Johnson and other players are expected to play in games on July 12 (San Antonio), July 14 (Sacramento), July 16 (Memphis), July 17 (Portland) and July 18 (Atlanta). The team’s summer league roster includes 2009 draft choices Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington, and undrafted former Gophers Damian Johnson and Lawrence Westbrook.

Forward Mikael Granlund, the Wild’s first-round pick in last month’s NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, might also be at next June’s draft in St. Paul.  Granlund’s brother, Markus, plays for the Helsinki junior team and will be draft eligible next summer.

Mikael’s skill has been praised by the media, with the Red Line Report naming him the “most imaginative playmaker” in the draft.  He was impressive in the Finnish Elite League, where he was a 17-year-old playing professionally against 30-somethings. He had 40 points in 43 games last season, leading all league rookies in points and being named Rookie of the Year.  Compare that to Wild captain Mikko Koivu, chosen No. 6 overall in 2001, who had one assist in 21 games in the Finnish Elite League and also spent time in the junior leagues prior to being drafted.  Granlund was the No. 9 overall draft pick in 2010.

Forward Jason Zucker, the Wild’s fourth selection in the recent draft (second round No. 59 overall), became the first Nevada-trained player to be drafted in NHL history.

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