On the Heels of a Lockout and Facing Abbreviated Training Camps, the Big Question for the NBA Is How Will Things . . . : Shape Up?

They are aching to get back, but will their backs be aching after three minutes of work, will hamstrings be tweaky and post-surgical knees creaky?

This is an exciting, scary new post-lockout world for the NBA and its trainers, eager to see the players back on the practice floor but worried about the potential for injury and wobbly play after an eight-month layoff.

The most talented athletes in the world also might be the sorest by the end of the first few serious sprints up and down the floor.

“I think there’s going to be a lot more injuries because of the lockout situation,” said Clipper forward Lamond Murray, a frequent participant in the intense pickup games at UCLA the past several months.

“There’s going to be some guys who don’t come back in shape, 20 pounds overweight or whatever. That’s to be expected. You’ve got that long of a layoff, not knowing when you’re going to play, some guys are going to be, ‘OK, I’ll just take a break.’

“That’s part of the game. That’s why we get paid so much to stay in shape. There’s no excuse not to do it.”

But NBA trainers--who will get their first look at players Monday, when the NBA will open practice sites for informal voluntary workouts--know that there will be players who have not exercised their right of dessert refusal.

Laker trainer Gary Vitti said that, other than pure physical stamina, back injuries and tendinitis problems will be the main concerns in the early weeks.

With training camp lasting at most 16 days and the NBA determined to cram 50 regular-season games into three months (four games a week), Vitti said all he can do is watch each of his players and figure out what he needs to do from there.

“Let’s face it, we don’t know exactly what we’re going to see,” Vitti said, “because we’ve never had this situation before. One thing we can speculate is that we are going to have problems because no matter what else players have been doing, they could not have been doing what we’re going to require them to do.

“Unless you’ve been playing four games a week, you’re not going to be in condition to do this. . . . I know we’re going to have some guys in great shape, some guys in pretty good shape and some guys in poor shape, and that’s just way the NBA is.”

Patience, Vitti said, is going to be a precious commodity during the early weeks--through official training camp (and two-a-day practices) and even into the first months of the regular season.

Given the hurry-up structure, Vitti said that many players will have to use regular-season games to get in shape, which may or may not lead to precise play.

“You can’t drive them into the ground just because we’re behind the eight-ball here a few months,” Vitti said. “We have to do this right. . . .

“My guess is that we will not see guys in really top competitive form until the playoffs begin.”

Said Murray: “Yeah, it’s going to be sloppy. There’s going to be a lot of mistakes made early in the first month and a lot of guys are going to have to work their way back into shape in the first month.

“Then after that, guys will start to play a lot better.”

Fox Sports commentator John Salley, a longtime NBA player, said that even though it will take about a month to get into total NBA shape, the long layoff probably will end up helping more players than it hurts.

One thing about the NBA life: If you don’t take it for granted, Salley said, you work harder at it and stay disciplined about it.

“They’ve had a whole lot of time to let their bodies recoup,” Salley said. “A lot of times your body doesn’t recoup after a long season. They’ve had, what, eight months to let their any kind of ailment or pain be gone.

“And I think they’re going to be real focused. One of the things that came out of this layoff is guys got to see what it’s like to be human. Some of these guys got to go shopping with their wives. Lamond Murray, I think he went to a play. They got to live a family life for an extended time.

“A lot of guys are happy to be back and I think it’s going to roll into the season. They’re going to be so geeked. It’s like waking up at noon instead of nine.”

Certainly, the players who have been working out regularly, playing pickup games or at least maintaining their weight, will have a huge advantage over those who haven’t once the camps begin.

Indiana Pacer swingman Jalen Rose, another UCLA pickup-game regular, said even in the loosest situations, NBA players are working on specific areas.

“There’s certain things you can work on individually each time you step out on the court that can help you,” Rose said. “It helps a hell of a lot more than laying up in the bed watching ‘Springer.’

“Any time you’re dealing with guys who have been playing the game most of their lives, it’s just going to be like riding a bike for a lot of guys. You go to training camp, get in shape for a couple weeks, and I think guys will be ready to play.”

Though he isn’t unrealistic about the dangers of trying to push too hard, Laker Coach Del Harris said he thinks his players can be playing hard, quality basketball as soon as the regular season tips off.

“We’re going to have to start off a little slowly,” Harris said. “I don’t want to push the players to the maximum certainly in those first several days because we don’t want to take the risk of injuries to unconditioned or at least not fully conditioned bodies. . . .

“We always do worry about [injuries] and it’ll be an even bigger issue this year. If there were ever a way to prevent injuries, we wouldn’t have any.

“But we don’t keep them in a vacuum or a jar some place, [because] we wouldn’t be able to play basketball.”