If You Can’t Take the Heat, You’d Better Not Be a Laker

It’s not the heat, it’s the humility.

When last seen, Del Harris had supposedly been cut down to size again. How could he have let an 18-year-old Kobe Bryant take the last shot of regulation play with the 1996-97 Laker season on life support? Why didn’t he put off the sideline argument with Nick Van Exel until halftime in the privacy of the locker room? Etc., etc.

But Harris doesn’t want to get out of the kitchen, and has yet to find the talk-show caller strong enough to push him out. So these remain his Lakers to coach for a fourth season, starting today as training camp opens at, speaking of warm places, College of the Desert.

“It’s fine,” Harris said, embracing the pressure. “Nobody wants to win any more than I do. They think they do, but they don’t. That includes the owner and Jerry West and whoever. There won’t be anybody who wants to win more than the coach does. That’s probably true with 28 other teams too.

“You don’t want to be in a non-pressure situation. You want to be there where the heat is. I’ve won championships coaching in high school and college and three national championships in Puerto Rico. And I’ve come in second here [the NBA]. This is the place I haven’t gotten the 1.”

As in, No. 1. Not counting the single finger he has received from the collective skeptics who laid blame for last spring’s second-round playoff loss at his feet.

Even though the Utah Jazz went on to show itself as the class of the Western Conference.

Even though the Lakers, starting with an overhauled roster and finishing with major injuries, still had a chance to win the Pacific Division title on the final day of the regular season.

Even though they are one of only three teams in the league to have improved its victory total each of the last three seasons, the first time that has been accomplished in franchise history.

And still, some call for his job. And still, he refuses to flinch.

Will he do anything different this season?

Will he more diligently discipline a team that has suffered through what he calls “youthful problems”?

No and no. Positively.

“First of all, you have to be you,” Harris said. “Second, in these days, whenever you try to discipline somebody, the whole world comes down on you. They want the discipline, but not somebody to be disciplined. Take somebody out of the game, it’s like, ‘Oh, boy! He can’t do that.’ Fortunately, we don’t have bad guys on our team.

“It’s just a normal process. They don’t need General Patton. They just need the normal amount of coaching and leadership that it takes. And then, certainly, to develop leadership within the ranks. Only having it outside the ranks can only get you so far.”

So Harris went through a coach’s normal summer in preparation for what the Lakers hope is a normal season . . . by their 1980s standards. Anything less than a trip to the Western Conference finals this season will be a major disappointment.

Harris wins only if the Lakers win big, in the eyes of many. A thin-skinned coach falters under the weight of such expectations; this one says he loves them, at least until the first three-game losing streak and subsequent round of scrutiny from callers to his own weekly talk show. Then, maybe he just likes them.

At least the training-exhibition season should be tame enough. Harris has few important decisions to make before the opener Oct. 31 against the Jazz, and almost none after deciding whether to follow through with the thought of moving Robert Horry to power forward and Elden Campbell to a reserve role, what with a roster all but set:

Guards--Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Bryant, Derek Fisher and Jon Barry are in. Second-round pick DeJuan Wheat, signed Thursday, and Shea Seals are longshots.

Forwards--Horry, Campbell, Rick Fox and Corie Blount are in. James Forrest and Mario Bennett are likely to compete for the final roster spot.

Centers--Shaquille O’Neal and Sean Rooks are in.

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What’s New

* Key additions: Jon Barry, Rick Fox.

* Departures: Jerome Kersey, Travis Knight, George McCloud, Byron Scott.

* Exhibition opener: Oct. 9 vs. Denver Nuggets at San Diego.

* Season opener: Oct. 31 vs. Utah Jazz at the Forum.