LAKERS NOTEBOOK: HARRIS MAY PLAY MUSICAL STARTERS.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

To be a Laker with job security is to be, well, Shaquille O'Neal. To be anyone else means there are no guarantees.

Shaq will be the starting center when the season opens Feb. 5 and Derek Fisher is the probable starting point guard. But there are no other 100 percent certainties on a Lakers squad that is the deepest in years.

But with a compacted 50-game schedule, coach Del Harris also figures the starting five is likely to change based on fatigue and matchups. That said, Harris might employ a unique approach to the Kobe Bryant question. Bryant is by many accounts ready to start but is blocked at shooting guard by Eddie Jones and at small forward by Rick Fox. So how about a three-man weave in the lineup?

``I don't know, this year we may change around and there might be different people starting. You never know, we might even rotate Kobe, Eddie and Rick,'' Harris said in a thinking-out-loud moment.

Bryant can play both guard and forward, so on any given night the Lakers could start any two of those three.

``Maybe that might be something we do there as opposed to saying that one of them is a sub,'' Harris said. ``Then they don't feel that they're taking a back seat to anybody, they just know every third game it's their turn to come off the bench. I've thought about that. I might do it. I don't know. I have to talk to those players about that, if they're comfortable with something like that.''

A similar situation is brewing at the power-forward slot, where the Lakers - who fell short in obtaining a top-flight starter - could rotate Robert Horry, Travis Knight, Corie Blount and Elden Campbell, perhaps even Fox.

Horry, a converted small forward, started most of last season at power forward.

``Surely, out of those four guys, all of whom are good players, we ought to be able to come up with an answer at the position every night,'' Harris said. ``It might be different people on different nights.''

Aye-aye, cap'n: The Lakers coaching staff named O'Neal and Derek Harper co-captains for the 1999 season.

O'Neal, the sole captain last year and a co-captain his first year here, was a natural. But Harper was a more unusual choice - he's been a Laker for four days.

``That is a sort of rare,'' acknowledged Harper, who earned the title on the strength of his 15 years in the NBA. ``I feel comfortable with the role, though. . . . I've been captain a lot of times in my career. It's good to have a little youth and experience as co-captains.

``It'll mean that I have to set the right example. It means that you're looked up to for leadership more than anything.''

Fisher said the coaches' selection of Harper as co-captain makes a lot of sense.

``I think they really feel like because of our youth, sometimes it gets hard for guys that are at the same age and at the same level to pull each other's chain. And a guy like Shaq, who is physically overpowering and a dominating personality, it's easy for him to say things,'' Fisher said. ``With `D' Harper, if he says something, that's etched in stone because of the years he has in the league and his experience. I think those were excellent choices, and I think everyone else on the team felt that.''

But make no mistake - this is still Shaq's team.

``Of course it is,'' Harper said, laughing. ``He and Dr. Buss. No doubt about it.''

Ouch report: Ruben Patterson, who suffered a left-thigh bruise Saturday, practiced Sunday. . . . Fisher suffered a right-ankle sprain but said he'll practice today. . . . O'Neal walked off the floor at one point Sunday night, his hand on his abdomen, but returned a short time later and appeared to play without pain. He said he did not reinjure the abdominal muscle that sidelined him 22 games last season.

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PHOTO DEREK HARPER

The 15-year NBA veteran was named co-captain with Shaquille O'Neal despite being a Laker for only four days.