Bryant’s Injury Leaves Jackson Looking Around

Coach Phil Jackson has until Tuesday before the Lakers’ next exhibition game, and he said Friday that he plans to use all or most of the time to decide which guard to insert in the starting lineup to replace Kobe Bryant, whose broken hand will keep him sidelined at least six weeks.

With the recently signed Ron Harper getting into playing condition, Jackson said it’s time to weigh the alternatives.

“There’s a couple things I want to do--we’re going to check rosters around the league,” Jackson said. “I want to see Ron get in shape. If he gets into some kind of shape, then we can cover our butts for a while.”

Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said the team is taking a look at other guards but said that nothing was imminent and that no one player has been “earmarked” for acquisition.

“The question now is, is anybody else out there that we feel can help us in comparison to the players we have on the roster right now?” Kupchak said.

“The diplomatic answer is: ‘We’re looking around.’ ”

Harper, coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, practiced for the first 2 1/2 hours Friday before Jackson gave him the final 20 minutes off.

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The Lakers wanted to reschedule their postponed game in Little Rock, Ark., for Monday, but the game was canceled Friday when additional cracks were found in the upper-deck beams at the new Alltel Arena. The Lakers had been scheduled to open exhibition play against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday but did not play because of the structural problems in the new arena.

“We need every contest we can get,” Jackson said. “We’re off-Broadway--this is down in Philadelphia, we’re doing a show beforehand and these are the only opportunities we get. . . .

“It’ll put us back a little bit, but we’ll be all right.”

Jackson said his biggest challenge right now is to get his players sustaining their attention spans: “Focusing, concentration, being able to hold their attention for a long period of time. . . . Playing through the full game, not having mental fatigue, going to the free-throw line, being able to concentrate on the activity at hand, putting all other things except the one deed or activity that they have to do. . . .

“Those are the keys that this team has to be able to do. They’re all autistic in some form or fashion. I don’t mean to say that as a snide remark towards a certain population in our society, but they have a limitation of their attention span, a lot of it is probably due to too much rap music going in their ears or coming out of their being.

“So, they need to get a focal point that lasts longer than a TV commercial or one short, 15-second span.”