Brown Won’t Lose Starting Role

Hit by injuries and ailments throughout the season, the Lakers might require a different type of panacea once they get back to something close to full strength.

With Chris Mihm set to return soon from a sprained ankle that has cost him 16 games, Coach Phil Jackson must assimilate him into a lineup that includes the ever-improving Kwame Brown at center.

Mihm was averaging 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds before coming down on the foot of Seattle forward Rashard Lewis, but Brown has averaged 12.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and shot 61.5% in his absence.

Mihm began practicing with the team Thursday, and he could return Sunday against Phoenix or, more likely, Wednesday in the regular-season finale against New Orleans.

“When he comes back, he’ll be in the backup center role as a reliever for Kwame,” Jackson said.

Mihm and Brown have occasionally played in the same frontcourt -- Mihm at center, Brown at power forward -- and Jackson said he wouldn’t mind returning to that combination when Mihm gets healthier.

“I hope so,” he said. “You know I haven’t been afraid to start them ... even though it makes our lineup a little more clumsy, not quite as good shooters and keeps us packed in, it does give us a certain defensive strength.”

Brown continues to be steady in the post, the move to center getting him closer to the basket and calming his nerves. His post defense has been credible most of the season, and now his offense is rounding into shape.

“It’s a total 180,” he said. “Before, I was moving so fast, and thinking through the offense so much that I wasn’t even catching the ball, to now catching and completing. Now my focus is not just defense, it’s both ends of the floor.”

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Lamar Odom’s game has been more stable in recent weeks. So has his body control.

The Lakers had just finished beating Golden State on Wednesday when Jackson made a point of bringing up Odom’s improved strength, the result of an unusual approach carried out by team athletic performance coordinator Alex McKechnie and Odom’s personal trainer, Robbie Davis.

Odom has strengthened his core, defined by McKechnie as the region between the lower chest and upper thighs, by repetitive work involving medicine-ball tosses and the resistance of elastic bands connected to his limbs during workouts.

“His stability is better, his balance is better,” Davis said. “He’s worked on stabilizing his athletic movements, not so much in the weight room, but initiating movement from the correct places in his body, learning how to move his hips and improve his athletic posture.”

Odom, who entered the league at about 212 pounds, was 235 last year and is now about 242, Davis said.