Rookie Still Has a Shot

In the layup line before the past few exhibition games, Shaquille O’Neal made eye contact with rookie Mike Penberthy, the 6-foot-3-ish guard who took his cue and ran and leaped into the arms of the big man.

With hardly an effort, O’Neal lifted Penberthy, who dutifully dunked the basketball and dangled for a moment from the rim.

“I’m a lightweight,” Penberthy said before the Lakers’ 103-98 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics at Staples Center. “He just throws me up there. The crowd seems to like it and it’s kind of fun. I just hope he doesn’t fling me too far.”

Next, Penberthy would like to give the Lakers a boost, and he’s close. The team’s last guard--assuming Coach Phil Jackson takes one--has come down to Penberthy, Tyronn Lue and Emanual Davis. Lue has had his minutes cut because of a sprained ankle. The club is considering having Davis start the season on injured reserve. He continues to be tested for a possible neurological disorder.

The Lakers would love to have Penberthy develop into Jackson’s new Steve Kerr. He appears to have the shot--he made 45.5% of his three-point shots in his first four games and made two of three in the first half Friday.

“He’s a curiosity factor,” Jackson said. “We’re looking for that three-point-shooting aspect in our game. We need to have that weapon.”

Penberthy said Friday he had not considered the final cuts, still about a week away.

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ve still got to play the same game.”

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Isaiah Rider said that his sprained ankle is not significantly better, but that he couldn’t resist the urge to continue his triangle education. He admitted a day or two off the floor would do the ankle some good, but the regular season looms.

“I want to get those minutes in my body,” said Rider, who is averaging 18 minutes a game. “That’s the only reason I’m doing it for.”

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Forward Devean George, the Lakers’ first pick in the 1998 draft, will be one of the roster’s final 12, according to a club official.

George has had a disappointing training camp, however. He simply hasn’t shown the improvement the team hoped he would after a full summer league schedule.

“I challenged him to be more aggressive, just to be more aggressive out there as a basketball player,” Jackson said. “There are a lot of things to be thought about in our offense. But he should be beyond that. This is his second year now.”

George started at small forward Friday in place of Rick Fox and missed his first three shots and committed three fouls in eight minutes.

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Kobe Bryant had 20 points and O’Neal had 19 in the victory over Seattle, the Lakers’ first after four losses. . . . Brian Shaw made four of six field-goal attempts in 10 first-half minutes, including all four three-point tries.

The Lakers made eight of 10 three-pointers in the half. . . . Robert Horry suffered a cut to his upper lip that required two stitches to close. He returned in the second half.