Links in the Chain o’ Lakes

The Lakers come back to their ancestral home this weekend, back to the state that gave the team its nickname, where the first link in the franchise’s chain of great centers played, where the NBA’s first skywalker had to land on cold, hard floors.

And what has Los Angeles ever sent back this way in return? A few small guards.

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Pooh Richardson out of UCLA in their inaugural NBA draft in 1989.

Their current starting point guard, Troy Hudson, got his first taste of NBA success with the Clippers. And reserve guard Anthony Peeler was a Laker during the “Lake Show” era in the early 1990s.

Sounds like an imbalance, doesn’t it? Like changing pesos for dollars.

So maybe none of the guards who passed through Los Angeles brought Minnesota back to the glory days the locals enjoyed in the 1950s, when George Mikan and the Lakers dominated the NBA.

At least Hudson, the Clipper castoff who signed a free-agent contract with the Timberwolves last summer, can say he started 74 games when the franchise won a best-ever 51 games this season. If that marked a step forward for the Timberwolves, it counts as a major accomplishment for Hudson.

He played more games in the Continental Basketball Assn. than the NBA before he managed to stick with the Clippers for 62 games in 1999-2000. But they waived him the following summer.

“It was my first NBA season, my first team I got to spend a full season on,” said Hudson, who averaged 8.8 points that year. “It was a great opportunity for me. I enjoyed my time there. That was my first step.”

After two seasons in Orlando in which he established himself as a legitimate NBA player, he has enjoyed the best season of his career with the Timberwolves. Taking over for the injured Terrell Brandon, who missed the entire season, Hudson averaged 14.2 points and 5.7 assists.

“Troy’s played real big for us this year,” Minnesota star Kevin Garnett said. “He’s had some huge games. That mentality of people thinking he’s CBA and all this other nonsense, that’s sort of a nonsense kind of attitude when it comes to him. He understands that. He comes out and he plays. When people take him lightly like that, and at the end of the night he’s like 25 and 11 assists, they’re sort of in awe. You’ve got to check the man’s track record. He can really put some points up.”

Peeler used to put points up as well. He has gone for as many as 40. Although he remains one of the top three-point threats on the Timberwolves, this season he averaged a career-low 7.7 points per game, almost half of what he averaged for the Lakers in 1993-94.

Not to be too cold, but his greatest contribution to the Lakers was his departure in 1996 -- in a trade to the Grizzlies that helped create the salary cap room the Lakers used to sign Shaquille O’Neal.

That was the dawn of the Shaq and Kobe era, and the beginning of the end of the Lake Show squad that featured Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Vlade Divac and Cedric Ceballos. That group peaked with an upset of the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the 1995 playoffs.

“We had our time,” Peeler said. “We just didn’t get it done while we were there. When I talk to Nick and Vlade and George Lynch, everybody that’s gone, you relish the moment now that you’re gone. But when you were there, it was all about, can we win? We tried our best, but we couldn’t get it done, so you’ve got to get a new nucleus in there.

“It was fun while we were there. Everybody will be friends forever.

“We made it to the second round. Everybody was young at the time. The only ones we had that had been there [to the NBA Finals] before were Vlade and Elden. I don’t think that’s enough people that have been to the Finals before. If you sent us all back, we’d know what to do because we’re older.”

It’s been almost a full turnover. The only Laker people from his days who will be around Sunday won’t be wearing uniforms. It’s the support staff, such as assistant coach Kurt Rambis, trainer Gary Vitti and equipment manager Rudy Garciduenas.

Same colors, however.

“It’s going to be hard going against the purple and gold,” Peeler said. “But I’m with the Timberwolves now. In the back of my mind, I really want to get ‘em.”

He has fond memories of his days in L.A., hanging out in Hollywood and cruising down Melrose. Those are the Laker environs now, far from the chilly days in Minneapolis.

Elgin Baylor can remember those times, when his flights to the hoop landed on thin floors over cold slabs in the Minneapolis Armory and off-court activities consisted of Hot Rod Hundley and Jim Krebs going to a spot called Buster’s for hamburgers, beer and shuffleboard.

It was the 1959-60 season and Los Angeles didn’t exist on the league map until Laker owner Bob Short scheduled a game at the Sports Arena to see how many fans it would draw.

“We left Minneapolis, it was snowing and very cold,” Baylor said. “We got out here [to L.A.] and it was 85 degrees. We had all winter clothes. We had to go out and buy short-sleeved shirts.”

A crowd of 10,202 came out to see the Lakers play the Philadelphia Warriors, more than double the average at their games in the Armory. Short’s decision to move was set in motion. Baylor went home to Washington, D.C., that summer. When he returned to Minneapolis, he discovered the team had shifted West, and he had one month to get to Los Angeles.

Hello Hollywood, goodbye Minneapolis.

“I enjoyed the city,” Baylor said. “The people were great.”

Buster’s is gone, but a lively downtown with shops, restaurants and businesses linked by enclosed walkways has sprouted up.

However, with springtime and the playoffs approaching, the morning temperature was 35 degrees Friday.

The Lakers made the right move.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Lake Showmen

*--* Notable former Lakers playing in the 2003 NBA playoffs: NAME POS TEAM LAKER YRS VLADE DIVAC C Sacramento 1989-1996 DOUG CHRISTIE G Sacramento 1992-1994 ANTHONY PEELER G Minnesota 1992-1996 NICK VAN EXEL G Dallas 1993-1998 GEORGE LYNCH F New Orleans 1993-1996 JON BARRY G Detroit 1997-1998 RUBEN PATTERSON F Portland 1998-1999

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