THE NBA : Patience Is Best Plan for New-Look Lakers

What’s behind that slow Laker start, or can you spell t-r-a-n-s-i-t-i-o-n?

If anyone thought they were going to switch coaches, systems and key personnel while all their top rivals were newly reinforced, then simply pick up where they had left off, they were dreaming.

If anyone thought it was Pat Riley’s fault and all they had to do was rid the roster of a loud voice in its ear, here’s reality: two home losses compared to four all of last season; three games shooting 46% or less; no sellouts.

Everything always seems to point at Vlade Divac. Divac would have benefited from the summer league and Pete Newell’s camp. But he has rebound totals of 13, 16 and 12 which, if maintained, will land him in the top 10, so he must be doing something right.

The real enemy is impatience. The surest bet is the Lakers will improve. How good they will be then, we will see then.

And a word on Sam Perkins, who is starting to be booed. He is what he always was: unspectacular, solid, useful. He did not represent Laker dreams. Hot Rod Williams did, but was unattainable. Perkins was their best available option and they took it. All they gave up was a lot of Jerry Buss’ money, and money can’t play.

Introducing the Denver warp effect, in which the top 10 doesn’t mean what it did:

Paul Westhead’s high-speed offense has produced no victories, but two Nuggets are among the top scorers: Laker castoff Orlando Woolridge (31.8) who leads the league, doesn’t complain about being traded and should be asking to renegotiate any day now; and 36-year-old Walter Davis (26.7), who is in ninth place.

The Nuggets, of course, are the second-highest scoring team ever--138.0.

The highest?

Their opposition--152.0.

The opposition is shooting 57.%.

Add Nuggets: Dallas’ Derek Harper asked Denver guard Todd Lichti if the Nuggets can hold up.

Said Harper: “He said, ‘Talk to me in February, I’ll let you know.’ ”

Said George Gervin, 38, after Denver’s 161-153 loss at San Antonio:

“I would have come out of retirement for that one.”

Charles Barkley high/lowlight of the week:

After the 76ers needed overtime to beat the Nets, our hero noted:

“This is a game that if you lose, you go home and beat your wife and kids. Did you see my wife jumping up and down at the end of the game? That’s because she knew I wasn’t going to beat her.”

Uh, wasn’t this tasteless and sure to offend?

“Nah,” Barkley said. “Print it. (Anger) the women’s groups.”

Add Barkley: The 76er-Net game went to overtime when referee Joe Borgia incorrectly ruled that Derrick Coleman goaltended Barkley’s last-second airball and scored it a three-point goal.

Said Barkley: “I’m a nice guy. I deserve a break every now and then.”

Rod Thorn, NBA vice president, reviewed replays and agreed it was an error. The Nets protested, but because it was a judgment call, it isn’t reversible.

Said Barkley: “How long are they (Nets) going to brag about one game?”

Notes

First dispatches from the Knick-Patrick Ewing front: Ewing can become a restricted free agent whenever his salary falls out of the top five. It will when Indiana’s Reggie Miller signs his new $3.3 million-a-year contract. . . . Ewing says the Knicks’ first offer was “an insult to me” and added: “Who knows? You might see me in a Bullets uniform.” . . . Executive of the year: 76ers owner Harold Katz says he rebuilt his team thusly: “I got rid of every piece of . . . we had.” . . . Oops: If Johnny Dawkins’ knee injury costs him the season, as was first thought, a Philadelphia observer says the 76ers “are playing for 38-44.” . . . Dallas was 27-12 last season with Roy Tarpley, 17-16 without him. Tarpley, who has torn cartilage in his right knee, is scheduled to have surgery today and will be sidelined for four to six weeks. . . . The Mavericks were an early-season team to watch, winning in New York and Philadelphia. Last season their only back-to-back road victories were in Miami and Orlando.

Keep thinking, Chuck, it’s what you do best: Coach Chuck Daly, fearing a media crush before the Pistons’ return to Portland, Ore., encamped instead in Vancouver, Wash. The next night the Trail Blazers crushed them. Said Daly: “ . . . It’s still just a regular-season game.” . . . For those who weren’t excited by New Jersey’s Derrick Coleman as a top pick in the draft, he’s averaging 11 rebounds. On a per-minute basis, he’s ahead of league-leader Ewing. . . . Chicago’s Stacey King is overweight again, missed nine of his first 10 shots and had four blocked. As a rookie he missed his first nine shots with four blocked. Forget the weight, he should bypass the first week and show up for the second.

Houston’s Kenny Smith is averaging 20 points, shooting 58% and taking charge. When Akeem Olajuwon got in foul trouble regularly, Smith said: “All of us, the coaches and the players, have been expressing to Akeem how much harder he’s making it on the rest of us.” . . . Another young rebounding phenom: Seattle’s Shawn Kemp has 29 in 56 minutes. Coach K.C. Jones will continue bringing the 20-year-old off the bench. “He still has a ways to go on the offensive end,” Jones said. “But on the defensive end, he’s there. . . . He has the look of a great one.”