Phil on Radmanovic: “He’s the starter … right now”

The Lakers reached the NBA Finals last season with Vlad Radmanovic as their starter at small forward, remember? It’s easy to forget when most of the attention this training camp has focused on whether Kobe Bryant, Trevor Ariza or Lamar Odom is best suited to starting in that spot.

But after a couple weeks of tinkering, Lakers coach Phil Jackson has gone back to dancing with the small forward who brung him, starting Radmanovic in Sunday’s exhibition victory over Sacramento and playing him with the first unit for extended stretches during practice.

“He’s the starter,” Jackson said. “Right now.”

However, when asked whether that meant anything had been decided, or even whether Radmanovic would start in Saturday’s exhibition game against FC Barcelona, Jackson was noncommittal.

“Weekend is a long ways away,” he said. “We just go one day at a time, see how that works.”