Bryant Is Ready to Make Inroads From the Outside

It was dim and quiet on the floor of The Pyramid on Thursday morning when a coach for the Washington Wizards gathered his players, sweating and tired, at center court.

“This is a different Laker team,” he announced to them and a handful of visitors who had happened in, meaning different than the Laker team that won the NBA championship last season. “Glen Rice is gone. They have no one who can hit the perimeter shots. You have to collapse on Shaq.”

They practiced their own jumpers briefly and then left, apparently content that they could play an entire defensive game with the five of them holding hands in the paint around Shaquille O’Neal.

“I know,” Kobe Bryant said. “I know they think that.”

One of the priorities of Phil Jackson’s camp, one of the critical elements in defending their championship, is to find an outside threat. The roster has a handful of small guards who might be it: Mike Penberthy, Shawn Respert, Tyronn Lue. Derek Fisher isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star Game following foot surgery.

But Bryant didn’t make 2,000 jumpers a day this summer to have someone else shoulder that load.

“I worked extremely hard this summer,” Bryant said.

That’s 2,000 makes, not attempts. No layups. Jump shots from 15, 18, 20 feet. More, sometimes.

“Every day,” he said.

The immediate result, after two exhibition games, is a crisper release, a better arc and a load of confidence for Bryant, who has already noticed a change in defenders’ strategies. Though Bryant shot six for 15 from the field in a 90-87 defeat Thursday night before 16,529, his mind is set.

“All we have to do is spread the floor,” Bryant said. “A couple times the other night [against Charlotte], I caught the ball and they came running at me. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ You know? I’m used to them coming out all balanced [guarding against the penetration]. But they started running out. Oh my God. Then everything just opens up.”

Bryant sank a couple of early jumpers, defenders rushed to his shooting hand, leaving his signature drives more open than ever.

“It seems like I can get my shot any time,” he said. “It’s pretty simple, really.”

Between exhibition starts, Jackson mentioned to Bryant that some of the shots were too quick for the good of the offense, though he seemed willing to let Bryant experiment.

“I noticed in the game [Wednesday] night that he was stepping out and shooting shots,” Jackson said Thursday evening. “It seemed like he was intent on establishing his outside shot. So, I mentioned a little bit today about how that took us away from the rhythm we have to run this offense in. If you get those shots in rhythm, the guys are on the boards, you’ve got your defense in position. We can’t take those shots early whenever we feel like just taking a shot. Then it disrupts the offense.”

Jackson would prefer three or four passes before a shot.

“Kobe is impetuous,” he said, smiling. “That’s OK at this point of the year to work on his game, to adjust to his new spot, new position, new kind of style. That’s OK. In the context of what we’re trying to do as a team, it [sometimes] makes it difficult for us to assess other players.”

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Dale Brown, O’Neal’s coach at Louisiana State, watched Wednesday’s game in New Orleans from the first row and offered the following opinion on his former All-American: “I honestly believe that his free-throw shooting is not psychological. It’s physiological. His hand is so big that when he shoots a ball, he’s got about another two inches [for the ball to roll off]. So he’s tried to place it in his hand, and he shot-puts it. The best analogy I could use, if you and I went out and tried to shoot a volleyball, it’s hard as heck to shoot. You don’t get the right grip.

“I made a mistake. He shot 60% in his three years at LSU. I had him shooting underhanded [as a freshman]. He was shooting about 70%. One day at the end of practice he came over and said, ‘I’m embarrassed. This is a granny shot. Please don’t make me shoot them like this.’ ”

Brown granted him permission to shoot them however he liked.

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Isaiah Rider is on a basketball court again. For that alone he appears grateful.

Seven months after his last organized game, Rider played 16 minutes Wednesday and 15 Thursday. He said he played with a light heart again. He smiled easily in the aftermath of both games.

Rider said he turned down a contract offer from Miami in the spring that would have paid him $2 million for this season, far more than his guarantee with the Lakers, and that he’s happy for it.

“It felt good to get out there,” he said. “It felt good especially in a Laker uniform. I’m like a little kid again, getting hyped in the huddle like it’s college. I’m going to like it here. I’m going to like the atmosphere here. I can tell, I’m going to start smiling on the court, having fun, being my old self. I’m going to be like a little kid on the floor.”

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Tyronn Lue suffered a mild sprain of his right ankle when he stumbled under the basket in the first half. Though Lue did not return, the injury was not believed to be serious. He could miss a practice or two. . . . Brian Shaw, who started Wednesday’s game, rested Thursday. Ron Harper started and played eight minutes. “We ain’t bad,” Harper said of the back-to-back defeats. “But, it’s still ugly to see.” . . . The Lakers are not expected to practice today. Their charter flight was not supposed to reach Los Angeles until after 1 a.m. . . . O’Neal calls rookie Mark Madsen “Tornado,” a tribute to the wreckage Madsen often leaves on the basketball court. . . . Rick Fox had 10 points and five rebounds in 18 minutes.