Jackson goes over the minutes

No matter how many minutes a player gets, whether it’s two minutes or 40, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson wants him to accept it without complaint.

It’s hard for some of the Lakers who aren’t playing much, and it’s equally hard on Jackson to shell out minutes on a team that is so deep and talented. He was able to play all 12 players on his active roster in the first two games because they were blowouts, but his goal is to keep his players fresh for the long haul.

So far, Pau Gasol is averaging 36 minutes a game, tops on the team. Kobe Bryant is second with 32. Luke Walton, who averaged 23.4 minutes last season, is averaging 4.7 this season, the least of any active player, though he has played in all three games.

“It’s just trying to keep everybody prepared to contribute,” Jackson said Tuesday. “Sometimes you can only play a guy a couple of minutes, or maybe five minutes.

“They just have to understand that whatever they have to do, to go in there and play is an important part of it.”

Jackson recalled how he has inserted players for the last 30 seconds of a quarter and they found a way to contribute in that limited time.

“It’s too early for guys to worry about it right now,” Jackson said. “A coach can always read disappointment on a player’s body language. But this is a team that wants to win and they know to do so they have to be willing to put ‘me’ second to team. That’s an important aspect of it.”

Bynum ready

Andrew Bynum stood after practice with a clipboard in his hand with a voter instruction sample ballot attached to it. His right shoulder was wrapped up in ice as a preventive measure because of a strained right rotator cuff.

Bynum smiled at all the media commotion and pronounced himself fit to play in tonight’s game against the Clippers at Staples Center.

Bynum said his shoulder pain has lessened since suffering the injury in practice Monday and that his shoulder “really didn’t hurt that bad.”

“I feel a little bit of pain,” he said. “But it doesn’t bother me.”

Asked if he was playing against the Clippers, Bynum was emphatic. “Yeah, there’s no question about it,” he said.

Bynum, 21, then walked away, saying he was headed to vote for the first time.

A slow week

The Lakers play tonight for the first time since Saturday. Because of the quirk in the NBA schedule, the Lakers won’t play again until Sunday, when they host the Houston Rockets.

“I think we kind of used this week and these last two days to kind of build up some rhythm on some more things and try to get ready,” Bryant said.

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broderick.turner@latimes.com