EIGHT-MAN ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Derek Fisher	3.9 APG	Seven-year deal means he's the man
SG	Ron Harper	.377 FG %	Will still be important when Kobe returns
SF	Glen Rice	53 threes	Deadly shooter not a great fit here
PF	Robert Horry	4.9 PPG	Position is team's weak link
C	Shaquille O'Neal	26.3 PPG	Will the Triangle help or hinder his game?
SF	Rick Fox	.448 FG %	Great team guy finally got his money
PF	A.C. Green	4.6 RPG	At least you know he'll always show up
PF	Travis Knight	.515 FG %	He can provide fouls, but needs help

		The Lakers need to get a team game together. Phil Jackson seems determined to run the triangle offense. So far it looks very mechanical. I'm not sure it's the best offense for that team. Jackson will alter it to get the maximum from what he has. He has a scoring powerhouse in Shaquille O'Neal, whom nobody can stop. When Kobe Bryant comes back, Jackson will have another high scorer. There is still a possibility the Lakers might make a trade involving Glen Rice. If not, they have a high scorer in Rice. I think they will struggle to get an offensive flow going unless Jackson makes some adjustments with his offense. They are certainly a playoff team, probably the third- or fourth-best team in the West behind San Antonio, Portland and maybe Utah.

This is how the Lakers go from also-ran to championship contenders? Not exactly. The makeover goes deeper, and it's not just about the move from the aging Forum to the $400 million Staples Center.

They have a new coach, Phil Jackson, and perhaps a new attitude to match. Jackson's egalitarian-minded offense is changing mindsets already. And now add one more new look to the Lakers: that of an underdog.

They may be favorites to the Vegas bookmakers, but around the league, players and coaches know better. The Lakers are still chasing San Antonio and Portland and maybe even Utah and Houston in the crowded field of Western Conference contenders. Sacramento and Phoenix are gaining ground rapidly.

It's not that the Lakers aren't loaded -- Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice are perhaps the league's best trio -- but as a team, the Lakers remain a work in progress. Jackson warns it will take months to learn the triangle offense. Bryant starts the season on the injured list because of a broken bone in his right hand. Derek Fisher hasn't played a full season as a starting point guard. They're still undermanned at power forward in a conference stocked with great ones. And O'Neal, Bryant and Rice still must learn to play nicely with each other.

Portland and Phoenix are busy integrating new players, but Jackson says the Lakers have much more work to do than their rivals.

"Other teams may have one or two guys to get oriented to something they've run as a group," Jackson says. "Here we've got 18 guys trying to figure out what the system is trying to do for them. But we think that no one's going to be that far ahead because the season starts in November, but the real season starts in May. We'll be there."

Player to watch

Bryant When Kobe Bryant returns from his broken hand, he'll have to step right in to Phil Jackson's famed Triangle Offense. Expect Kobe to have no problem with the intricate movement and passing options the system should create for not just the stars. The truth is that Bryant has shown flashes of being the next great NBA superstar, but he needs to be more consistent. Look for that to happen this year.

Point guard
Consistency has been difficult to find since the Lakers dispensed of All-Star Nick Van Exel in June 1998. Fisher began last season as the starter but lost his job to veteran Derek Harper, who eventually wore down and surrendered the job back to Fisher. A measure of stability may be in order.

Fisher rediscovered his confidence -- and his game -- in the playoffs, averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 assists, and earned a seven-year contract this summer. He's been one of the quickest to grasp the triangle offense, and his jump shot has improved greatly. But if he falters, the Lakers can fall back on another aging Harper. Ron Harper, 35, brings achy knees but five years of experience with the Chicago Bulls, three championship rings and a wealth of triangle knowledge. He's also 6-6, providing the size Jackson prefers in his guards. Backing up Fisher and Harper will be second-year pro Tyronn Lue and recent signee Brian Shaw.

Shooting guard
The Lakers will be set at this position for the next decade at least, but not for the first month of this season. Bryant's broken right hand, suffered in the Lakers' first exhibition game, will put him on the shelf for most of November, perhaps 15 games. When he plays, the Lakers can count on one of the most gifted young players in the league -- Bryant averaged 19.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season and almost single-handedly led second-half comebacks five times. He's the Lakers' best clutch shooter, potentially their best defender and only continues to improve. Bryant has improved every year and should flourish in Jackson's system once he gets healthy.

While he's out, the Lakers will struggle to fill his shoes. Harper will begin the season as the starting off guard, and what he lacks in Bryant's athleticism, he might make up for in knowledge. Behind Harper are two inexperienced youngsters to eat up some minutes: Sam Jacobson, the Lakers' first-round pick in 1998, and rookie Devean George. Jacobson has struggled with the new offense, but the athletic George has shown promise.

Small forward
No position on the Lakers is deeper. In Rice, they have a starter who ranks among the top perimeter shooters in the game, and he's dropped 10 pounds to make him less of a liability on defense. Behind him are Rick Fox, a former starter with a good all-around game, and Robert Horry, another former starter who rediscovered his 3-point touch last season.

Rice's attitude will be key. He wasn't happy as a third wheel in the offense last season and was even less pleased when the Lakers picked up his $7.1 million option rather than give him a new, more lucrative multiyear contract. But he reported in great physical condition, has decided not to discuss his pending free agency and is saying all the right things about adapting to the triangle offense. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Rice was pretty slow to pick up the new offense in the preseason and is enduring the constant distraction of being tied to several trade rumors.

Power forward
This is still the Lakers' weakest link, though it's probably improved over last season, despite the failure to land Charles Oakley. Instead, A.C. Green, in his second tour of duty, will become the Lakers' fourth different opening-day starter in four seasons, not to mention the varied cast that tried and failed to provide stability at the position last season. Green brings professionalism and hustle and knowledge of Jackson's system after playing it one season in Dallas under Jackson protégé Jim Cleamons. But Green is also 36 years old and is certainly not the "thuggish" rebounder O'Neal has longed to play beside. Backing up Green will be lightweights Horry and Travis Knight and unretired veteran John Salley, if he makes the team.

Center
Never have the Lakers been more dependent on O'Neal than now. If he's willing to follow Jackson's plan-more passing, rebounding and defense, less scoring-the Lakers could become unstoppable. If he reverts to his sometimes selfish tendencies, they will sink fast. Early returns in the preseason were mixed. O'Neal declared he was willing to sacrifice offense for the good of the team, and his passing out of the post looked great. But he also reported to camp at an all-time-high 340 pounds -- after Jackson specifically asked him to lose weight-and his foul shooting was looking as ugly as ever.

The Lakers just have to hope O'Neal's chronic abdominal strain doesn't flare up, since the team's safety net is the well-traveled Benoit Benjamin. The enigmatic veteran is with his ninth team in 15 seasons.

Coaching
Jackson's résumé obviously speaks for itself -- the six NBA championships, the .737 winning percentage (tops in league history), the impressive track record of meshing disparate personalities and egos and creating order from potential chaos. But he can only keep that incredible reputation intact by winning a championship without that Jordan character and by restoring title-starved Los Angeles to the glory of its "Showtime" years. Jackson's a good bet to pull it off.

He inherits two of the most gifted young players in the game in O'Neal and Bryant, and while that pair is known for letting ego sometimes rule the day, both players have immense respect for Jackson and have shown they will follow his system -- and his rules.