Brown Is Unlikely Bonus at Guard

The most transient member of the Lakers may have found more than another team. He may have found a home, if his spirited play and astounding assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly four to one hold up beyond preseason camp.

His name is Tierre Brown, and the Lakers are his fourth team in four seasons, if you don’t count the Charleston Lowgators of the NBA’s National Basketball Developmental League.

Brown was selected most valuable player of the NBDL last year after averaging 18.6 points, but he figures to open this season as the last man on the Laker bench.

That’s fine with the 6-foot-2 point guard, who grew up in Iowa, La., (pop. 2,663) rooting for the Lakers in part because purple and gold were the colors of his junior high and high school teams.

“I never thought in my wildest imagination I’d be here,” Brown said.

“If I could be here for the rest of my career, I’d definitely want to.”

Brown averaged 10.1 points, 4.4 assists and 1.1 turnovers in the exhibition season.

“Tierre was great,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “He’s a great open-court player. With work, he can also do the other things, play in the half court and recognize situations.”

Brown said his performance in seven exhibition games marked the best stint of a fledgling NBA career that also has included stops with the Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Hornets, with whom he averaged 3.3 points in a combined 58 games.

“I really appreciate the opportunity,” said Brown, who is not expected to receive a guaranteed contract so the Lakers can bring back Karl Malone if Malone wants to return from knee surgery. “Now, it’s time to get it going.”

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Lamar Odom landed awkwardly on his right ankle during a 3-hour 40-minute practice Saturday, Laker spokesman John Black said, but the power forward was expected to be OK.

“It hurt me more than it hurt him,” Tomjanovich said of Odom. “I said, ‘Ouch.’ ”

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Tomjanovich said small forward Jumaine Jones, who averaged 8.4 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 66.7%, also had a “phenomenal” camp and had earned significant playing time.... The Lakers will announce today whether they have exercised the option years on the contracts of Caron Butler and Kareem Rush, which would keep both under contract through the 2005-06 season.