LAKERS NOTEBOOK: HARRIS HOLDS HIS TONGUE.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

His lips are sealed, by edict of the NBA, so Del Harris couldn't rip his players for a nonchalant practice Thursday.

Instead, the Lakers coach lectured the only people allowed to listen: reporters. And lecture he did, apparently in the hope his team reads the morning paper.

``It's good to see them there working together . . . but all in all, I was disappointed with the effort,'' Harris said after observing voluntary workouts at L.A. Southwest College. ``I just think we have to work an awful lot harder than they were working in order to get ourselves ready to play by Feb. 5.''

NBA teams have been practicing informally since Monday, and the league has lifted its ban on team officials observing sessions. But they still can't talk to players.

So Harris and his assistant coaches stood, perched 30 feet above the court, silent and frustrated, unable to unzip their lips.

Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and most of the Lakers roster played a series of fullcourt games down below, aware of their coaches' presence, but not their ire.

Joked Bryant, ``I'm surprised Del didn't say anything.''

Only because the coach was biting his tongue.

``Oh boy, I wanted to yell a lot of things,'' Harris said with a laugh.

Training camps will open as soon as Tuesday, and none too soon for Harris.

``What I failed to see was evidence of a team that is pushing one another because they're on a mission,'' he said. ``And to this point all we've done over the last couple years is talk mission. And this year we've gotta walk it.''

That mission being a championship, an opportunity all the more reachable after the retirement of Michael Jordan.

And maybe that's the problem.

``If our response to Jordan retiring is, `This makes it easy for us,' we're dead. We've got no chance,'' Harris said. ``If that's our response, we might as well mail it in.

``If our response is, `That's even more of an incentive now to work as hard as we possibly can . . .' then we have a chance. But I'm afraid our guys could be hearing so many voices saying, `It's you, it's you, it's you.' ''

If the Lakers are indeed the Bulls' heirs-in-waiting, they aren't showing it yet, Harris said.

``I think it should start now, where they're pushing one another to excel even in these informal workouts, and I just didn't see that. We have such a wonderful opportunity to be the best team, but it has to start in the heart.''

Instead he saw loafing, a lack of communication on defense, ``terrible transition,'' and ``a lot of walking. In an NBA game, there's no walking.''

On a slightly brighter note, Harris said two or three players ``excelled,'' then offered that those players didn't do enough to push everyone else.

``Maybe I just caught them on a bad day,'' he said.

But Harris was so discouraged he probably won't return in the next few days, preferring to wait until training camp.

``It's frustrating, to tell you the truth,'' he said.

``There's nothing I can do about it, and it's actually just made me feel bad.''

Not so fast: Elden Campbell is presumed to be an ex-Laker as soon as the NBA allows trades, but Harris cautioned, ``that just is not necessarily the case.''

``Anybody who thinks we're looking to get rid of Elden is foolish. We have in him one of the top dozen centers in the league,'' he said. ``Not having Elden would leave us with a tremendous void. . . . I don't take his contributions lightly.''

Gaucho country: Whenever training camps open - they've been pushed back to Jan. 19, at the earliest, and could be delayed further - the Lakers will train at UC Santa Barbara's Robertson Gym.

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Photo: ``What I failed to see was evidence of a team that is pushing one another because they're on a mission. And to this point all we've done over the last couple years is talk mission. And this year we've gotta walk it.''

- Del Harris

after watching a Lakers workout