Winter Left Out Again

With the news that Laker icons Chick Hearn and James Worthy had been named to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame came the awareness that Tex Winter, basketball coach for 57 years, had been left out again.

“Maybe they’re waiting until I’m dead,” Winter said Monday afternoon. “Postmortem or whatever. Posthumorously.”

The genial architect of a triangle offense that has helped to win nine NBA championships in the last 12 years grinned and shrugged, as he often does on the subject. The identities of the people who make up the Hall of Fame selection committee are a secret, so there is no one to blame, no one to write, no one to step forward and offer an explanation.

Winter and his supporters, Phil Jackson chief among them, find it galling enough that Winter has come to be considered as a “contributor” and not for what he does, which is coach basketball players.

Winter, 81, said the situation has become “embarrassing,” every year nominated, every year thinking about next year.

Jackson, who said he limits his financial donations to the hall because of its refusal to admit Winter, suggested he’d refuse his own inclusion if Winter weren’t already in.

“I’ve always said [to Winter], ‘I’m not going to go in if you’re not going to go in,’ ” Jackson said.

Winter scaled back his duties this season and will again next season, when he might not travel at all, he said.

“Next year,” he said, “I’ll probably just consult. I’m winding down.”

*

Rick Fox ran with the reserves in a four-on-four game at the end of Monday’s practice. He played only 18 minutes Sunday against Phoenix and took only three shots, and has gone more than two weeks without taking as many as 10 shots in a game.... Shaquille O’Neal, on all of the Hall of Fame talk: “It’d be nice, the Hall of Fame. I could be the first sheriff in the Hall of Fame.” ... O’Neal believes Tracy Murray should be on the postseason roster. “When the playoffs come around, we’re going to need a shooter,” he said. Murray has been on the injured list since Feb. 21, but is unhurt.

TONIGHT

vs. Dallas, 7:30, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330), KIRN (670).

Records -- Lakers 46-31, Mavericks 57-19.

Record vs. Mavericks -- 2-1.

Update -- Last time the Mavericks were at Staples against the Lakers, they led by 30 points in the third quarter, 27 in the fourth, and lost for the 24th consecutive time to the Lakers in Los Angeles. Michael Finley is on the injured list because of a strained left hamstring. The Mavericks have never won more than 57 games in a season. They have won nine of their last 12, losing to playoff-bound San Antonio, Portland and the Lakers.