Harper Will Get Ready in a Hurry

When last spotted, he was heading out of town after saying he felt as if he had been in jail.

He returns smiling as if he has been reborn.

Of course, when guard Ron Harper left L.A., he had been a Clipper. He returns as a Laker.

Moreover, he comes back to play for new Laker Coach Phil Jackson, who was his coach with the Chicago Bulls. Harper was part of the Michael Jordan dynasty, a member of three of the Bulls’ six championship teams. Harper returns to play in the same triangle offense in which he operated so successfully in Chicago. And he returns to find himself needed in the backcourt. Thursday, the day he arrived, Harper learned that starting guard Kobe Bryant will be out at least six weeks because of a broken right hand.

“I need two good weeks to get into good basketball shape,” Harper said. “But I guess I’m going to have to get into shape fast.”

Harper, 35, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in June.

“I got the knee all cleaned out,” he said. “It was like an oil change.”

And, with the ink barely dry on a two-year contract believed to be worth $4.2 million, Harper is already talking about changes he envisions the Lakers undergoing under Jackson.

“This basketball team is going to be fine,” Harper said. “But they are not going to stand around and watch [Shaquille O’Neal] with the ball. And you are not going to have a guy taking the ball to the hoop with five guys on him. This is a team sport now.”

And how does Harper feel the Lakers did with their new offense in their opening exhibition game Wednesday, an 88-84 loss to the Washington Wizards?

“I would give them a C,” Harper said.

Jackson gives Harper high marks.

“He can pass,” the Laker coach said, “he can play good defense and he can be a cutter and a slasher, which is what this offense needs.

“And I know Clipper fans have a real fondness for him.”