The Turnaround Man : Del Harris Ignored Doubters, Silenced Critics While Giving Lakers the Confidence to Succeed

Laker players heard last summer that the team was searching for a coach who worked well with young players, a Rick Pitino or a Roy Williams from the colleges or a Mike Dunleavy type. Instead, they got a professorial, ordained minister who held dry classroom sessions at training camp. They didn’t get a Dunleavy type. They got a guy who coached Dunleavy.

One regular season later, those who doubted the choice are nowhere to be found, having become either very impressed or very silent. Finding a dark hair on Del Harris’ head would be easier.

So now, with his team having improved by 15 games from 1993-94, a sizable jump in the NBA, people are falling all over themselves to congratulate Harris and call him their coach of the year.

From retread to genius in 82 games flat.

“I think he’s done something that even I questioned at the beginning,” said backup center Sam Bowie.

“The fact that he’s from the old school and is used to coaching guys from the mid-’70s, late ‘70s, early ‘80s, and to be able to get a group of guys from the ‘90s who have a different mental approach and much more money in their pockets, it’s been amazing to me the way he’s been able to get the guys to believe in him.”

No one doubted Harris’ knowledge or teaching credentials. Impossible to predict, though, was his ability to communicate with and inspire the young Lakers after having been out of coaching for almost three seasons. Even before, he had been with a veteran team in Milwaukee for several seasons.

Nobody could have imagined as grand a success as this season has been. That includes guard Nick Van Exel, whose first contact came when Harris was his coach at a 1993 pre-draft camp in Phoenix. At the time, Van Exel wouldn’t have been terribly upset if it had been his last.

Now look. Van Exel is quick to give Harris credit for both his personal development and the team’s significant strides, and the Lakers have rallied behind their coach.

Harris’ impact on the 48-34 regular season, earning them a first-round playoff berth against Seattle beginning Thursday at the Tacoma Dome is, of course, huge. For all the X-and-O decisions--the pressure defense the first couple of months, holding the Lakers together during a run of injuries in the second half--it could be argued that his most impressive achievements have come in relating to the players.

A basic understanding quickly developed. They believed in his game plan, and he did not muzzle their youthful energy even if high-octane emotions were not his style.

“What he’s done with that basketball team is just terrific,” said Sacramento Coach Garry St. Jean, a longtime friend and colleague. “There’s an identity, a confidence, guys expressing themselves. He’s allowed them to exhibit who they are, but yet they have a very sound system. He’s gotten people to fulfill roles, he’s gotten people to sacrifice, he’s gotten people to understand what the heck winning takes, and he’s gotten guys to, in some cases, really elevate their games. Two people who stick out to me are (Anthony) Peeler and (Vlade) Divac, and (Elden) Campbell at times.

“They’re sound. That’s what you’re looking for. They understand handling situations, whether it’s post play, pick-and-roll play, they’re good in transition defense. And they’ve improved. That’s the key. You’re looking for where they were and where they are now, and they’ve made positive strides. As a coaching staff, that’s what we all look for.”

Harris said anyone who became lax defensively would be pulled, then gave leading scorer Cedric Ceballos a quick hook several times or kept him on the bench in the fourth quarter of close games. That provided credibility.

Harris showed trust in Van Exel by giving the 23-year-old point guard the authority to call the defenses during dead-ball huddles on the court and rarely overruling him. That built confidence.

“He gives the players a lot of leeway, a lot of opportunities to make a point on which way they want to cover a defense or run a certain play or whatever,” Van Exel said. “He lets you talk.”

Harris, however, does not talk when the topic is an analysis of his impact on the team that finished with the fifth-best record in the Western Conference and the ninth-best in the league.

“I tell you, I don’t want to get into that particular area, because I don’t know the answer particularly,” he said. “I suppose other people have their opinions, but I don’t feel comfortable trying to say.

“My goal was for the coach and the team to be a mix. I don’t want them to feel they have to conform to some image or mold of what I have in mind, and I don’t want to be overrun by the players. Anything that we have is a blend of everything that we’re all trying to do. I couldn’t sort out any one thing. Hopefully, we’re all involved in the mix as to what has transpired here. If it’s good, we should all get credit, and for our weaknesses we should all take some blame and try to fix them up.”

They’re getting a lot more of the positive these days. Therefore, so is he.

“Obviously, we’ve got a little different personnel than Randy Pfund last year with the addition of Ceballos and Eddie Jones,” Bowie said. “But for us to have accomplished this with the injuries, Del Harris deserves a lot of credit.”

* GOODBY, CHANEY: The Detroit Pistons are expected to fire Coach Don Chaney, assistant Billy McKinney. C7