Don’t Worry, Lakers Are Ready

There’s a calmness to the Lakers that didn’t exist before, a sign that the team’s transformation from talented youngsters to wise veterans is nearly complete.

That explains the general indifference this preseason as the Lakers lost again and again before gaining their first victory. Shrug, yawn and look at the calendar.

This is far from the immature group that got swept out of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz only 2 1/2 years ago. First, more than half the roster has been revamped. Second, those that have stuck around now have the benefit of championship experience, as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher now have championship rings. Robert Horry added to the two he won in Houston.

Among the players who have come to the Lakers in the past two years, Ron Harper, 36, won three championships in Chicago and Horace Grant, 35, was part of the Bulls’ first three-peat from 1991-1993. Even Greg Foster made two NBA finals appearances with the Utah Jazz.

“The best thing about veterans is they know how to play to June,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “The best thing about rookies and free agents is they know how to play in October. The season really begins sometime in the middle of November, then you start working it through the year. These old-timers, they know the pace that it takes and how to really put it down.”

No one would call Bryant and O’Neal old-timers yet, but championships give them bonus experience points; they get to skip ahead a few spaces on the NBA board game.

That championship knowledge is one reason that five of the past six “new” championship teams have repeated: The Lakers in 1987 and 1988, the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990, the Bulls from 1991-1993, the Houston Rockets during the two-year Michael Jordan hiatus that followed, then the Bulls again from 1996-1998.

The streak ended after the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA crown in 1999. But as Phil Jackson would tell you, they should not count because they won their championship in the lockout-shortened season. (A more valid explanation is they didn’t get a true chance to defend because Tim Duncan was hurt and missed the playoffs last season).

It shows just how advanced Bryant is that he’s acutely aware of the historical trend.

“You think it’s on us to win it again, for the mere fact that Isiah Thomas repeated, Hakeem Olajuwon repeated, and so forth and so on,” Bryant said. “That’s a challenge itself.”

For now, their immediate challenge is incorporating Grant and Isaiah Rider. Grant has been reluctant to look for his own shot. But the only real concern is Rider’s struggle to fit in the offense. Again, he has seven months to get it right before the Lakers are in real trouble.

“We pretty much have two new ‘starters’ that we have to bring into the family,” Bryant said. “As long as we’re not trying to find it in June, we should be OK.”

Bryant is still so eager, still so intent on conquering the world that he will come out every night and provide that early-season energy that Jackson was talking about. When Jackson asked the Lakers to pick it up a bit just to give the home folks a good show in their first game at Staples Center last week, it was Bryant who obliged with some spinning moves and high-flying dunks.

Harper is the one who has the pacing down. This guy put the “pre” in preseason. Half the time he doesn’t even put on a jersey for practice. And when he’s asked to contribute as a referee during scrimmages he barely blows the whistle.

“I’m going to become intense . . . in about June,” Harper said.

“April, May, June. How many games does it take to win, 15? That’s all we need, 15 . . . during that time slot.

“Now, in order to get to that time, we have to have a good regular season. We can’t just think that at the end we’re going to turn it on. We’re not the Yankees, because they turned it on. Everybody was counting them out, except me. Because when I was in Chicago that last year, I knew we kind of laid back until the end of the year, then we turned it on. When you’re an older team, you can turn it on.”

Harper was spoiled by the Bulls. No, the Lakers aren’t quite that good, but they are a cut above the rest and they did show an ability to get just enough done when they had to. They also have trust, which is the word Bryant prefers.

“It’s important for us to start the season well; I don’t want to disparage that,” Jackson said. “The reality is that we’re going to find our rhythm at some point. As we do that, we’ve got to find a thirst for winning and a thirst for the game and a way to communicate with each other so it makes for a good atmosphere.”

Don’t worry, Harper says.

“When the first game comes on and they put the show on and they put the fireworks and you hear the boom-boom-boom explosion, there’s a whole new feel.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com