Lakers Have to Watch Their Step

The Lakers limped into their annual media day, smiling for cameras and granting interviews after taking stock of more pressing concerns -- knees, hips, ankles and thumbs.

Almost five months after being psychologically nicked by the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers aren’t quite physically ready. Kobe Bryant, Chris Mihm and Brian Cook are still not at full strength after undergoing three distinctly different surgeries in July.

Coach Phil Jackson, also ailing, stopped by the team facility in El Segundo on Monday, slowly and painfully, before leaving the scene for a while. He is to return with a new right hip, in time for the season opener Oct. 31 against Phoenix.

Training camp begins today, but Bryant’s right knee won’t be ready for full speed for a while longer, although he said he would play in the season opener. Bryant ran Monday for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic surgery in mid-July to clean out scar tissue and other debris. He jogged a handful of 400-meter laps and called it a day, his condition to be re-evaluated daily.

“We’ve kind of been pacing it during the summer and that’s going to continue,” Bryant said. “It feels really strong right now so we don’t want to do anything that’ll set us back. We’re just kind of taking our time doing little by little and then seeing how it reacts the next day. If it’s not aggravated, then just step it up and continue to do that.”

Mihm will run later this week for the first time since having scar tissue removed from his right ankle, part of an injury that kept him out of 24 of the team’s final 25 games last season. It will be two to four weeks before he returns to the court.

Cook will actually practice today, although he acknowledged having only about 75% of the dexterity in his right thumb after it was torn open in a freak accident at a West L.A. health club. Cook sustained an open dislocation after hitting the backboard while blocking a shot.

Longtime trainer Gary Vitti would be employee of the month if the Lakers end up taking advantage of a home-friendly schedule to start the season. Fifteen of their first 20 games are at home, and a 16th is a designated road game against the Clippers.

“We really have to get off to a great jump this season if we want to have that kind of a record that moves us up in the standings and the playoffs,” Jackson said. “Obviously, Kobe’s got to go a little bit slower, Chris Mihm a lot slower than we anticipated. That’s one of the reasons I insisted on having camp here in L.A. I think it will help us get grounded, be here at home, get healthy with our staff and medical people here and our facility here.”

The Lakers hold training camp in Hawaii every other year and usually post up in San Diego or Santa Barbara for training camp in years when they don’t go to the islands.

Regardless of camp location, the Lakers have some obvious work to do coming off a 45-37 season. They last took the court in a 121-90 loss to Phoenix, the most lopsided Game 7 loss in team history and only the eighth time an NBA team lost a series after holding a 3-1 lead.

Bryant had 24 points in the final game, only one in the second half, a talking point for part of a Lakers’ off-season that began just a few weeks after he officially won his first scoring title. Bryant later called the criticism “completely inaccurate.”

The Lakers got ahead in that series by pounding the ball down low and spreading the offense evenly, a concept championed again by Jackson for the upcoming season.

“Probably, Kobe’s going to have to take less shots unless we get more as a team,” Jackson said. “More players have to be involved in the aspect of scoring. That’s something that has to be a conscious effort because he can get shots and he knows how to get them. It’ll be a conscious effort on his part as to how to do that. I don’t have a number, but I think he shot like 26, 27 times last year. ... Probably even three less or four less is going to be a marked difference and that’s OK.

“We’ve got some guys that can score in Vladimir Radmanovic and people that are going to need shots, that are shooters, Shammond Williams, etc., that are going to be assets to us if we take advantage of them.”

Jackson, who has never hidden his disdain for the exhibition season, might return for an exhibition game or two after undergoing hip replacement surgery today at Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center. At the very least, he’s expected back by Oct. 31.

“Dr. [Lawrence] Dorr, who’s doing the procedure, tells me I’ll be walking with pride at the opening night against Phoenix,” Jackson said.

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During his lowest of low points, Lamar Odom briefly considered skipping this season. He lost his 7-month-old son, Jayden, to sudden infant death syndrome in June and was robbed at gunpoint in July. Said Bryant, a sounding board for Odom during the off-season: “When I last spoke to him, I said, ‘Bro, don’t even think about basketball. That’s beside the point. Just think about you and your family.’ ”

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Bryant has maintained his upper-body strength despite not being able to run. He is listed at 220 pounds, same as last season. “BALCO,” he said, smiling. ... Forward Marcus Douthit and center Mamadou N’Diaye signed non-guaranteed contracts.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com