EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Phil Jackson showed up to his annual meet the press day Friday, sporting the clean-shaven look he wore during the Lakers’ title run last season.
Gone were the beard and moustache he was seen wearing in a recent cell phone commercial.

“Summer growth, that was it,” Jackson said.
Now, if he can just get the team to resemble the championship form of a year ago.
That Lakers team, the one that won the NBA title in June, has changed with Trevor Ariza gone and Ron Artest aboard.
Lamar Odom will be a married man by the time training camp opens Wednesday, there will be an empty seat on the bench where assistant Kurt Rambis used to sit, and a new look for Sasha Vujacic.
Jackson said the focus of training camp will start with Artest, the only player the Lakers signed during the summer.
“We want to try and make this transition for Ron Artest seamless, get our players playing at a level that they can approximate the chemistry they’ve had on the court in past years and get some of the players in condition, like Lamar, who’s been busy all summer,” Jackson said.
He said Artest tends to be more offensive-minded than Ariza and hopes that the shot-taking won’t take away from the fact that “he’s the defensive player that we’ve wanted over the course of the past couple years.”
Any concern Jackson held about Lakers’ ability to defend increased when Rambis left to become the coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The defensive coaching assignment will probably be split among the other assistants.
“I’m going to have to do a little bit of this and they will have to do a little bit of that,” Jackson said. “More likely, I will have to spend a little more time working with the big guys and doing some of the things Kurt has done in the past.
“And the staff will have to take on the defensive responsibility. We’ll miss him, but we’re really happy he has this opportunity.”
Artest and defense are not Jackson’s only concerns as training camp looms. He wants to give Pau Gasol some rest after the Spaniard led his country to its first European Championship.
Jackson also wants to get Vujacic back on track after a dismal season last year, going so far as to ask him to cut his hair.
Vujacic and DJ Mbenga also played for their national teams and suffered minor injuries. Vujacic injured a knee and Mbenga strained a groin muscle.
“These players have to mend themselves, so my concern is not to overdo it, not push them and yet let them know how difficult this is going to be on this mission we are on this year,” Jackson said.
Jackson, 64, said his health is not an issue and he doesn’t seem concerned about a new contract. He said he has not spoken to owner Jerry Buss about coaching beyond 2009-10.
“You know, my concern obviously when I came back during the summer to shoot that (cell phone) commercial was that Kurt was going to be chosen (for the Minnesota job) and to discuss with them (team ownership) how we should approach that,” Jackson said.
“And they felt it was an impossible situation to try to interrupt that process that was ongoing with Kurt leaving. ... And myself having a year left on that contract. So we just had to let the business take its own course.
“When I suggested that it set up a lame-duck situation, they said they hoped the duck wasn’t lame.”
So is the duck lame?
“We’ll see how the season goes, right?” Jackson said.