By The Associated Press

Out on the West Coast, the NBA’s Zen master has returned home from a yearlong sabbatical, accepting a task sure to disturb his implacable cool.

On the other coast, Brooklyn’s wayward son finally has his dream job, moving into Madison Square Garden for the ultimate stop in a lifetime of wandering.

And in the heart of Texas, geographically smack-dab between the Lakers’ Phil Jackson and the Knicks’ Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich is hard at work making sure the NBA’s two highest-profile coaches don’t win another championship ring.

So begins the league’s 59th season, with the first tip Tuesday in Philadelphia. The summer was tinged by tragedy, but featured no revolutionary changes to the game – unless, like Tim Duncan or Allen Iverson, you believe it’s a travesty to ask millionaires to wear business-casual clothing to work in their billion-dollar industry.

Four months before the new dress code caused a tempest in a T-shirt, labor peace was reached with a new collective bargaining agreement. The league also has continuity on the court: Most of last season’s title contenders should be strong again, and though plenty of teams shuffled their rosters, only a handful of marquee players changed teams.

But the marquee bosses got all kinds of attention, with daunting new challenges for each of the only three coaches to win titles in the last decade.

Jackson had enough of his easy life signing books and making commercials, instead deciding to restore Showtime one triangle at a time in Los Angeles. Brown, taking over his seventh NBA team, hopes to create another winner from the curious collection of spare parts assembled by Isiah Thomas in New York.

“Coach Brown doesn’t surprise you, me or anyone else. He loves that stuff,” Popovich said. “He enjoys rebuilding – going to practice and hitting the gun from the groundwork up – more than championships and games. That’s what he’s all about as a teacher.

“In Phil’s case, I was personally thrilled he came back, because I think it’s huge for the league. When you think about what he’s done and how many championships he’s won, there’s always drama when he comes back in.”

Popovich has three championship trophies attesting to his own mastery of the job, and the San Antonio Spurs fine-tuned their splendid machine during the summer, adding cagey veterans Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel to a club that’s already the favorite for its fourth title in eight seasons.

The Spurs have never been given the respect and admiration they’re receiving this fall after one of the most impressive playoff performances in recent history, capped by a seven-game finals victory over Brown’s Detroit Pistons.

From coast to coast, everyone is chasing San Antonio – even the coach with nine rings of his own.

Jackson returned to Kobe Bryant’s team after a one-year absence, lured from semiretirement by a fat contract and the challenge of his biggest reconstruction project in 15 years.

Assistant coach Frank Hamblen, who filled in for part of last season, describes his once-and-future boss as “very relaxed. He knows that he’s not going to contend for a title. (During) the time off, he realized how much he missed (coaching). … I think he’s really enjoying himself.”

Brown went through yet another bitter basketball divorce after two seasons with the Pistons. He flirted with Cleveland before moving home to New York, where he’ll need plenty of magic to avoid his first losing record since 1998.

“My feeling is, this group wants to win so badly, they’ll do almost anything,” said Brown, who claims New York will be his last coaching stop. Of course, he has tried to stop before.

Jackson and Brown both had health problems in the past year, and both will labor just to make the playoffs with their motley rosters – but their every move will be scrutinized in the league’s top media markets. The NBA has been a personality-driven league for two decades now, and these are two of the biggest characters around.

Jackson’s relationship with Bryant, who got harsh criticism in Jackson’s most recent book, has been tumultuous for several years. So far in their reunion, both have behaved admirably – but there’s a long season ahead.

“I think they’re both two of the best professionals at what they do,” Lakers forward Luke Walton said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. If it is, I’m sure the media will be there to cover it.”

But the season also begins with several somber notes, from Atlanta center Jason Collier’s sudden death to the New Orleans Hornets’ homelessness after Hurricane Katrina. The Hornets will open the season Tuesday in Oklahoma City, their enthusiastic adopted hometown, and also will play six games in Baton Rouge.

The lowly Hornets are among only a few teams widely deemed unlikely to make a playoff run: After years as a West-dominated league, the NBA seems close to genuine parity. East favorites Detroit, Miami and Indiana – with Ron Artest back and hungry after his 73-game suspension for brawling with Pistons fans – should be as good as any of San Antonio’s rivals in the West.

“Part of it is teams that were not very good have gotten better, which makes for a much more competitive conference,” said Flip Saunders, Brown’s replacement in Detroit. “What developed for a few years in the Western Conference has now come back to the East, where there aren’t really any gimme games.”

Still, the league’s biggest attractions haven’t changed much since last season. The annual Christmas showcase features the Spurs back at the Palace of Auburn Hills for a finals rematch, followed by Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal hosting his former coach and teammates from Los Angeles.

The Heat got the East’s most intriguing makeover, adding Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, James Posey and Gary Payton to superstar duo Shaq and Dwyane Wade – and with all this talk about big-name coaches, don’t forget Miami president Pat Riley, who’s constantly rumored to be itching to take over for Stan Van Gundy.

“If you look at the East, just about every team on paper has improved,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, whose solid club added Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius. “There’s some teams out there that nobody’s talking about that are going to be much better.”

Most of the Western teams chasing the Spurs gently retooled as well. Phoenix, Houston, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis all added new starters in an attempt to keep up with San Antonio’s impressive depth.

The Suns were the league’s most surprising success last season, reaching the Western Conference finals with unlikely MVP Steve Nash and a fascinating up-tempo offense that put coach Mike D’Antoni among the league’s elite strategists. But with All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire out for at least four months after knee surgery, the Suns could be underpowered early.

So who will be this season’s surprise? Some suspect coach George Karl’s Denver Nuggets, who will follow Phoenix’s hustling example with a slimmer, quicker Carmelo Anthony; others like the New Jersey Nets, with their healthy trio of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson out to reclaim their successes of recent seasons.

But nobody will be shocked if LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers emerge as an Eastern force. The Cavs added Larry Hughes, Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall along with new coach Mike Brown – and James, a health scare behind him, seems ready to add team success to his resume.

And as for the much-maligned dress code, its news value hopefully will vanish as soon as the TV cameras start rolling on another high-flying season.

“I don’t care about that dress code,” said Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento’s fashionable forward. “When you always look good, it’s not a problem.”

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AP Sports Writer John Nadel in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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