Lakers Prefer to Keep Their Magic in Reserve

It’s his own fault, of course. Those 57 points, 23 assists and 22 rebounds in three games since returning, all without the benefit of being in true NBA shape or having the Laker playbook down. That ability to play all five positions, if taking a brief turn guarding Chicago’s Bill Wennington counts as playing center.

Yep, Magic Johnson has played himself right out of a starting job.

“He gives us such a lift off the bench,” Coach Del Harris said. “Emotionally, he gets the crowd involved. And because of his flexibility, now I think I can put him in at any spot. That’s a good thing.”

So Johnson, despite obvious contributions, despite play that merits a spot in the opening lineup, isn’t scheduled for a promotion.

“Let’s just see how it unfolds,” Harris said. “It might happen, it might not happen. We’ll have to play that thing out. Our team has been starting out well the last several games, for the most part.

“[Johnson coming in later is] still going to go for a while, that’s one thing for sure. It can go on indefinitely. There’s certain things we can do at the opening of a game that we’re more confident of because everybody knows the system and the plays. Offense and defense. He’s still learning those things.

“We’ve won nine of the last 11 games. I don’t want to try to fix something that isn’t broken.”

There is that. Not only have the Lakers played well collectively, but four of the five starters have not come close to playing themselves out of a job.

Power forward Elden Campbell is enjoying his best stretch in several seasons, with double-doubles in four of the last six games.

Small forward Cedric Ceballos is averaging 23.5 points and shooting 52.6%.

Shooting guard Eddie Jones is the Lakers’ best defender in the backcourt, finally is injury free and is averaging 15.7 points over the last 13 games.

Nick Van Exel has finally found his shooting touch after a dismal first two months.

That leaves Vlade Divac, inconsistent as ever. Johnson can’t be a full-time center, but Harris would have the option of putting him at power forward and moving Campbell to defend the biggest opponent.

The best bet?

Nothing happens, at least for a while. Maybe for the rest of the season unless Johnson begins to push for a starting job. In that case, it happens.

“Sixth man is fine with me,” Johnson says without hesitation. “I’m happy with it. I have no problem with it. I don’t want to break up what we already have, so I hope that he doesn’t insert me into the starting lineup. I hope he plays me in the sixth-man role because what I bring off the bench is good for our team.”

Johnson’s comments were relayed to Harris.

“Well that’s good,” the coach responds. “If he loves it, I love it.”

Then consider it a lovefest.

“To me, it doesn’t have to happen,” Harris said. “Earvin is a strong enough player and a good enough player that if he felt I was taking away from his game and he wasn’t really comfortable coming off the bench anymore, he’s good enough that I would probably find a way to accommodate him.”

Already good enough?

“Yeah,” Harris said. “He’s good enough, obviously. And if he thought it was hurting him and, therefore our team, then he’s good enough that I would probably accommodate him.”

There are, of course, advantages to bringing Johnson off the bench. For one thing, Harris can plug him in where needed after five or six minutes. For another, it doesn’t allow opponents to specifically prepare for, say, defending Magic the power forward or Magic the shooting guard. His versatility would still be as much other people’s problems as his no-look passes.

“We might start him,” Harris said. “I’m not saying we won’t. Let’s just let it go as is until there seems to be a good reason.”

There isn’t one for tonight. The great Magic Johnson, heading into McNichols Arena to face the Denver Nuggets in his first road test, still is a sub.

*

Laker Notes

For Friday night’s Laker-Chicago Bull game, Prime Sports got an 11.6 rating, its highest ever. The previous high was a 10.8 for Magic Johnson’s first game back last Tuesday. The rating for Sunday night’s game with Utah was a 5.3. Prime Sports had been averaging a 3.2 for Laker telecasts before Johnson’s return. An 11.6 rating means 11.6 % of the television households in the Los Angeles market were tuned in to the Lakers and Bulls.

* Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this story.