He Has Stature of a Mighty Oak

Charles Oakley isn’t even a Laker (yet?) and he already has done more to bring this team together than anyone in years.

Before he signs a contract with them, he’s challenging them to prove they can get their act together.

“They’re going to have to show me that everyone’s going to commit to winning,” Oakley said Sunday night. “I don’t want to get locked in where everyone talks about it and nobody is about it.”

That was pretty much the m.o. last year. Lots of comments--plenty of them aimed at one another--and little results.

So Oakley didn’t merely hold the usual meetings with Jerry West and Mitch Kupchak when he visited Lakerland on Tuesday. He had lunch with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to see what they had to say and learn whether they’re willing to put all the other junk aside and work.

Outside of games and practice, getting Shaq and Kobe into the same room is difficult. Oakley gets bonus points for doing it in the off-season.

Their showing up for this was a good sign in itself. O’Neal flew all the way from Orlando for the meeting.

“Laker management felt it was important for him to be here,” said Leonard Armato, O’Neal’s agent. “Shaq is going to cooperate with anything that Laker management wants to do.”

There haven’t been many more important off-court requests than this. Apparently O’Neal understands that, because he was there holding the door open when Oakley arrived at the Great Western Forum on Tuesday. O’Neal should be willing to deliver the world’s largest singing telegram to Oakley’s front step if that’s what it takes.

Oakley brings the right attitude in addition to his career average of 10.3 rebounds.

No, Oakley hasn’t played for a championship team--the closest he came was in 1994, when his New York Knicks went to seven games against the Houston Rockets in the NBA finals.

But there’s one thing that his teams have never been accused of lacking: heart. And that’s directly attributable to Oakley.

He protected Michael Jordan during Jordan’s early years in Chicago, and he supplied the leadership Patrick Ewing was reluctant to provide during his 10 seasons with the New York Knicks. Last season he and Kevin Willis helped the young Toronto Raptors to nearly make the playoffs.

Now, the buzz among players at Magic Johnson’s charity game Sunday night had Oakley coming here.

The Lakers have to rebuild their image after gaining a reputation as one of the NBA’s most dysfunctional units.

All around the league during the playoffs, even as the Lakers were in the process of being eliminated, other players wondered, criticized and offered discourses about what was wrong with the Lakers.

Oakley has some of the same questions himself. As a member of the team, he could provide some answers.

There are no bargaining moves for Oakley to pull because the Lakers can’t offer him more than a three-year contract worth about $6.5 million because of salary-cap restrictions.

There are reports that the New York Knicks are interested, but that could simply be Jeff Van Gundy firing a little salvo in his ongoing feud with Phil Jackson.

The Atlanta Hawks can offer more money--up to $10 million more--but Oakley is to the point that he really wants to focus on winning a championship.

If he does sign with the Lakers, take it as a good sign of his approval.

Adding Oakley wouldn’t necessarily make the Lakers championship material, but it would bring them one step closer. With the power forward issue settled, they could focus on adding another shooting guard.

Apparently we’ll have to get used to Derek Fisher as the point guard, because he agreed to that seven-year contract Tuesday. He wasn’t up to the challenge for most of his first full season as a starter, although he did pick up in the first round of the playoffs.

The Lakers won’t have as much need for a classic point guard as they switch to the triangle offense, but Fisher will have to adjust his role and become a consistent spot-up shooter.

The whole team will take a while to get used to the triangle. Don’t expect it to all come together right away. At 35, Oakley isn’t a long-term solution, but the lessons in physical and mental toughness he could teach them would last long after he left.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.