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You could call Phil Jackson the classic Machiavellian and probably only half the people in the room would disagree with you, even if you were dead wrong. You could say that Jackson is the ultimate NBA opportunist, and around the league most folks would nod in approval at what they perceive, frankly, to be a compliment.

So go ahead, say anything that fits about Jackson. Say he handpicks his successes. Say he waits for chaos to surround a franchise in order to be regarded as the saving voice of reason. Say he has done all his winning while surrounded by some of the greatest talent in the modern history of the game.

Say anything, so long as you add this: In the end, Phil Jackson is always shown the money. And if he really is considering a return to coaching, be it in New York or LA or Cleveland or wherever, it is absolutely, positively because the money is right.

It couldn't have gone much better for Jackson The Absent over the past season. His parting with the Lakers now takes on the sepia tones of the end of some nostalgic, halcyon days. LA, a three-peater under Jackson at the high-water mark of the Kobe-Shaq partnership, went from Western Conference champion to a 34-48 free fall in its first season without Zen.

Jackson was able to portray his leaving the Lakers as a matter of principle, seeing as how he couldn't abide owner Dr. Jerry Buss' plan to trade Shaquille O'Neal and concentrate power in Kobe Bryant, a player Jackson went so far as to portray as uncoachable in his book. In truth, Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak had cut off negotiations with Jackson in February 2004, and the Lakers team that made the Finals did so after a season of discord, injury, ego-rage, blame-gaming and general soap-opera theatrics, with Jackson himself often in the middle of the mud hole.

Yet there goes Jackson this week, set to get together with Bryant and discuss the Lakers' situation. This is the same Phil Jackson who has been spotted around the team's training facility rather often lately. Who sat down for 45 minutes with Kupchak a few weeks ago. Who visited with injured Lamar Odom and spoke with Buss. Whose longtime companion is Jeanie Buss, Jerry's daughter and a Lakers executive vice president.

So, is Kobe Bryant still an uncoachable player?

For $10 million a year, there is no such animal.

That's the reported asking price for Jackson's services, $10 mil. Kupchak is on record as saying, "We've never lost a coach because of dollars, so I don't think that would be an issue." And the twist is, the Lakers' misfortunes of the past season suggest that this isn't the worst place they could spend their money.

Jackson certainly appears right to have wanted the offense run through O'Neal and not Bryant (although it's hard to tell for sure: The O'Neal on dominant display in Miami this season was motivated into a game shape that he rarely assumed over his final seasons in LA.). Jackson unquestionably understood the value of the big man, and he wondered how successful the Lakers could really hope to be trying to use a guard as the central figure in the triangle offense.

But, shoot, Jackson has won plenty of championships before with a guard as his focal point. Bryant doesn't have to be Michael Jordan to make the thing work. All he has to be is willing to let Jackson draw up the plan, acquire the right pieces around him (which he and Jerry Krause did so effectively for Jordan in Chicago) and install the thing the way Jackson wants to.

Those are no small points, but neither do they constitute a massive roadblock. Kobe's biggest problem, after all, was Shaq. Now it's his show in LA, for better and (recently) for worse, and if Phil Jackson wants to restore the Lakers to the glory they so recently enjoyed under Himself, he'll have to do it around Bryant.

Again: For $10 million per, that's not an insurmountable issue.

Jackson met with Knicks president Isiah Thomas this week, which proves that New York is serious about courting Phil for its coaching job but does not adequately answer the question of how serious Jackson's interest is in return. On the one hand, it's great to coach a winner in New York. On the other, isn't Cleveland, with LeBron James, the better choice for a 59-year-old coach whose reputation came largely from the sweat and toil of legitimate NBA superstars?

And on the third hand, there is Los Angeles, a city Jackson already knows, an organization whose moving parts didn't change much in the year he was gone. The roster is missing one massive piece, yes; but Jackson knows Buss, he knows Kupchak, he knows the scene. He knows exactly what to expect.

So do the people who have followed Jackson's career as a coach, appreciating the big and little things along the way. They know what's about to happen here: Phil Jackson will either pick a winner or walk away. He will get a team competitive, if he chooses to go one more round at the NBA coaching table, and he will more than likely keep it there.

And he will absolutely, positively see the money. Know why? Because he can.

Mark Kreidler is a columnist with the Sacramento Bee and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Reach him at mkreidler@sacbee.com.