The Season He Became Point Pivot : Lakers: These days Magic Johnson is playing so many positions, people are inventing new names for the roles.

As versatile as Meryl Streep, Magic Johnson can play any role the Lakers ask. Lately, that has included everything short of portraying Woody Allen’s estranged wife or wearing a wig and speaking with an Australian accent.

Best known as a point guard who has so transformed the position that a new statistical category called the triple-double was devised, Johnson now has been asked to stretch his talents and his 6-foot-9 body to other positions on the court. No costume change is needed, only a different approach and attitude.

Tune in to a Laker game at almost any juncture, and Johnson is likely to be playing any one of four positions. It has almost gotten to the point where public-address announcers should identify Johnson as Charlotte Hornet Coach Dick Harter did recently--point pivot.

Johnson, of course, starts and plays most of his 37 minutes a game at his natural point-guard spot. But in these post-Kareem transition days, Johnson will also play as many as 15 or 20 minutes a game at small forward and big forward, the latter mainly on defense. There also have been rare times, whenever Coach Pat Riley wants a quick lineup or is beset by foul trouble, that Johnson has played center.

“Magic this year is like a politician’s promises,” teammate Mychal Thompson said. “All over the place.”

The difference, of course, is that Johnson often delivers. Although he has always had the ability to be an interchangeable part in the Laker attack--remember his 42-point, 15-rebound effort subbing for Abdul-Jabbar at center in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals?--until now it has not been necessary for him to do anything except orchestrate and create from his point-guard spot.

Abdul-Jabbar’s retirement created the need for his expanded activity, and the important addition of backup point guard Larry Drew made it possible.

“My role has really changed,” Johnson said. “I’m running all five positions now at one time or the other, and I’m having to do more things than in the past. I love the challenge of doing something I don’t do all the time. We all need challenges to keep us going. Life gets stale without them.”

Life also can get complicated with them. Johnson has even more responsibility for the Lakers’ success now than in previous seasons, if that is possible.

Now, he is the point guard in charge of controlling the flow and tempo of the offense; the small forward required to camp in the low post and provide inside scoring; the off-guard responsible for perimeter scoring; the power forward needed to root himself underneath and rebound, and the center who, as in the fourth quarter of a recent game against New Jersey, trades bumps and elbows with the likes of 7-foot-1 Sam Bowie.

Johnson, as a result, is also one tired guy by game’s end.

He usually doesn’t play all five spots against the same opponent--mainly just point guard and small forward. But Johnson still said he feels the wear and tear on his 30-year-old body and occasionally suffers an identity crisis, momentarily forgetting whether he is playing forward or guard.

Even if this position-juggling is slightly hindering Johnson’s statistics, the Lakers’ 18-5 record is the ultimate measure of the plan’s success. He is averaging 22.7 points a game, compared to 22.5 last season, and is averaging almost one fewer turnover a game at 3.8. But his shooting accuracy has dropped from 50.9% to 46.8%, his rebounding average from 7.8 to 6.7 and his assist average from 12.8 to 11.

Everything has its trade-offs. Since Johnson no longer exclusively handles the ball, his assist output is bound to decrease. His drop in shooting percentage is merely symptomatic of a teamwide problem. And in rebounding, he no longer has the advantage of watching the flight of the ball from the guard spot and then scrambling after misses. He has to screen off bigger, stronger defenders.

But Johnson said winning, not statistics, is the major concern.

“It doesn’t make me feel any different or special,” he said of his versatility. “If that’s going to let us win, that’s fine. I don’t care about scoring or none of that.”

THE PRICE OF CHANGE

Johnson shrugged when it was suggested that the pounding he is taking in the low post might shorten his career.

“I’m really not concerned about that, either,” he said. “If it does, then so be it. I’m here to do a job and do it the best that I can. Whatever comes with that, whether it’s forward or the point, I’ll do it. Maybe it will shorten my career. I don’t care.”

Not every player can handle so many positions. Johnson, at 6-9, has the height to play both forward spots. Center is a stretch. His prowess as a shooting guard developed a few seasons ago. And his acumen as a point guard has been known all along.

But mention that his transition to forward has seemed effortless, and Johnson furrows his brows and smirks. Not so, he says.

There are mornings when he awakes and feels older than 30. His body is sore and throbbing from the pounding in the low post by bulkier big men, combined with the usual cardiovascular fatigue from running the fast break when he switches to point guard.

“In my back, that’s where you feel it most,” Johnson said. “When you post up, people just hammer you on the back with elbows. They try to knee you out of there, do all sorts of things.”

There are times late in games, especially in the season’s first month, when Johnson could be spotted at stoppages in play bent forward with his hands tugging down on his shorts--the universal basketball sign of fatigue.

