Bryant’s Plea Might Be Pointless

Kobe Bryant would like to play more point guard.

“Oh, most definitely,” he said.

It’s just that there’s nothing to indicate he will. Thursday--the day after Bryant played behind Derek Fisher for 13 minutes as Nick Van Exel sat out because of a sore knee--Coach Del Harris called an occasional return to the point for Bryant an option. But he also voiced support for Fisher to retain most, if not all, the backup minutes when Van Exel returns, especially after Fisher got a career-high 13 assists against the Denver Nuggets.

“He may ask,” Harris said of Bryant. “But everything has to come in the course of time. Right now, we think Fisher is a natural point guard and just had a really nice game.”

Said Bryant, the second- and third-stringer at point guard as a rookie but strictly a swingman this season before Wednesday: “I think he [Harris] knows I like to handle the ball a lot and I feel comfortable there.”

He knows, he knows.

“He actually did better at point guard than he did at the other positions,” the coach said. “He forced his game too much at [shooting guard] and [small forward]. But he played point guard when he was at point guard. He needs to put more of point guard into his regular play because he has such great passing skills.”

There is no denying Bryant’s presence as the primary ballhandler would give the Lakers a new dimension--”He adds a lot to them when he’s at the point,” Denver’s Bobby Jackson said. At the same time, though, playing Bryant there would force him to be more of a distributor, allegedly, and negate his ability as a scorer.

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Van Exel did not practice Thursday but might go today. Shaquille O’Neal also sat out, but the Lakers say it’s just to rest the abdominal muscle and not an indication the problems has returned. He is expected to rejoin workouts today.