Harris Using Lull for Adjustments

Camp Shaq’s Back kicked off Monday at Southwest College, where the Lakers--who will play only one game in five days, at home against the woeful Denver Nuggets--worked on re-integrating Shaquille O’Neal.

The Lakers, 23-7 when O’Neal returned, are 4-2 with him, having been upset at home by the Philadelphia 76ers in his first loss of the season, and by the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday in his first loss as a starter.

“Our team hasn’t played very well,” Coach Del Harris said. “We haven’t adjusted to Shaq being back. Today’s work was the most significant we’ve done yet this year. It’s really the first time since Shaq came back this year that we’ve been able to have a practice where we didn’t have to play the next day. Today, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday should really be a good time for us. This is really our training camp for the return of Shaq.”

Not that everyone took part. Eddie Jones, with a bruised left hip, and Nick Van Exel, with a sore left knee, didn’t practice, though both will play Wednesday against the Nuggets.

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Robert Horry is in a slump--he’s shooting five for 22 over four games--but Harris discounts concern about his scoring. However, there is concern about Horry’s 7.3 rebound average, light for a power forward.

“Robert is a guy who’s a ‘3-4’ [small forward-power forward] who’s been playing basically 4 for us,” Harris said. “He’s never been a prolific rebounder as a 4. He’s a pretty decent rebounder as a 3.

“I know this is let’s-get-on-Robert-Horry time but Robert has done a pretty good job in a lot of ways you don’t have stats for. Robert’s not the only guy that could get more rebounds on this team. Everybody could get more rebounds.

“Our guards are not getting very many rebounds, for example. You look at a team like Chicago that leads the league in rebounding, their guards are big rebounders. You can’t say that we’re not better rebounders because Robert Horry doesn’t rebound as well as you’d like him to.”

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The last thing a team with O’Neal should have to worry about is being called soft, but the Lakers are 7-7 against the rough East teams and 20-2 against the Western ballet dancers.

“Six of the top eight teams are out here--but then there’s a big drop-off,” says Harris, naming the Lakers, SuperSonics, Jazz, Suns, Spurs and Rockets--when not troubled by injury.

“In the East, you’ve got a lot of haves but you’ve only got a couple of teams, basically Chicago and Miami . . . that are dominant, and the rest are all just very good.”