Actually, he is playing just a bit less than last season. He averaged 37.4 minutes a game last season and is averaging 36.7 this season. But it is the physically diverse activity that tires him.

“It’s still taking some time to adapt physically,” Johnson said. “Some nights, it’s easier than others. The game dictates that. Right now, I’m trying to make the adjustment to getting pushed around so much more. This is the first time I’ve posted this much in all the years I’ve played.

“I could see this coming, especially since we came to training camp and pretty much had the team set. I think I prepared myself up here, mentally, but you never can prepare your body. From now on, I might want to do something different than (in) years past. I’m thinking about that right now. I’m as light (at 220 pounds) as I ever have been. Maybe that will change. I don’t know.”

Riley would like to play Johnson all 48 minutes in all 82 games, if he were physically up to it. But he said he tries to be sensitive to Johnson’s needs.

“I think he’ll get conditioned,” Riley said. “He can get worn out two ways. If you keep him primarily as a point guard, teams just pressure him and pressure him and pressure him. I will monitor that and talk to him, because I don’t want that to become a problem.

“He’s going through a period of conditioning. He’s being conditioned to this. It’s a new position, with bigger guys pounding on him, but he’ll use his quickness and other parts of the game to get through it.”

Even when Johnson is at forward, the Lakers still stage their fast break. Sometimes, Drew leads the transition game, sometimes Johnson. This causes problems for the bigger, slower forwards trying to guard Johnson.

“With (Magic) at the four position (power forward), it opens things up so much more,” Drew said. “How is an opposing forward going to stay with him when he’s got the ball on the break and I’m on the wing. No way. Even when he’s at forward, I’ll still look to give him the ball when we break.”

A DIFFERENT POINT

Over the years, Johnson has been conditioned to gravitate toward the ball and initiate the offense.

Although he knows the positioning of every player in Riley’s half-court offensive pattern, Johnson says he sometimes momentarily forgets which position he is playing.

“You have to change your thinking, all the time,” Johnson said. “What it is, is that your tendency is to want to go back to the ball at the point. But sometimes, I’m not at the point. When I am at forward, I have to remember, where am I? Then, it’s either the three spot (small forward) or the four. I have to know both those positions.

“You lose that control aspect of the flow of the game. But (the ball) will swing over back to you. I’m learning how to be more patient when I don’t have it. James (Worthy) does that so good. You have to wait and use your picks now.”

Johnson does not have Worthy’s instinctively quick spin move to the basket from the low post. But he has developed a repertoire of moves, including his variation of Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook.

While Worthy often receives the ball deep in the post and goes to the basket without a dribble, Johnson will catch the ball farther away from the basket, then back in on a defender by dribbling before making his move or a pass.

In a victory over Charlotte last week, Johnson made six of seven shots using a hook that Abdul-Jabbar taught him a few seasons ago.

“He has developed an unbelievable post game,” Riley said. “His field-goal percentage inside is double what it is in the perimeter. We want to get the ball into him as much as possible. He’s got that (hook) move down. It’s virtually unstoppable if he can get his shoulders and legs through. Teams are doubling him, and he’s getting open shots for the other guys, too.”

Worthy said there was nothing to develop, that Johnson always has had those moves.

“He just uses them more now,” Worthy said. “Nothing new.”

Johnson, however, said those moves needed refinement.

“It’s not that your moves are so different,” he said. “You have to set your man up. Even when you do your move, you have to do it quick. That’s what I found this year. Now, I got to go up body-to-body and try to get it past them.”

ON THE DEFENSIVE

Defensively, the body contact is even more severe. Johnson said he is not surprised his rebounding average has slightly ebbed, because he no longer enjoys the advantage of wending his way through the key to retrieve misses. When he is at forward, the most important task is screening his defender.

“A lot of times, at guard, you’d get to run in and see where the ball was headed,” he said. “Now, you don’t get that advantage. The other (guards) I’m playing with have to do that. But (rebounding) is not the biggest adjustment. I’ve done that, blocking out, throughout my career. I’ll probably do that until I retire.”

Johnson does not state a preference, but he admits point guard still is his best position. The way Riley talks, though, it might remain this way for the rest of his career.

Riley said he believes Johnson’s career will be prolonged once he gets used to playing forward.

“It’s going to toughen him up,” Riley said. “He has to look at it this way: This is going to make us a better basketball team, and actually, as he gets older, I think it’s going to extend his career. He’ll still have the skills to play with the ball and break guys down, but he’ll be breaking down bigger guys. He won’t have to run as much.”

But for now, Riley said, “He’s totally unique among players.”