THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Lakers Running at the Mouth, and Out of Excuses

You can’t have a youth movement without young players.

All the Lakers’ thrashing around last week shouldn’t have been any surprise. Last season as they zoomed beyond expectations and became local darlings, a bunch of the players complained they were being “dogged,” suggesting they didn’t know a honeymoon can’t last forever.

They were going to have to improve this season, or else. Management held off major moves, saving salary-cap room for next summer. After much trumpeting of their “Lake Show,” they started slowly, with much griping about replacement referees. Amid recent disappointments, with no more injuries, slumps or road games as cop-outs, they turned to another old favorite.

Yes, Del Harris, last season’s coach of the year.

Cedric Ceballos complained about playing time in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Nick Van Exel said Harris had lost confidence in him.

Ceballos is a fine player and--Harris has noted--he has made strides since last season, in which he became an all-star. However, to put it nicely, Ceballos struggles from time to time with the team concept.

Van Exel’s name is synonymous with an attitude that is his edge as well as his problem. His moods are significant because the team and especially its young players--Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler et al.--line up behind him.

Of course, Harris all but threw his body in front of Van Exel to protect him last season, calling Van Exel’s no mas in Portland a “misunderstanding,” keeping the heat off him long enough for him to play well and put it behind him. Harris lets Van Exel make the calls on offense and defense.

It has long been obvious Van Exel wasn’t going to learn anything the easy way. I love his game and his swagger, but he has to understand how things are: He makes $2 million a year with the promise of tens of millions to come. Being a leader means accepting responsibility. He doesn’t get to blame bad times on referees, coaches or anyone else.

Some of the young Lakers have played for three coaches in the last 24 months. Sometimes it seems they’re still looking for one they like.

Even young players as precocious as the young Magic Johnson go through this. Long before Magic was a coach they complained about, he was a young player who had a problem with a coach.

Today’s young player arrives as a bigger star, courtesy of the ratings-grabbing NCAA tournament, gets more money, more commercial deals and feels more pressure. He is, consequently, harder to reach and it was never easy.

The process continues, but wouldn’t this be a great time to tack a couple more seasons onto Harris’ contract?

What happens now will define the young Lakers. There might not be time between now and June to grow up, but it would be nice to get a start on it.

IF YOU’VE NOTHING NICE TO SAY, YOU’RE A KNICK

These are heady days for the Knicks after the buttoned-up Pat Riley era when a muttered comment by an unnamed player meant screaming headlines and meetings with Riles, president Dave Checketts and personnel director Ernie Grunfeld.

Don Nelson, who may never be the Nellie of old after the Chris Webber disaster, lets them say what they want.

Now if only they would say something nice about the new offense, the 18-6 start, each other, the joy of being alive, anything . . .

Patrick Ewing, once the loyal soldier, complained about his declining role, Anthony Mason’s increasing role, Nelson’s desire to run, Nelson’s mention of his sore knees and many other things Nelson suggested. Monty Williams and Doug Christie (who were they, anyway?) complained about not playing. Charles Oakley, as usual, complained about everything.

With Ewing out and the team slumping, Mason went off last week, ignoring that Nelson plays him 44 minutes a game and runs the offense through him, suggesting why Riley found it necessary to suspend him annually.

Said Mason after a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, “I didn’t get no 25 touches. . . .

“You never know what the hell we’re going to do. . . . I don’t know what’s going on. We finally get a team that plays post-up and we play less post-up than any other game. When we play a team that doesn’t let us post up, we try to post up all damn day. That’s the damn play calls.”

To give him his due, Mason did try to withhold comment, staying hours after practice to shoot while reporters waited. He asked teammate Anthony Tucker to bring his car to a back door but Tucker forgot the security code, the alarm went off and the press came running. What could Mason do, then, but rip his coach?

Responded Nelson, beatific as Buddha, “People have their own opinions about everything.

“This is a mini-low. Things will probably get worse than this at some point in the season.”

That’s a safe bet.

