With the Lakers' huge local TV deal (20 years/$3 billion), them complaining about money is like Obama complaining about not winning North Carolina.
However, paying a coach $12m a year when you can get one who fits well with your personnel for a quarter of that cost, might not be a bad idea, especially if you're facing a luxtax bill in 2014 of $85m or more.
The Lakers take in over $240 million in revenue yearly. This year, they will have a payroll in excess of $100m, a tax bill of $30m, and revenue sharing of $19m. They'll make a lot of money this year, but next season, those figures go up to $100m, $85m and $20m, they will have "only" $45m left to pay other expenses, like travel, front office, etc. Spending almost $10m of that on a coach apparently wasn't palatable to the younger Buss.
I would have spent the money on the sure thing and hired Jackson, figuring that Kobe's window is closing and the Lakers desperately want to catch the Celtics in total titles. However, the Buss children are operating with some sense of fiscal responsibility, last year moving Odom and now eschewing the big money Jackson was demanding for a cheaper alternative.
Last year's move didn't add up to more success on the court, and I suspect that neither will this year's bargain move.