Kupchak manages to control the Lakers

The guy from the gas company is in my living room, cleaning out a pipe, handing me a pamphlet, walking out the door after another routine repair.

When, suddenly, he stops.

“So,” he says, completely out of nowhere. “What are they saying about Mitch Kupchak now?”

This is how it happens in this town. One minute, two strangers are conducting ordinary business. The next minute, one of them is screaming about the Lakers general manager.

The opinions about Kupchak are as strong as last Sunday’s shorts were tight.

Many are choking in their criticism. Some are suffocating in their support. Given the fervor surrounding a guy who hasn’t dribbled a ball in a dozen years, all are a tad uncomfortable.

This column is only in its seventh paragraph, and already 100 fans have decided they’ve read enough, and are currently e-mailing me a Mitch Kupchak column of their own.

But back to the gas man’s question.

What are they saying about Mitch Kupchak now?

I know what they should be saying.

They should be saying that maybe he’s right.

They should be saying that maybe, just maybe, he knows what he’s doing.

Before this season, Kupchak was torched for refusing to trade Andrew Bynum. He was ripped in chat rooms and editorial letters and, of course, in that time-honored platform for public criticism known as the Kobe Bryant Parking Lot Video.

Thirty games into a new season, and now the entire NBA wants Andrew Bynum.

“He has taken a step,” Kupchak said. “Hopefully he’ll sustain it.”

Before this season, Kupchak was torched for drafting Jordan Farmar. He was ripped for a lack of scouting acumen, for a lack of common sense, putting Kobe’s ball in the hands of a mildly skilled kid.

Thirty games into a new season, and the entire NBA is marveling over those hands.

“Jordan has definitely made some adjustments,” Kupchak said. “We’ll see what happens now.”

The signing of Derek Fisher?

The Lakers would be lost without him.

“He has been a godsend,” said Kupchak.

The admission of a mistake with Brian Cook, which led to the trade of Trevor Ariza?

Phil Jackson loves the guy.

“In Trevor, we found somebody who was kind of lost in the shuffle,” said Kupchak.

The handling of Kobe Bryant?

About the only Laker who didn’t speak out during Bryant’s Wrecking Ball Tour was Kupchak, even though he was one of Bryant’s biggest targets.

Kupchak kept quiet then. He’s keeping quiet now.

And a certain No. 24 has responded by shutting up and playing.

Maybe, just maybe, Kupchak should be given credit for at least temporarily controlling and even nurturing the beast that is the Lakers.

Thirty games into a new season, and they are 19-11 when I thought they would be 11-19.

They have a team capable of such depth and commitment that during the Christmas Day win against Phoenix, at least one announcer claimed they had more talent than the Suns.

Yes, they were embarrassed this week by the Boston Celtics but, c’mon, everyone has been embarrassed by the Celtics.

This season has not been about winning an NBA championship. This season has been about regaining their footing among teams that can entertain their fans for six months while hiking toward that championship.

These Lakers have taken those steps. They have shown that they could even trek all the way to late May, to San Antonio, the Spurs currently being the only West team that clearly seems stronger.

Just as important, with Bynum and Farmar, they have shown they can still be making that sort of trip long after Bryant departs.

Maybe, just maybe, some of this has to do with Kupchak.

Walk into his cluttered office overlooking the Lakers’ practice court at the Toyota Sports Center and you’ll see hints why.

Prominent on one wall is a photo of Kupchak standing with the Lakers scouts outside a bowling house after their annual match.

On one shelf is a bobble-head doll of Doug Moe.

On one wall is a Christmas card from John Wooden.

His office is not about Showtime, it’s about old-time, a home befitting a guy who is trying to build a Hollywood team with a Tobacco Road work ethic.

The reason he loves Bynum?

“Every day this summer, when I came into my office and looked down on the court, I saw him working out with Kurt Rambis,” he said.

Why he was counting on Farmar?

“When I walked out of here after draft day this year, I passed Jordan walking in,” he recounted. “When I told him we had drafted another point guard. Jordan just kept bouncing his ball right into the gym to go to work.”

How did he know Fisher would work?

“We know how he is in that locker room, we know his effect on this team,” said Kupchak.

The reason he knows is that, being a former player, he listens to them when they wander past his office, he understands when they are upset, he gets it when they want to prove somebody wrong.

“We like players who come in here with a little bit of a chip, players who want to work,” Kupchak said.

That is, of course, because he was that sort of player, averaging only 20 minutes a game for nine seasons, but making the most of it with 10 points and five rebounds a game.

But he rarely talks about that. He rarely talks about himself.

He has taken the fall for other’s decisions -- the Shaquille O’Neal trade -- and he has taken the fall for his own mistakes -- the Kwame Brown acquisition -- and he knows that misery is always just two losses away.

But for now, maybe, just maybe, he’s getting it right.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.