Call It a Time-Share Problem

Different player, same dilemma.

Exactly how is Coach Del Harris going to make extra minutes materialize out of thin air? And, how soon does Robert Horry become the Lakers’ starting small forward?

The latter is a little easier to answer with Horry, acquired Friday, in line instead of Cedric Ceballos, who figured to be further off since he would have been working back from a serious knee injury and nine weeks on the sideline. The only obstacle, along with the obligatory allowance for Horry to learn the plays, is that the Lakers continue to win with Jerome Kersey in the opening lineup, which makes any coach hesitant for a shake-up.

“I will work things out as we go along,” Harris said. “You know how that is. When a coach gets into the forecasting biz, sometimes it doesn’t work out. I’ll let the players work that out.”

By their play, in other words.

The more difficult decision will come the same way: playing time. It was already at a premium since the emergence of Kobe Bryant five games ago, but now Horry will get a big chunk, eventually 30-something minutes a game, without a major decrease for Kersey.