Winter Is Bypassed Once Again

Inductees into the National Basketball Hall of Fame were told they would be notified by Monday, and Tex Winter’s telephone never rang.

“I didn’t make it again,” Winter said, somewhat sadly, Tuesday afternoon.

The fall class, headed by Magic Johnson, will be announced today in Los Angeles.

Winter, who turned 80 in February and has been nominated several times, has coached for 55 years. He’s reconsidering retirement, but will hold his decision until the summer.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s disappointing,” Winter said. “I would think I’d be seriously considered. I don’t know, maybe I am.”

Laker consultant Bill Sharman, already in the Hall as a player and nominated this year as a coach, had not been notified as of Tuesday night.

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Byron Scott and Kobe Bryant were teammates during the 1996-97 season, Scott’s last with the Lakers and Bryant’s first. They became friends.

“He meant a lot to me,” Bryant said. “The advice he gave me my rookie year I still hold dear today.”

Asked if Scott recommended a particular food when the series goes to New Jersey, Bryant said, “Hopefully, their bacon cheeseburgers are a lot better than in Sacramento.”

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Bryant’s jerseys, since the start of the playoffs: Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Hank Aaron and, on Sunday, Joe Montana.

“I have about a thousand jerseys at the house. I just pull one out every once in a while,” he said, laughing. “No, just playing.”

He’s more selective than that.

“I just like Joe Montana,” said Bryant, who so far has worn the uniforms of players known for being unusually competitive or clutch. “He’s a great player. He’s a type of player who, even though they were down two or three touchdowns, he’d still lead the team to a win.”

On Tuesday, a workout day, Bryant wore Jerry West’s No. 44, just as he did in the last parade.

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If Shaquille O’Neal was looking for a sign entering his third consecutive NBA Finals, his youngest daughter, Amirah, provided it, he said.

“My little daughter, she just said, ‘Three,’” he said. “She just said ‘Three’ the other day. That’s a true story.”

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In last year’s finals, Todd MacCulloch watched from the bench as O’Neal pulverized Dikembe Mutombo, who was the league defensive player of the year.

O’Neal became the Finals MVP and Mutombo left with a swollen nose.

“I may have to talk to Lucious [Harris] about melting his mask to fit me,” MacCulloch said.

Harris wears a plastic mask, first because of a broken bone between his ear and cheek, and now because he has played well with it on, as have the Nets.

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Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak is attending a pre-draft camp in Chicago. The Lakers have the 27th pick. He will miss Game 1 and is expected to return Thursday.... Samaki Walker’s bruised left knee appears to be causing him more discomfort than usual.