BUSS NEEDS TO BE SEEN AND HEARD.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

A young brunette at his elbow, a purple-and-gold leather jacket on his back and a relieved smile on his lips, Jerry Buss showed up outside the Lakers' locker room Thursday in Anaheim to congratulate coach-for-a-night Bill Bertka on a spirited victory over the Clippers. Buss was immediately cornered by reporters hungry for his opinions on Del Harris' firing and Dennis Rodman's arrival.

The Lakers owner makes few such appearances and rare public proclamations nowadays. He did sit down with the beat writers before the opening-night game at the Forum and promised to be ``accessible.'' But in recent months he was absent from news conferences to announce vice president Jerry West's new contract, Kurt Rambis' promotion to head coach and Harris' dismissal, after having said nothing to clarify Harris' status during the extended offseason.

Though Buss remains the Lakers' chief executive, at 66 he is less and less the club's ceremonial leader, increasingly content to let West and general manager Mitch Kupchak speak for the franchise.

The effect, far from cosmetic, has been to encourage the rampant speculation that Buss and West are at odds over trades and signings, that there is confusion in the front office and that the Lakers are closer to implosion than an NBA championship. The silence has been filled by laughter from Lakers-haters everywhere.

Buss's short, mostly glib, largely unrealistic answers to the reporters' questions Thursday were hardly reassuring.

He said the Lakers' 6-6 start, which preceded the coaching change, ``hasn't disappointed me at all. I think we're the envy of the world.''

He claimed that, contrary to every report, West did not oppose the acquisition of Rodman.

And after saying ``I don't know'' if the Lakers needed ``more energy or a disciplinarian'' in a new coach, he said the decision would be his and it would probably take more than another day to make.

Not only did that contradict his staff's announcement of a Friday press conference to introduce a new coach, it contradicted Kupchak's assertion - after Rambis was introduced at a Friday evening press conference - that the choice had been made Thursday and only contractual details then remained to be settled.

We've seen some of this before from the popular Dr. Buss, a brilliant man but an uneasy speech-maker, during his nearly 20 years as Lakers owner.

Most memorable, there was the bungled 1981 press conference at which Buss seemed to appoint special consultant West and assistant coach Pat Riley as co-head coaches to replace Paul Westhead.

That worked out all right after Riley and West agreed that Riley would be the head coach, and he led the Lakers to four NBA titles.

But this time, when the question is not who's in charge on the bench but who's calling the shots upstairs, Buss' failure to put the issue to rest causes deeper damage to the franchise's precious image.

Did Buss veto a proposed trade involving Lakers guard Eddie Jones and then-Sacramento sharp-shooter Mitch Richmond last season, prompting West to nearly quit?

Did Buss overrule his vice president in order to pursue Rodman, or was West merely leery of taking on the unpredictable forward?

Did Buss sour on Harris, leaving it to West to decide when to fire his friend, or was that a unanimous decision?

Last summer, at the height of worry about West's future with the Lakers, it was up to the employee to tell reporters that he and the boss had never quarreled. If Buss had been there too, elaborating on the state of the Jerry-Jerry relationship, everybody might have felt more confident they'd heard the truth.

Maybe Buss's role in player and coaching personnel decisions has increased in the past decade or two. In which case, he must be willing to step forward more often to explain his pivotal choices.

Or maybe Buss's role remains safely within the prerogative of a man who has committed nearly $200 million in salary to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant alone. In which case, he should reaffirm West's authority and expertise for the sake of West's sanity and the fans'.

Buss will never be called reclusive. On his most private day, he makes Peter O'Malley look like a monk. But his lower profile is hurting the Lakers and he'll have to change if he wants to turn the laughter back into envy.