They Already Knew the Plays

The Lakers broke camp in Palm Desert on Wednesday and headed to San Diego for tonight’s exhibition opener against the Denver Nuggets, ending a session that included single sessions of about 3 1/2 hours on four of the days and only two sets of two-a-days.

That’s in contrast to the usual schedule of two workouts almost every day. The difference this year, especially compared to last October, is that the Lakers return almost their entire team, avoiding the need to devote big blocks of time to learning plays.

“We have nine veterans back from last year,” Coach Del Harris said after the final practice at College of the Desert. “I just felt we could get by this way. And that allowed us to have weight training on the mornings we didn’t have practices. So I think that will also pay dividends in the long run.

“I feel very good about the way our guys worked. Their attitude and effort was very good. We made at least normal progress over the six days, and as I watch [Wednesday], exceptional progress. We’ll find out when we play a couple of other teams.”

The Nuggets are first up, followed by the Phoenix Suns at America West Arena on Friday.

With Nick Van Exel out because of a bruised left knee, Derek Fisher probably will open at point guard tonight, and Jon Barry may get the call in Arizona, although Harris has yet to make that decision. Either way, Fisher and Barry will get almost all the minutes, with Kobe Bryant a possibility for spot duty.

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Van Exel will travel to Oklahoma in the next few days, with the Lakers’ blessing, to see his own doctor and get another opinion on his lingering knee injury. An update is expected by Monday. . . . The Lakers are the only team in the NBA to not have a player in their 30s. They do, of course, have one, Bryant, who isn’t in his 20s. . . . The only home exhibition games for the Lakers are the last two Oct. 24-25, part of the annual four-team tournament that this year also includes Seattle, Atlanta and Washington. The other road games are at St. Louis against the Clippers, at Kansas City against the Cleveland Cavaliers, at Denver and at Las Vegas against the Washington Wizards.