Odom’s New Job: Stay on the Ball

HONOLULU —  Lamar Odom is bringing the ball up court much more often than last season, gradually gaining control of the point-forward position envisioned by Phil Jackson, mastered by Scottie Pippen and pioneered in effect by Magic Johnson.

“I’m feeling a little bit more comfortable every day,” said Odom, who, at 6 feet 10 and 240 pounds, could become the team’s primary ball-handler.

Odom was cast as a power forward last season, matching up against Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, even Kevin Garnett, and rarely brought the ball up court. Jackson recently said Odom could still end up spending time down low, but the goal for Odom, and the object so far in training camp, has been to get the ball in his hands as an initiator of Jackson’s triangle offense.

Johnson, minority owner and vice president of the Lakers, was ebullient after watching Odom at a recent practice.

“Lamar went coast to coast about three times,” said the 6-foot-9 Johnson. “He’s got to continue to do that. Coast to coast, whether he shoots it or passes it. He makes good decisions. That’s the type of thing we’re going to need because then we’re going to be hard to defend.”

Odom will need to learn to keep smaller, faster guards away from him -- “You can’t out-quick the quick guards,” he said -- and will have to work on using his body to shield smaller, stealthy types.

He’s been getting advice from some knowledgeable sources.

“No one can remember, but when I was first put on the court as a point guard, it took me time to develop the skills to where I wasn’t afraid of getting the ball stolen from me,” Pippen said. “It’s just something that he’s going to have to work on. Guys are going to challenge him, teams are going to challenge him because they know that’s an advantage to have a 6-10 guy bring the ball up the floor.”

Will it happen for Odom?

“I feel like it can,” Pippen said. “It’s going to take some time. It’s not anything that’s going to happen overnight. It may not happen in a month. It may not happen in two months. It’s a process that he has to build on.”

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The Lakers are planning to press much more often than last season, extending their defense the length of the court to try to force more turnovers in the backcourt and, theoretically, keep their post players out of foul trouble with fewer situations against half-court offenses.

“We have to find pressure at some level on the court and apply it,” Jackson said. “Otherwise we’re going to get beat. We don’t have a tremendously physical team -- Kwame [Brown] is our physical specimen. We don’t have a great shot-blocker. We don’t have a stopper like [Ron] Artest or somebody. So we’re going to have to do some things defensively in a coordinated effort.”

Said Kobe Bryant: “We’ve been working on it from day one, applying full-court pressure. It feels good to be working hard on defense. We’re doing a lot of drills, trying to come together on the defensive end. It’s fun. Exciting, actually.”

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Rookie center Andrew Bynum sat out Saturday’s practices because of an abdominal strain and veteran center-forward Corie Blount sat out because of a sore right knee. The Lakers are calling both conditions day-to-day.... Bryant, avowed New York Yankee fan but resident of Newport Beach, offered his take on baseball’s divisional playoffs: “My heart is somewhat torn because I do live in O.C. I’m sure when I go back home and I’ll be going to the grocery store, I’ll be hearing a lot about it.”