Reality Is Telling for the Lakers : Pro basketball: Games against Portland show that much work is needed by team in transition.

Between the Lakers’ mid-summer funk, after their challengers made their personnel moves; and pre-camp euphoria, after they made their own, lies a middle ground called reality, which they discovered over the weekend with the help of the Portland Trail Blazers.

To the Lakers, reality means:

--They have a lot of work to do.

--Their big men--mainly Vlade Divac--have a whole lot of work to do.

--The Trail Blazers look like the team to beat in the Pacific Division.

Ask someone who should know.

“They won the West Conference a year ago,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “Bottom line, they’re the Western Conference champs till someone beats them.”

Said Magic Johnson: “I think they (Blazers) are already rated the team to beat, with Phoenix and us right there. They (Blazers) have a strong team. They know each other well.”

Is the rating deserved?

“Oh yeah,” Johnson said. “They deserve their rating.”

The Trail Blazers have talent, size, depth, experience and are adding only one significant player--Danny Ainge, who has already suggested pointedly he’ll help.

For all their talent and their new depth, the Lakers are in transition. They have a new coach, a new starting center (Divac) and two new players (Sam Perkins and Terry Teagle) in the nine-man rotation. If rookie sometime-sensation Elden Campbell plays, it will be three of 10. They are installing a new offense, some of which isn’t in yet. They are changing the way they play defense.

The way they played defense here needs to be changed, starting in the middle with Divac, who came in out of shape and is trying to catch up.

Divac lost a couple of weeks in late summer with a passport problem. At the world championships in Argentina, he misplaced his passport and instead of going straight back to Los Angeles, was rerouted home to Yugoslavia.

In early camp, he played as if auditioning for a part in “Flatliners.” Referring to Divac and Campbell, Dunleavy joked there were a “few lung transplants out there.”

Divac was only a little better in the first exhibition against the Trail Blazers Friday (23 minutes: three points, two rebounds) before beginning to show a pulse Saturday (22 minutes: 13 points, six rebounds).

“Tonight he was better,” said Dunleavy after a loss Saturday night to the Trail Blazers gave the teams a 1-1 split. “He started being a little more aggressive.

“We need a lot more aggressive play out of our big players. Portland just manhandled us tonight on the boards. You’ve got to be aggressive to win in this league.

“I need Vlade to be in better shape, to run the floor better. That’s something he’s done in the past, put pressure on teams. On the defensive side, he has to be more aggressive. He has to get to people quicker and not give up such good position.”

As a team, the Lakers have a collective problem, learning the new terminology and getting the new offense down, starting with the man in charge.

“We’ve got a little ways to go,” Johnson said after Friday night’s regular season-atmosphere victory. Then he corrected himself: “We’ve got a long ways to go.

“For the first time, I’m out there thinking. I’m thinking about what I’m supposed to do after I pass it. I’ve got to know the plays. If I don’t, they (his teammates) definitely don’t.

“A lot of times, he (Dunleavy) called the play, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. If I’m going to quarterback the team, I have to know the plays.”

Dunleavy figures the team is roughly on schedule . . . and needs to stay there.

“Overall, I can’t be too disappointed,” he said Saturday night. “We played a really nice game last night. We played a typical exhibition game tonight.”

The Lakers flew home late Saturday night. They’ll face Maccabi Tel Aviv Tuesday at the Forum and take on some real competition over the weekend, when the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks arrive for the Great Western Shootout.

The Lakers have already taken the Trail Blazer test and, however demanding, found it worthwhile.

“With that tournament, it doesn’t get any easier,” Johnson said. “Which is good. It’ll help Elden. It’ll help Vlade to play against big centers.”