McCloud Could Play Today

George McCloud’s Laker career is making progress. Saturday, he at least got to wear practice gear while watching the workout from the sidelines, an assistant coach usually nearby offering a crash course in the playbook.

But today, Joe Kleine and a timely physical with the New Jersey Nets willing, McCloud makes his debut when the New York Knicks come to the Forum for a 12:30 game. Ready or not.

“The main plays he’ll be involved in are where he can just stand out there and stretch the defense,” Coach Del Harris said.

In other words, spot up on the perimeter. It’s the major reason the Lakers got McCloud, so he should be able to fill that role without so much as a shootaround with his new team, one he has been with for a game and a practice but has been unable to take part in either because Kleine had yet to take his physical in New Jersey.

That should come today, with the three-hour time difference playing a key role in allowing McCloud to be available for a matinee. Harris does not rule out the possibility that he could be the starting small forward within a few games. Then again, McCloud could also come off the bench the rest of the season, behind either Eddie Jones or Jerome Kersey, depending on the matchups, until Robert Horry returns.

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Corie Blount’s return was rushed by the loss of Shaquille O’Neal--Blount hadn’t even taken part in a full practice when he was taken off the injured list 45 minutes before a game--but it has been slow going since. Blount has played five, zero, seven and six minutes in the four contests since he rejoined the Lakers, an activation so impromptu it came with borrowed shoes.

On the other hand, he has not had any pain or problems from the torn ligaments in the right thumb that sidelined him for a month.

“I’m in shape now. I feel good,” the reserve forward said. “He [Harris] said for a while he was going to play guys he had been playing and I have to work back into it. That’s what I’m trying to do.”