It’s Better Late Than Never for Lynch : Lakers: Rookie was nonexistent early in the season, but he is now starting and putting up impressive numbers.

His timing wasn’t real good in 1970, which was supposed to be the first grand entrance. He was two months premature, weighing only 2 1/2 pounds at birth with a lot of breathing problems, before growing strong and healthy to reach 6 foot 7, 225 pounds.

Come last fall and winter, when it was time for another big debut, George Lynch again took a detour, this time arriving two months late to his Laker career. The problems in November and December were with matchups at forward and minutes, only to give way to fate in early January and then, as if out of nowhere, talent.

It started out uneventfully. He spent 11 of the first 33 games on the bench. Much of that time was buried on the depth chart behind free agents Trevor Wilson, Antonio Harvey and Kurt Rambis, and that was with Elden Campbell on the injured list and Doug Christie working his way back from an injury. The 22 appearances came at an average of 9.2 garbage-time minutes per outing. In one game, Nov. 27 at Minnesota, he got three fouls in 13 seconds trying to handle Christian Laettner.

“At times,” Lynch said, “I would sit there, me and Antonio talking about waiting. I would wish we would either get blown out or we would blow out the other team so we could play. Just play 15 minutes. I know that’s not good, but that was the attitude we had. We didn’t want the game to be close.”

In 24 games since moving into the starting lineup, he is averaging 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 37.3 minutes and shooting 52.1%. Only Jamal Mashburn, Chris Webber, Isaiah Rider and Anfernee Hardaway are scoring better among first-year players. Only Webber is getting more rebounds.

Lynch might go from not being one of 17 people picked for the rookie all-star game in February to being one of five on the all-rookie team at the end of the season.

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I was the 12th pick in the draft. I feel I’m only doing what I was supposed to do all along.”

The Lakers’ highest draft choice since another North Carolina product, James Worthy, went No. 1 in 1982, Lynch had power forward skills in a small forward body when he arrived in the NBA.

He wasn’t big enough to regularly battle inside--he is listed at 6-8, claims to be 6-7 1/2, while the Lakers say 6-6 1/2 is closer to the truth--and couldn’t supply the offensive clout needed at the quicker position. That he had to learn both only made the transition tougher.

Coach Randy Pfund used him at both spots early on, when he used Lynch at all. Frustrated that he wasn’t getting a chance even as the Lakers continued to lose, and calling coaches and players in Chapel Hill to say he never imagined things would be like this, everything changed on the afternoon of Jan. 10, when Christie suffered a severely sprained ankle in practice.

Lynch thought Worthy would move into the starting lineup the next night, but Pfund went with Lynch and the youth movement at small forward against Golden State. He lasted 21 minutes before fouling out with 8:44 left, but not before getting eight rebounds.

Then came Jan. 14 against Charlotte and 24 points and 10 rebounds. That was followed by what he thinks is his best showing--14 points, nine rebounds and seven steals at Seattle.

Everything changed. The Lakers drafted him, a move that surprised many, and counted on getting a solid, dependable player for 10 years, and now, suddenly, they had someone making major contributions at the first real opportunity. The problem of where to play soon belonged to Christie because small forward was locked up.

Within another few games, when Lynch should finally reach the qualifying minimum, he might be in the top 10 in the league in shooting and the top 15 in steals. Those are the best of the numbers--52.9% and 1.65, respectively--tempered by the first 33 games, but the rest are, as the Lakers expected, dependable: 9.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 23.8 minutes.

“From looking at his background and the fact that we came from the same place, with 30 or 35 minutes a game, he’ll be giving them 15 (points) and 10 (rebounds) every night about two years from now,” said Rick Fox of the Boston Celtics, a former North Carolina teammate. “Easily. That’s pretty solid.”

Said Pfund: “I just don’t think we expected quite this much so soon. If he would have just come in every night and held his own and played solid, that would have been great. But that’s the thing. He has more than just held his own. He’s making big plays, putting up the numbers rebounding, hustling every night.”

Lynch, for his part, said he is happy to earn his money--$1.1 million in salary--instead of getting it for sitting. The question now is not can he earn it, but where--small forward or power forward.

Lynch says he is more comfortable at power forward, his home at North Carolina. Pfund ponders the possibilities, figuring Lynch “probably more than likely has found a home” at small forward. He also contemplates a step up in weight class when Christie and/or Anthony Peeler are healthy again.

“I’m happy I’m playing more, happy that I’m in the starting lineup,” he said. “I’m just glad things are going well for me.”

One way or another, at one spot or another, things have turned right-side up for Lynch.

Right on schedule.