Making Their Power Play

The trademark beard shaved off and his hair a tad higher and tighter than usual, a subdued Phil Jackson was pleased with Wednesday’s four-team, 12-player trade that landed the Lakers their long sought-after power forward.

But while the Laker coach was enthusiastic about gaining the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Horace Grant as the centerpiece of the deal, Jackson was also uneasy about not having a pure shooter on the roster, what with Glen Rice gone to New York in the trade, and the off-season bulking up of the Western Conference rival Portland Trail Blazers. Jackson, who also underwent off-season surgery on his left knee, practically anointed the Trail Blazers as the favorites.

“This summer, when we sat down prior to our draft, we said what we actually need is a backup center, a power forward and perhaps a young guard to grow with this basketball club,” Jackson said Thursday at the Laker compound in El Segundo. “To defend the title we knew we had to at least arm ourselves in the area where we got picked apart . . . in the playoffs.”

En route to winning the NBA championship in June, the Lakers’ most glaring weakness was at power forward, putting the Lakers at a distinct and unusual disadvantage as defending champions.

The Western Conference is full of young, top-tier power forwards, from the Trail Blazers’ Rasheed Wallace and the recently acquired beefy duo of Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis to the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan to the Sacramento Kings’ Chris Webber to the Seattle SuperSonics’ Vin Baker to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Garnett. Plus there’s the aging but game Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz.

Grant, 35, played for Jackson with the Chicago Bulls during their first three-peat run of titles from 1991-93 before signing with the Orlando Magic as a free agent in 1994. Grant, along with Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway, took the Magic to the NBA finals in 1995.

“Horace Grant is an experienced veteran, a power forward who defends and rebounds first,” Jackson said. “He’s a mobile, agile kind of player that has an outside shot, knows what we do as a coaching staff and he’s played with Shaquille and Brian Shaw before [in Orlando], so chemistry-wise it’s going to be a very successful fit. I don’t think there will be a hiccup in what we do in becoming a better basketball club than perhaps we were last year.

“It may not be good enough,” he added, “because Portland’s really helped themselves.”

Jackson, though, did say that he was comfortable with the glut of big bodies the Lakers added this off-season to join and spell league most valuable player O’Neal and the undersized Robert Horry (6-10, 235 pounds) up front.

Greg Foster (6-11, 250) also came over from Seattle in Wednesday’s trade, and the Lakers used their first-round pick (No. 29 overall) to select Mark Madsen (6-9, 240) out of Stanford.

“I think we have enough,” Jackson said. “We’d like to have another 7-footer sitting behind Shaq. When I was in Chicago we always had a three-center lineup, but we didn’t have a Shaq.

“We think that we have a number of complementary-type players. We have a real good roster. We have a roster that is very solid. The one area I have concerns with is that we lost [guard] Derek Fisher to perhaps a season-limiting injury. We need to have a small, reliable guard to defend the smaller, quicker guards on the court, and an outside shooter that would give us the three-point range that would eliminate the ability for teams to sink inside and drop on Shaq. Those are the things that Glen gave us.”

In Chicago, Grant gave Jackson a vent, until Grant grew weary of the role and their relationship grew frosty.

“Horace was quote-unquote my whipping boy,” Jackson said. “I didn’t call him that, but people used to say that.

“He was always a player that I exhorted to spur our defense or traps or whatever else.”

Now Grant is expected to help the Lakers repeat, without a long-range gunner.

“We’re still missing that outside shot that we were assured of with Glen Rice being able to knock down those three-pointers,” Jackson said. “But we think we can make that up at some level somewhere else.”

Laker Notes

Vacation ends next Thursday for Phil Jackson and staff, as they host a three-day mini-camp for a small group of specifically invited free agent players.

“They won’t be anyone people have heard of,” spokesman John Black said. “Phil wants to see if there are any other people he wants to invite to the regular training camp,” which opens Oct. 3.

The Lakers currently have 19 players under contract. Jackson said Thursday he could have a maximum of 21 players in training camp. If guard Brian Shaw signs, as expected, that would leave only one other available opening.

Staff Writer Mike Terry contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE PIECES

A look at the members of the current Laker roster, listed at the positions they are expected to play. Brian Shaw is not currently on the team, but the Lakers are expected to re-sign him.

POINT GUARDS

Ron Harper

7.0 PPG, 3.4 APG

Derek Fisher*

6.3 PPG, 2.8 APG

Tyronn Lue

6.0 PPG, 2.1 APG

Brian Shaw

4.1 PPG, 2.7 APG

*

SMALL FORWARDS

Rick Fox

6.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG

Chuck Person, 6-8 241, 13 seasons

2.8 PPG, 1.4 RPG

*

CENTERS

Shaquille O’Neal

29.7 PPG, 13.66 RPG

Greg Foster

3.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG

*

POWER FORWARDS

Horace Grant

8.1 PPG, 7.8 RPG

Robert Horry

5.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG

Mark Madsen

rookie

Andy Panko

rookie

*

SHOOTING GUARDS

Kobe Bryant

22.5 PPG, 46.8 FG%

John Celestand

2.3 PPG, 33.3 FG%

Devean George

3.2 PPG, 38.9 FG%

Isaiah Rider

19.3 PPG, 41.9 FG%

Emanual Davis

4.0 PPG, 36.4 FG%

Corey Hightower

rookie

*-will start season on injured reserve.

Wednesday’s trade of Glen Rice to the Knicks.