HE CAME, HE SAW, HE LEFT, HE’S SORRY

Charles Smith, the Clipper star whose departure in 1992 started the exodus--Danny Manning, Ron Harper, Mark Jackson, Ken Norman--has had time to rue the day he headed east.

Riley’s fall in New York dates from the end of Game 5 in the 1993 Eastern finals when the Chicago Bulls blocked four of Smith’s layups. If Charles had scored, the Knicks would have been up, 3-2 with Game 7 in Madison Square Garden. Had they beaten the Bulls, they would have been favored against the Phoenix Suns in the finals.

Smith had an 18-point average for four Clipper seasons but dropped like a Knick brick--12, 10, 13. Nelson had high hopes for him--Nellie had once noted that Riley turned Smith from a proven scorer into a heavy--but deferred them after taking over. Smith now averages eight points off the bench and Knick fans boo every move.

“I think they’re a few octaves below Reggie Miller,” says Smith, ever gracious.

“What’s happening to me is usually what happens to guys who are on their way out the door. It’s getting pretty darn close.”

Finding a taker won’t be easy. He’s 30 and makes $3.8 million a year. This isn’t how it should have gone.

FACES AND FIGURES

Many happy returns: Alonzo Mourning is due back this weekend for Miami. The Heat was 12-5 when he left the lineup Dec. 9, 3-9 since. Shooting guard Sasha Danilovic is out for the season, however. In last week’s loss to the Seattle SuperSonics, Gary Payton and Hersey Hawkins outscored Bimbo Coles, Kevin Gamble and Rex Chapman, 37-12. . . . On the other hand: Rookie Kurt Thomas, who played 41 minutes in the first 15 games, has averaged 19 points and eight rebounds as a starter, suggesting that Riley might be able to turn him into the power forward to replace Kevin Willis, freeing $7 million for a free agent point guard.

Denver Nugget forward LaPhonso Ellis, who averaged 15 points and eight rebounds in the 1993-94 season and has played six games since, was activated and may play tonight against the Lakers after bone grafts on both kneecaps. . . . Derrick Coleman, who went out with a sprained ankle Dec. 9, is back and, for the first time, talking as if he likes his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. “We have some talent here,” Coleman said. “With these guys, I think we can definitely get back to the playoffs.” . . . Manning should be back with Phoenix by the All-Star break. Desperate Sun fans hope he will make a difference right away but history suggests otherwise.

Dennis Rodman, supplying the missing perspective in nutty Chicago on the Bulls’ 28-3 start: “I’m on this team and I’m saying it: We’re not the best team in NBA history. It would be different if we faced my Pistons or Boston with Larry Bird or Los Angeles with Magic Johnson or even the championship Bulls teams. You just don’t have teams like those that were out there five, six years ago.”

Have your people talk to my people: Head-case Washington Bullet rookie Rasheed Wallace and his agent, Bill Strickland asked for a meeting with Coach Jimmy Lynam and General Manager John Nash to complain about Wallace’s limited role. Instead they got a list of the team’s complaints. Told to act like a professional, Wallace went back into the lineup when Webber re-injured his shoulder and had a career-high 20 points against Cleveland. Nash is still shopping Wallace as well as Calbert Cheaney, whose intensity is not what it was under fire-breathing Bob Knight. Cheaney is also on the injured list.

My body, my choice: Jamal Mashburn of the Dallas Mavericks wants the Knicks’ and University of Kentucky doctors to perform his knee surgery but says the Mavericks’ doctor can observe. The Mavericks are unhappy about it. . . . His body, their choice: The Mavericks will be looking for a center next summer--perhaps free agent Jim McIlvaine, the 7-foot-1 Bullet backup who averages two blocks in 12 minutes a game. If they can’t sign one, they might try trading Mashburn, who has also quarreled with Jim Jackson and Jason Kidd. Mashburn is a big scorer but does little else. He arrived with a reputation of having been coddled and has lived up to it.

Nice D, M.L.: The Boston Celtics are seeking their true level after playing 16 of their first 23 at home. Under M.L. Carr, in his rookie season as a coach--and second as a general manager--they are giving up 109 points a game, most in the league.