They Have No Defense

The Lakers aren’t dead exactly. They’ll just be different next time you see them, which, for the first time in four years, won’t be at the ring ceremony.

Unless, of course, the NBA has a droll moment and makes Phil Jackson sit through someone else’s, and wouldn’t Red Auerbach love that.

At the tail end of three consecutive championships, the Lakers won 50 games in the regular season and six in the playoffs, then stared at a roster that will require work.

Through player injury and aging, and management misjudgment, the Lakers became too ordinary around Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and at a very bad time. By the fourth quarter of their 12th playoff game, their legs were gone, so was their famous grit, and the San Antonio Spurs ran through them into the Western Conference finals.

An hour later, O’Neal acknowledged there might be something to the regular season after all, and he has great conditioning plans for the summer. He will be driven, perhaps, by the loss, and by the realization that there might be something to November and December, and that if he shows up in shape, the club might be more inclined to consider a maximum extension -- three years, more than $120 million -- in September.

They will prepare for what could be an unusual season. Jackson and Bryant will be in their walk years, assuming Bryant does not sign his three-year extension before then, and there should be several new players filling in around the Big Two, probably a power forward and a big guard, probably veterans, probably athletic, and probably dying for a chance at an NBA championship.

Of their 13 players, five are free agents or potentially so. Samaki Walker, Mark Madsen, Brian Shaw and Tracy Murray will be unrestricted. The team holds an option on Robert Horry for $5.3 million, which it is not expected to exercise, though there could be future interest in Horry at a lower price.

The Lakers have two picks in the draft, at Nos. 24 and 32, and that figures to be where they’ll acquire their youth, because the mid-level exception (about $4.6 million) and the $1.4-million exception probably will go to established players.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak sat behind a table in a small room off the gym in El Segundo on Friday afternoon, having met most of the day with Jackson and the coaching staff. He said he expected to make changes, expected the organization to harden in the wake of Thursday’s loss, and expected the players to understand that winning brings loyalty that losing might not.

“There’s a natural tendency to cut corners, as a player or a coach or even somebody in management,� Kupchak said. “When you win three championships in a row, maybe you’re thinking you’re doing everything you can do. But my guess is, you get a little bit soft and maybe you take the easy route every now and then. But we lost last night. And it was a convincing loss to a team that was a good team. I would hope and think that any of our players, any of our coaches, or anyone else in this organization that even contemplates taking a shortcut this summer is making a gross error in misjudgment.�

A summer ago, Kupchak’s intention was to maintain the core players who had won three championships.

This summer, the issues of loyalty are different. There is nothing to defend, and there are players in free agency -- P.J. Brown, Juwan Howard, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Brad Miller, and a few more -- who are better than some current Lakers.

Kupchak would have to persuade them to become Lakers for less than their market value, and already there are concerns that Brown will command more than the mid-level and that Pippen wants more than $1.4 million, even with his achy knee. Pippen’s value, in part, could be tied to Portland Trail Blazer owner Paul Allen’s desire to keep him away from the Lakers, a strategy Kupchak could see a lot of.

Howard has told friends that negotiations with the Lakers would start and end with a Laker offer, but there are still six weeks before Kupchak can talk to a free agent and two months before he can make an offer.

Meantime, if the Lakers are to carry 13 players again, and they keep their two draft picks, sign two free agents and make no trades, some familiar players will be gone.

“It’s not done, but we didn’t win,� Kupchak said. “And winning’s important. It’s not the most important thing, but it’s important. It’s something this organization has always done, and always strived for. So, we’ll be loyal. We’ll do the best we can to make sure our players end up in the right place, a place that’s good for them. That may even include here. But, when you don’t win, you can kind of say, ‘All bets are off.’ �

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Laker Status Check

How the players stand, contract-wise, and what the chances are for free agents to return:

*--* Player Position Next season Comment Kobe Bryant Guard Under contract Can opt out after next for $13.5 season million Derek Fisher Guard Under contract Improved shooter could for $3 million draw trade interest Rick Fox Forward Under contract Recovering from surgery for $4.7 million Devean George Forward Under contract Poor first season under for $4.5 four-year deal million Robert Horry Forward Team option Unlikely to return, for $5.3 unless at lower salary million Mark Madsen Forward Unrestricted A useful player who free agent would like to return Slava Medvedenko Forward Under contract Still an intriguing for $1.5 offensive player million Tracy Murray Forward Unrestricted Unlikely to return free agent Shaquille O’Neal Center Under contract Can extend three more for $26.5 years in September million Jannero Pargo Guard Under contract Inexpensive depth, and for $563,679 can play Kareem Rush Guard Under contract Did not develop as for $1.1 quickly as team hoped million Brian Shaw Guard Unrestricted Unlikely to return free agent Samaki Walker Forward Unrestricted Unlikely to return free agent

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