GOOD OR BAD, OPINIONS LIKELY TO COME SOON.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

EL SEGUNDO - So here we go with a Lakers season that only will begin to settle arguments over the front office's decision to keep Kobe Bryant and hire Rudy Tomjanovich and let Shaquille O'Neal and Phil Jackson walk.

It's a six-month season.

Followed by up to two months of playoffs.

Expect the ``I told you so's'' to start rolling in this week.

``I know,'' said Vlade Divac, the once and current Lakers player, ``it's tough to be patient in Los Angeles.''

The Lakers open the season tonight against Denver at Staples Center, go to Utah on Wednesday, and come home to play San Antonio on Friday. Maybe they'll be 2-1. Maybe they'll be 0-3. Those are the best and worst imaginable results.

If it's 2-1, listen for the Kobe fans with their ``who needed Shaq?'' rap.

If it's 0-3, watch out for the Shaq fans and their ``Kobe ruined the Lakers'' hammer.

If it's a fast start, report to Caron Butler's locker, where the new Lakers forward just might remind you of his optimistic prediction after practice Monday, when he said the team ``will do damage'' and prove ``ridiculous'' the widespread no-playoffs predictions.

If it's a slow start, go and see Lamar Odom, the new No. 2 Lakers scorer who'll remind you he did point out Monday that the season is ``a marathon'' and ``just because you lose the first game doesn't mean you're going to lose the last game, if you know what I mean.''

If it's looking good this week, turn an ear toward Divac, the guy who said with a straight face on Opening Night Eve that the Lakers would win 50 games this season.

If it's looking bad the next few days, hand it to Tomjanovich, who did caution that incorporating nine new members into a 15-man roster while installing a new offense will constitute an on-going ``process.''

Listening to them Monday, I thought the Lakers had a pretty accurate fix on what's ahead.

They think this season won't end up as bad as predicted by the biggest pessimists, who can't see a team without O'Neal going to the playoffs, although somehow 15 teams manage it every year.

On the other hand, they think this season might begin very rough, considering the ``newness'' that Tomjanovich worries about, not to mention the fact Divac, Devean George and Slava Medvedenko begin it on the injured list.

All in all, they'd wish they could plead for patience from L.A. fans.

But they can't do that because it would come off as poormouthing.

``That's almost assuming a negative,'' Tomjanovich, the new coach, said when he was given the chance to ask for patience. ``Let me just say this: I think it's hard to win in this league. I believed that when I had a (Houston) team that won the championship (twice). I have to have that philosophy to do my job well. I don't know what the future is. I don't now how this week is going to go, or next week or this month.

``It just has to be a natural thing. This is really a young team. When you look at Caron Butler, and you look at Jumaine Jones - he's been around awhile, I thought he was 27, 28, but he's 25. It's a pretty doggone young team. Kobe, who's been through all these things, he just turned 26.

``I'm going to stay positive. I'm going to work my butt off. I know it's a process. If we get off to a bad start or we get off to a good start, it's a process.''

Tip-off is a little after 7:30 tonight.

First ``I told you so's'' a little after 8?

When a city is used to a winning basketball team (the Lakers have topped .500 for 10 years in a row and 26 of the past 28) contending for the championship (they've been in the NBA Finals four out of five years and in the playoffs 27 out of 28), it doesn't lower its expectations just because that's what the brain says it should do.

If the Lakers collapse this season - especially if O'Neal and the Miami Heat are going places - it won't matter how popular Bryant appears right now, he's going to take the brunt of the blame.

If the Lakers merely get off to a bumpy start, well, we'll see what happens at Staples Center.

Whatever this team has in it, we're more likely to see in April than in November.

They'll have gotten over the newness by next spring. They could be healthier by then. They might have Karl Malone by then.

Not that anybody with a preconception or an ax to grind is going to wait until April to pass judgment on what Kobe, Mitch Kupchak and Jerry Buss did to that old gang of theirs.

If the hosannas (or brickbats) start flying tonight, right after the Lakers' first win (or loss), remember ...

I told you so.