Riley Attempts to Persuade Lakers Not to Become a Centerfold

Pat Riley’s mind is always working, even when the rest of him is taking time off. The goal-oriented Laker coach spent much of last summer thinking of a productive way to turn the loss of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into a gain for his team.

What Riley finally settled on going into training camp, which opens today at the University pf Hawaii, is a form of a challenge to his players: Unlike other championship-caliber teams, can the Lakers continue to excel after their dominant center retires?

Riley posed the question in his annual letter mailed to each player, the one which usually details more mundane statistical goals.

“I did a lot of reading and research about this,” Riley said Thursday. “You look at what happened to the teams after the five greatest centers in basketball retired.

“In Minneapolis, after George Mikan retired, they went down the tubes, and it took them five years to recover.

“After (Bill) Russell retired, it took (the Boston Celtics) six years to get back to the championship form.

“When Wilt (Chamberlain) retired, it basically took this franchise seven years.

“When Willis Reed (New York Knicks) retired, same thing. When Bill Walton left Portland, even though he was very young, it took them a long time.

“And when Kareem left Milwaukee, they had to rebuild.

“Anytime a significantly great center left a team, that team struggled. But what we have a chance to do here is change that. I think the players realize that.” The Lakers knew this day would come. There really was no way to prepare for it, other than to try to find an adequate replacement, through a trade or free agency, or to restructure the offense.

Jerry West, the Lakers’ general manager, has spent three months trying to acquire a big man, only to be turned down by wary teams. So it appears that the Lakers will have to adopt Plan B and change their playing style, which really is not that much of a change.

Riley said the Lakers plan to run more, shift back into the fastbreak mode that characterized their offense in the early 1980s. They most assuredly will have a smaller lineup.

“If there is a challenge this year, it’s to get our running game back,” Riley said. “We’ve always been a very spontaneous team, with Earvin (Magic Johnson). But we always had Kareem in there as our anchor. I can remember so many times that Kareem was there for relief and balance in the offense.

“Kareem was a back-to-the-basket center. That habit has been ingrained in us for 10 years. We don’t have to radically change, but I think we will utilize all five players more.”

Mychal Thompson, Abdul-Jabbar’s backup the last three seasons, will start in Abdul-Jabbar’s place. That is, if Riley can convince Thompson to take the job. Thompson has said he is more effective coming off the bench.

The Lakers also have 7-foot-1 center Vlade Divac, but the Yugoslav star is not a low-post player and probably will play more at power forward.

Laker Notes

Free-agent forward A.C. Green arrived in Honolulu Thursday afternoon and agreed to terms on a multi-year contract worth more than $1.3 million this season. A Laker spokesman said Green is expected to sign the contract this morning and practice today. He apparently could not sign Thursday night because the Lakers could not find a notary public. . . . Quintin Dailey’s first Laker training camp did not begin auspiciously. He was scheduled to leave Los Angeles on a morning flight Thursday but missed it. The Lakers said he left on an afternoon flight and is expected to practice today. Dailey, however, was fined for missing a mandatory team meeting Thursday night. . . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar may be retired, but he is not out of sight. The Lakers have hired him to work as a special instructor. His main job will be working with Yugoslav Vlade Divac.