Van Exel Is Ready for Class to Begin : Pro basketball: Point guard likely to be biggest beneficiary of Johnson’s tutelage as era starts after Lakers’ 113-107 loss.

The Lakers had just lost to the Houston Rockets, 113-107, Thursday and prepared for the late-night charter flight home and what follows, the opening of the Magic Johnson era with a team meeting today. Larry Drew figured those few hours at about 30,000 feet would be the best time to talk to Nick Van Exel.

“How many guys come into the league and as a rookie get the opportunity to be coached by the greatest player ever at that position?” said Drew, a Laker assistant coach. “That doesn’t come often.”

It has come to Van Exel, the young point guard who now will be coached by the greatest point guard. Starting in earnest Saturday at practice and then Sunday night at the Forum in the first game, the opportunity begins for Van Exel, something akin to Einstein tutoring a promising math student. Relatively speaking.

“One thing he’s going to be able to give Nick, first of all, is a huge, huge amount of confidence,” said Drew, a friend of Johnson’s and former point guard himself whom Van Exel credits for much of his early success. “Earvin being Earvin and Nick having a chance to play for the best point guard of all time, that in itself is a huge confidence booster. It should generate a lot of energy in Nick.

“Earvin has been a student of the game for so long. Not only having played point guard, but played against the point guards like Nick--guys quicker and smaller--so he’ll be able to sit Nick down and talk to him. You’ll see more of Nick breaking the defenses down, which I don’t think we’ve let him do. More speed and quickness instead of relying on perimeter shooting.”

Outside shooting has become such a prominent part of Van Exel’s game that when he connected on a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter at the Summit, it moved him into second place all-time (95) for a rookie, behind only Dennis Scott (125). But quickness is still his greatest strength, the ability to blow past his man and drive.

The contradiction is no greater than that of Van Exel and his new coach. The same Magic Johnson he didn’t like while growing up in Wisconsin.

“Nope,” Van Exel said. “The reason why was that I was from the Midwest, so we didn’t get into the Lakers much. I liked the Sixers, Bucks and Bulls. I hated the Lakers, and I hated Boston.”

Now? He’s a big fan.

“Yup,” Van Exel said. “I became a Magic fan when I played against him in summer league this summer.”

Those meetings, mostly in pickup games at UCLA or the Inglewood YMCA, left an impression with a second-round draft pick from Cincinnati looking to fill the same role Johnson did through five NBA championships. The most prominent memory was that everyone on Magic’s team was focused and serious. Van Exel, who once noted that all-star games are not enjoyable because too many people want to have fun at a showcase event, liked that.

“It’ll be exciting, it will be a lot of fun and competitive,” Van Exel said of the new Laker era.

Laker Notes

Bill Bertka is 1-2 as interim coach this season, splitting on this trip and losing to the Spurs earlier this season after Randy Pfund was suspended for bumping an official. “I’ve had fun,” the longtime assistant said. “I enjoy that. I’m like Walter Mitty. I hate to lose, though. Mitty never lost.” . . . Whether Bertka remains the No. 1 assistant to Magic Johnson, as he was for Pfund, may be decided today, when Johnson officially takes control with a team meeting. The new coach has been speaking very highly of Michael Cooper, his former teammate who moves from the front office to the bench. “He’s only one of the greatest defensive players to ever play,” Johnson said. “We need defense. I need somebody to teach the young guys how to play defense, and what better man to do this than Michael Cooper? I know him, he knows me, we understand each other, he’s going to do a great job, it’s something he’s always wanted. You’ve got to go with a winner, and he’s a winner.”

Elden Campbell led the Lakers with 25 points, giving him a three-game average against the Rockets of 22 points and eight rebounds while shooting 61.4%.