RealGM

It appeared not in the glitz of Staples Center, but in a quiet assisted living apartment home in Wilsonville, Ore.

While the Lakers were celebrating their Finals victory over the Orlando Magic, basketball consultant Tex Winter was fighting to speak the words "Orlando" and "Magic."

Having suffering a stroke earlier in the playoffs, Winter could barely talk or comprehend. It was difficult to write, difficult to gesture, one of the greatest teachers in basketball history laboring to learn the basics of living.

His team had won, but Winters was still fighting, the frustration growing each day, until finally his son Chris had an idea.

"OK, Dad," Chris said, sticking a piece of paper in front of his father's hand. . . . "Draw a play."

Tex looked down. He thought for a second. He slowly put pen to paper.

And there it was.

The triangle.

Winter brightened considerably when Jackson recently visited on his way to his summer home in Montana. In typical Jackson fashion, it wasn't announced, and none of Winter's sons were there, just Tex and Phil.

Then came the phone call from Kupchak that really charged up the coach, a reminder that he had to get well soon so he could come to Los Angeles in November and pick up his championship ring.

"He really seems eager to make that happen," said Brian, another son. "That's something we're planning on."

The coach, it seems, just needs a little coaching. His family provided a mailing address: 32100 SW French Prairie Road, Number 228, Wilsonville, Ore., 97070.