Ball Is in Their Court, but Clock Is Running

The Lakers have nine days to find the guard they want and the bench help Coach Phil Jackson says he requires, and maybe it’s the same guy, out there somewhere at the end of somebody’s bench, blurring somebody else’s salary-cap visions.

They have just those nine days to sort out the Jason Terrys from the Austin Crosheres, the outsiders from what’s already here, the triangle dim from the triangle savvy, and whether any of it is worth the cost.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Jackson come to the NBA’s second half with 35 games remaining, 17 of them on the road, and the Lakers not yet among the eight Western Conference playoff teams. They rank a loss behind Houston, two losses behind Phoenix, three behind Minnesota and Utah, at stake a chance to defend their three-peat after mid-April.

They’ll play 11 of their next 14 games at Staples Center, 12 of the 15 after that as a road team. They are 13-4 since Christmas Day, but 24-23 overall, and so stands Kupchak, in his third season as Jerry West’s successor, having to choose when to rework some of the parts around Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant rather than whether to do it.

If he does it in-season and by trade, it will have to be done by Feb. 20, the NBA’s trading deadline. If it’s in-season and by other means, it probably will mean signing power forward Horace Grant, currently lounging in retirement in Orlando and, by all accounts, really enjoying it. The summer might indeed bring Scottie Pippen and a young gun or two, but the four-peat waits for no top-50 player.

While Kupchak sorts through that, the latest evidence might suggest change would not just be good but necessary. A unit composed primarily of the second team nearly blew a 34-point lead in New York last week. And although it made for interesting television during a snowstorm in North Carolina, where Kupchak was scouting and watching, it might also have clinched the club’s direction as the deadline draws near. That, in any case, seemed to be Jackson’s leaning.

“Actually, Mitch and I talked about that this morning, that our bench has to get renewed confidence,” Jackson said Monday afternoon as his players -- most of them; O’Neal didn’t make it -- drifted back after a few days away. “Kareem [Rush] has not reestablished himself since he had the groin injury.... He hasn’t gotten back into that shooting confidence I thought he had before. And I’ve used Slava [Medvedenko] more now than I’ve used him before, simply because Samaki [Walker] twisted an ankle and we needed to have him out there performing [against New York]. Those were the two guys who came up a little short in that game. We do know that our bench could use some strength.”

His rooting interest, he said, lies somewhere between the wild rumors and reality, which is that the collective bargaining agreement makes it nearly impossible to make a deal.

“I’d say we’re like maybe 10% or 20% opportunity to make a trade,” Jackson said. “Nothing’s jumping up right at us now and we haven’t knocked anything out of a bush that can help us. We have to be perceptive enough to know there might be something there for us and to be ready. I understand there are players and teams available.”

Available, yes. Helpful? Another matter entirely. And the Lakers aren’t making the decisions any easier. They are, at once, the slow, veteran team that plays little defense and shows seething disregard for parts of its schedule, and the dynamic, star-driven team that would be the championship favorite in any playoff tournament.

“I don’t think our position, really from the beginning of the year, has changed a whole lot,” Kupchak said. “We still kind of feel like we did at the beginning of the year, that this team can defend and has a right to. Things did change that forced us to think, ‘Are they good enough?’ ”

That changed too, as the Lakers closed the first half with five consecutive wins, in places such as Sacramento and Phoenix and Indiana.

“We’re very encouraged by the play in our last five games,” Kupchak said. “But we’re still out of the playoffs. So, I don’t think we can assume this team makes the playoffs and gets a chance to defend those championships. Now, what does that mean? It means in the next nine days, we’re going to continue to be active. But there’s no sense of urgency to get something done.”

Meantime, the Lakers resume their season with a home-and-home series against the 12-win Denver Nuggets, starting tonight at Staples Center.

For nearly two weeks they have relied primarily on Bryant, who has scored at least 35 points in five consecutive games and raised his scoring average to 28.6, a career high.

Bryant arrived home from Atlanta around 5:30 Monday morning and nine hours later walked into the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo, carrying a pair of Nikes in one hand and a pair of Reeboks in the other. He admitted to being “a little tired” from the game and his travels, fatigue no doubt experienced by O’Neal as well. O’Neal, however, was not at practice and probably would not have stopped for reporters anyway, based on his recent choices.

Bryant said he was “excited and looking forward to getting the second half of the season started,” though he said it from behind heavy eyelids.

“We can remember the intensity with which we’ve been playing,” he said. “Our energy and our focus have been really good.”

Their options, from here on, are limited. Trade or no, their choice is to sustain the momentum gained before the weekend, gathered on the shoulders of Bryant and O’Neal. By late in the regular season, perhaps by then having attained a playoff place, there’s a chance they’ll be gassed by the rigorous final weeks.

“The next six weeks is really a pivotal time for this club,” Jackson said. “We first of all have to establish ourselves as a playoff team and then go bracket hunting, if we’re lucky enough.”

And only then will they know if they played as they should have, if Kupchak acted as he should have, and if any of it worked.

Rick Fox said, “The corner will only be turned once the [regular] season is over and we’re defending our championship.”

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*--* Where Lakers Rank in NBA A look at the Lakers’ place among the 29 NBA teams in various categories at the All-Star break: Category Lakers Rank Record 24-23 15 Pts. per game 97.9 6 Opp. Points 97.0 22 FG% 44.3 12 Opp. FG% 43.8 16 3-pt. FG% 33.7 19 Opp. 3-pt. FG% 40.9 29 Free throw % 72.8 23 Rebounds 45.3 2

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Western Conference

*--* RACE FOR EIGHTH Top eight teams qualify for the Western Conference playoffs. The race: Team W L GB 8. Houston 26 22 -- 9. Lakers 24 23 1.5 10. Seattle 21 27 5 10. Golden State 21 27 5 12. Clippers 17 32 9.5

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TONIGHT

CLIPPERS at PHOENIX

6 p.m.

DENVER AT LAKERS

7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net

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