RESPECT VS. SUCCESS; SHUTTING HARRIS OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR COACH OF THE YEAR IS A REAL SITCOM.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Del Harris, shut out of the Coach of the Year voting? Get out!

It must be some conspiracy, like ``the magic loogie'' postulated in an early ``Seinfeld'' show, only this time it's not Cosmo Kramer being hit by the spittle of a sports star, it's the Lakers coach being spit at by a group of sports reporters.

It can't be by coincidence that the aforementioned sitcom episode, which featured a cameo appearance by baseball player Keith Hernandez, was No. 34 in the series that signs off tonight. After all, that is the same number that appears on the back of the Lakers player whom Chicago coach Phil Jackson recently knocked, pointing out a silly foul he had taken during a loss and asking a reporter rhetorically, ``Is this kid smart enough yet to know what he can and can't do in this game to become a winner?''

After delivering the Lakers into the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1991, center Shaquille O'Neal could be forgiven for shouting at Jackson: ``No soup for you!''

Which brings us back to Harris, who has kept after O'Neal to be all that he can be while stalwartly defending the player against his critics. Harris was only half-joking when he said he wants O'Neal ``to do it all. Run up and down the floor, play defense and do some commercials.''

Never mind Jerry Seinfeld and his 30-second spots with Superman, Harris is a lock if ever they decide to go back to the old American Express commercials, the ones that started, ``You don't know me, but . . . .''

It shouldn't be so hard to recognize Harris' fingerprints on this Lakers team. His harping about defense is really what started the Lakers on their fast break to breathless clippings and commentary. Any ``Coach of the Year'' balloting without his name on it is an award based on nothing.

No way should Indiana's rookie Coach of the Year Larry Bird collect 50 votes, Jackson, three, and nine others at least one more than Harris' zilch. (Among those who got one vote was the Knicks' Jeff Van Gundy, who recently came across as pathetic as George Costanza when he wrapped himself around the leg of Miami's Alonzo Mourning).

We're not saying Harris deserved to win or place, but he should have shown up in the final tally. As much as we respect what Bird has done this year with the Pacers, we think it's every bit as tough to maintain excellence as achieve it.

Just ask the writers on ``Seinfeld,'' who seemed to struggle in this ninth-and-final season of the sitcom to make the storylines more cutting-edge than contrived. If Harris isn't exactly revolutionizing his genre, he at least deserves credit for staving off any revolts within his ranks.

He kept the operation humming by taking a hard-headed, offensive-minded group of individuals and selling them on teamwork and defense. Getting George Costanza to pick up a check at Monk's Diner would have posed no greater challenge.

But somehow, ``the ol' coach,'' as the low-key Harris often refers to himself, did it, albeit with the help of a stern late-season missive by executive vice president Jerry West.

Harris coaxed and cajoled 61 wins out of a team that always seemed on the brink of believing all its hype - four All-Stars! - and taking a fatal plunge into complacency. He did it with two of those All-Stars, O'Neal and starting point guard Nick Van Exel, sitting out 22 and 18 games, respectively, with injuries.

He did it also without succumbing to the pressures, both internal and external, to start swingman Kobe Bryant. He wisely kept the 19-year-old wunderkind coming off the bench, even though in doing so he risked the wrath of team owner Jerry Buss who, though decades older than Bryant, is just as impatient.

And, finally, Harris did it despite repeated reports that he was on the verge of being written out of the script, much as Jerry Seinfeld was after only a few shows in his first real foray into TV land, as a bit player on the sitcom ``Benson.''

There are people who don't care for Harris simply because he is neither slick and one-dimensional as an 8x10 glossy, nor glib (his answers do tend to ramble on like an anecdote of J. Peterman, Elaine Benes' boss).

Like the people who censure Seinfeld for being politically incorrect, Harris' critics are missing the point. He is the perfect man to coach these Lakers precisely because he is a teacher, first and foremost, not an actor or entertainer. He is the Master of his Domain, but he doesn't need for everybody to know it.

The pity is that his players don't seem to fully appreciate what they have in Harris. When the ground beneath Seattle coach George Karl started shaking, his point guard, Gary Payton, moved swiftly to his side. Karl Malone has given his vote of confidence to Jerry Sloan, and Jackson long has had the public backing of Michael Jordan.

But for all the public cheerleading Harris has done on behalf of his players, none has repaid him in kind.

Said forward Robert Horry, whose praises Harris sang this season long before everybody else joined the chorus, ``If you look at all the guys who spoke up (for their coaches), they can afford to because they're the franchise player. I'm sure there are some guys on the team who probably feel that way but they won't say anything. And, I don't know, a lot of guys don't really care who coaches the team . . . they just want to play basketball.''

Harris insists he doesn't need the props, but deep down we know he wants to feel appreciated. So why not humor him?

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) For all the public cheerleading Lakers coach Del Harris has done on behalf of his players, none has repaid him in kind.

David Crane/Daily News

(2) Lakers players have yet to publicly back their coach.

David Sprague/Daily News