No Playoffs…Lakers Change Their Tune

Now that the Lakers are eliminated from the playoffs, they’ll try to get a look at what their future holds.

“I think that we’re going to try and play all the players we have so that management can evaluate them, the coaching staff can evaluate them and to give them experience in the NBA,” Lakers coach Frank Hamblen said Wednesday. “Someone like Sasha (Vujacic), for instance, we’re going to give him some minutes every game just to see where he is at this particular stage.”

Hamblen has to turn to seldom-used players. Lamar Odom is on the injured list because of a strained right shoulder, center Chris Mihm was placed on injured reserve because of a sprained right ankle and Kobe Bryant sat out Tuesday’s loss because of a bruised shin.

Bryant is expected to return tonight against the Houston Rockets. But the fans who show up at Staples Center for remaining home games will see plenty of rookie Vujacic, aging Vlade Divac and oft-injured Devean George.

“I want to play 48 minutes,” Bryant said. “I still love to play basketball.”

“It was a tough year for us,” Bryant said. “We’re just going to try to improve every game for the remainder of the season and get better for next year.”

The Lakers’ future is filled with questions. Foremost is: Will Phil Jackson, who is expected to be at tonight’s game as the guest of owner Jerry Buss, return as coach?

This season’s squad was slowed by injuries and Coach Rudy Tomjanovich’s resignation at midseason. Hamblen tried to implement the triangle offense. The team struggled defensively and failed to find an offensive rhythm.

“That’s probably the most difficult thing,” Hamblen said. “When your head coach leaves, do you continue his way? Do you go with what’s been successful, what the players want to do? We put in the triangle, more of the triangle, and we run it with some of the pick-and-roll stuff still, Rudy’s stuff. That’s kind of a tough thing. You’re kind of doing it on the run, and you don’t always have time to sit back and think about it.”

Bryant said he is willing to provide the front office with input on improving the team.

“When they come and ask me, I’ll just give them my opinion but no more than that,” he said. “When they ask, I’ll give them my two cents, but other than that, my focus is on working hard, lifting weights, running and being in tip-top shape next year.”

The Lakers haven’t missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 1975 and 1976.

“You’ve got to look at the track record and things that they’ve been able to accomplish here,” Bryant said. “Jerry Buss and this organization … they’ve been able to turn things around in the past so I just have all the confidence in the world in them.”
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LAKERS ABOUT TO MAKE HISTORY AGAIN

The Lakers need a tremendous finish in their final eight games to avoid breaking a dubious team record, for the largest drop in victories from one season to the next.

The Lakers went 47-35 in 1973-74, but the next year they finished 30-52, a drop of 17 victories. Last year’s Lakers went 56-26, and this year’s group stands at 33-41, meaning the Lakers will need to finish no worse than 7-1 to avoid tying the 30-year-old franchise record for futility.

That 1974-75 team, the first of the post-Jerry West era, had the worst record in Lakers history, just two years after the franchise made the NBA Finals in Wilt Chamberlain’s final season.

The records do not include the lockout season of 1998-99, which was shortened to 50 games.

LINKS: LA TIMES, LA DAILY NEWS, OC REGISTER

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