Lakers Sound Ready for Camp Harmony

The Lakers reconvened Monday, leaving behind their longest off-season in 11 years and pledging to discover more harmony than they mustered in a forgettable season that ended six months ago.

With optimism moving swiftly a month before a new season officially begins, Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant exchanged words of admiration, new arrival Kwame Brown said he looked forward to making the playoffs, and Lamar Odom observed that Bryant was “hungry as hell.”

“I’m very hungry,” Bryant confirmed.

And that means, exactly?

“I need to eat,” he said, smiling.

There were scenes aplenty at Laker media day, which concluded Monday a few hours before the team boarded its charter jet for the start of training camp today in Honolulu.

There were those who seemed relieved at the return of Jackson (Luke Walton, Slava Medvedenko, Devean George). There were those who were simply relieved to be wearing NBA jerseys (rookies Andrew Bynum and Von Wafer). And there were those who assembled for an amusing photo of an ever-expanding coaching staff, all eight Laker coaches (consultant Tex Winter included) pausing to smile for the cameras.

Above all, there was Bryant and Jackson, tied together again, regardless of what had transpired on the court or had been written in Jackson’s tell-all book that hit shelves and best-seller lists last October.

Bryant, labeled narcissistic and uncoachable in the book, said he did not carry any grudges as the Lakers try to bury a 34-48 season that left them tied for 11th in the Western Conference.

“Do I hold any hard feelings? None whatsoever,” Bryant said. “Who am I to sit up here and judge somebody? Life’s too short to sit around and hold grudges. It just doesn’t make any sense to do it. I’ve matured a great deal. Two, three years ago, would I have had the same response? Probably not. Being forgiving is something that we all should really learn.”

Jackson, for his part, deflected a reporters’ query about the possibility of a frayed relationship with Bryant down the road.

“I don’t like the premise of your question,” Jackson said, choosing instead to breathe optimism in a brief media session. “Kobe and I know how to work well together to get wins. This is a leadership situation that he’s involved in. He’s going to be a captain. All those things, nurturing his players, supporting them, all those things are the growth things you want to see happen for this organization.”

Mindful of a roster imbalance carried over from last season -- too many small forwards, too few established post players -- Jackson did some managing of expectations and acknowledged there was “definitely work to do” with the roster.

“We don’t think that by and large we’re anywhere close to a team that could step out and challenge in this conference we’re in,” he said.

Jackson then spoke of Brown and Odom as being important pieces of a formula that might or might not spit out a playoff appearance. Odom, who said he was 80% to 90% healthy after shoulder surgery in April, will wait a week or so before diving into physical contact.

“I’m definitely looking forward to being a presence in the paint, being healthy, coming in, doing all the dirty work, working off of Kobe,” said Brown, acquired from the Washington Wizards for starters Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins. “A fresh start is good. I feel a lot more relaxed.”

In the end, there was Bryant, who struggled last season and fell to third-team All-NBA, a surprising development mentioned by Jackson last week. Bryant, who made only 43.3% of his shots and slumped defensively, insisted his relationship with Jackson would not need to be dissected throughout the season.

“I don’t really think it’s going to be an issue,” Bryant said. “I really don’t. He’s the coach, I’m the player. He gives me things that he needs me to execute, things that he needs me to do, [and] I do them. If my game isn’t the right way and he wants me to change, tweak some things, I do them. It’s really that simple.”