A rare sight: Everyone's healthy at practice

An unusual scene, to be sure.

All 15 Los Angeles Lakers were on the practice court, healthy, Sunday at the team training facility.

Kwame Brown didn't sit out because of his heel, Maurice Evans wasn't bothered by his back, and Lamar Odom felt no ill effects in his shoulder, just in case his 18-point, 10-rebound effort Friday against Minnesota didn't already prove the point.

Fifteen players, none of them watching from the sidelines while bouncing a ball absent-mindedly between their legs. For once, it was a quiet practice for trainer Gary Vitti.

"It's the first time in a long time," Kwame Brown said. "It feels good to have everybody out there -- you've got three teams of five. It was cool, a good little run out there today."

Kwame Brown came off the court briefly after the bursitis in his right heel flared up, but he returned within a few minutes. Jumping still remains a bit of a problem for him, but he is able to run relatively well, which brings up a good point -- who starts at center the next couple of games for the Los Angeles Lakers?

San Antonio will obviously have Tim Duncan in the post Tuesday, and Houston a day later means more Yao Ming, who had 25 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in the Rockets' 95-93 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the season opener.

In a break from past tendencies, Coach Phil Jackson might choose his starting center on a game-by-game basis, be it Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm or, less likely, Andrew Bynum.

"I've never really gotten into that, matching up by games," he said. "It may [happen]. Maybe we'll see how we play. If we play better with certain matchups, we'll go that way."

Mihm averaged nine points, eight rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots while starting in place of Kwame Brown.

Jackson seems to be more comfortable with Andrew Bynum on the second unit. Andrew Bynum is averaging 10.2 points and 9.8 rebounds but has been criticized by Jackson for defensive lapses.

Jackson's comments Sunday suggested Kwame Brown would start against San Antonio.

"He changes up our practice a lot," he said. "It becomes a lot more physical. He's just a guy that is rock solid in there, so it helps us defensively. It gives us a presence in there."

Kwame Brown, averaging 5.7 points and seven rebounds a game, was just satisfied to be back after missing two games.

"I've just got to monitor how much I practice, but at the same time, I've got to be mindful that I had four or five days of doing nothing," he said. "I've got to kind of push myself and still deal with the pain and try to play. Otherwise, I'll be so out of shape that Yao will just run over me."

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