WITHOUT TRADING, LAKERS AREN'T GOING PLACES: GM KUPCHAK NEEDS TO GO WEST.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE NBA

Remember the good old days when the trade deadline actually meant something to the Lakers?

Who can forget 1987 when Jerry West sent Frank Brickowski and $800,000 to San Antonio for center Mychal Thompson, whose defense on Kevin McHale was a decisive factor in the Lakers dethroning the hated Celtics for the NBA Championship later that year?

The Lakers' giddiness over prying Thompson from the Spurs was matched only by the Celtics dismay. Upon hearing about the trade - and what it took the Lakers to make it happen - Larry Bird told reporters he would have wrote a check to the Spurs himself had he known they were just looking to make a cash play.

Ah, the good old days.

The only similarities between this year's Lakers and the 1987 version is they wear the same colors and Jerry Buss still signs the checks.

In 1987, they were one player away from cementing the first back-to-back NBA championships since the Celtics in the late 1960s. This year, they're closer in record to the worst team in the league than they are to the best - and it's really not even that close.

The postseason is still within reach, but their dwindling lead over Utah for the final playoff spot in the West - it's down to one-half game - will vanish all together with a few more losses like the one against Atlanta right before the All-Star break.

If any team needs a move to spark a second-half resurgence, it's this one. But with the organization in a virtual holding pattern until its 2007 salary-cap windfall, general manager Mitch Kupchak seems content to let things play out rather than shake things up.

Kupchak hasn't ruled out making a deal before Thursday's deadline, but he doesn't expect to make one, either. In other words, don't hold your breath.

Kupchak is nothing if not cautious, which is fine if he was still driving the sleek Ferrari he inherited from West in 2000. Back then, Kupchak had two responsibilities: Get the required oil check every three thousand miles and try not to veer off the road. Beyond that,the thing pretty much drove itself to two more NBA titles.

But this isn't 2000 anymore and its time Kupchak incorporated a little more daring into his management style.

He's wise to preserve the 2007 cap space, but like his predecessor, West, he needs to be creative and courageous as he goes about rebuilding the Lakers.

That being said, here are some suggestions for Kupchak as the trade deadline approaches. Keep in mind these moves are for the future and the present.

1. Trade Lamar Odom to New York

Reports out of New York this week - OK, so it was the Post - suggested the Lakers approached the Knicks about a deal involving Odom for Penny Hardaway and rookie Channing Frye. According to reports, the Lakers backed off when the Knicks asked the Lakers to throw in Andrew Bynum.

I'd draw the line at Bynum, too. But I also wouldn't let this deal die. Knicks coach Larry Brown fell in love with Odom during the 2004 Olympics, and he's just the sort of team-oriented veteran Brown needs right now.

Hardaway's contract comes off the books after this season, so the Lakers would get more cap relief on that end of the deal. But the key is Frye, a 6-11 rookie from Arizona who's averaging 14 points and six rebounds. Down the road, Frye projects as a versatile power forward alongside Bynum.

Odom fills out the stat sheet as well as anyone - he flirts with a triple double almost every night - but the Lakers expected much more from him as the centerpiece of the Shaquille O'Neal trade two summers ago.

The compelling reason to keep him is how effective he might be on a more balanced team. But the cap relief from Penny's contract and the intrigue of a promising young power forward like Frye are too much to pass up.

2. Trade Chris Mihm, Devean George and Slava Medvedenko to Utah for Carlos Boozer.

Mihm's name hasn't surfaced as possible trade bait, but he'd draw some interest if the Lakers decided to make him available. He's got an attractive salary cap number - $3.7 million this year, $4.2 million next year - he's having a solid season and he'd definitely help a playoff team looking to beef up in its frontcourt.

The Lakers bring on salary beyond 2007 in Boozer, but moving Odom in the other trade negates Boozer's figure. George and Medvedenko's salaries make the trade feasible from a salary cap standpoint.

Boozer, who played last week for the first time this year after recovering from a hamstring injury, was reportedly headed to the Lakers in a trade last year. But someone got cold feet and nixed the deal. The trade makes better sense for both clubs this time around.

By making these two deals, the Lakers future big-man rotation could look like this: Bynum, Frye, Boozer, Brian Cook, Ronny Turiaf and Kwame Brown - if they pick up Brown's 2007 option.

As for the remainder of this season, Brown would star at center with Bynum or Frye backing him up. Boozer would start at the four, backed up by Frye, Cook and Turiaf.

3. Sign Latrell Sprewell for the remainder of the season.

Sprewell balked at signing for anything less than $5 million dollars during the offseason, but with 30 games left in the season what does he have to lose?

Ladies and gentlemen, your new 2005-2006 Lakers.

C: Kwame Brown

PF: Carlos Boozer

SF: Kobe Bryant

SG: Latrell Sprewell

PG: Smush Parker

Bench: Brian Cook

Channing Frye

Luke Walton

Andrew Bynum

Sasha Vujacic

Devin Green

Von Wafer

Ronny Turiaf

Aaron Mckie

Penny Hardaway

Midseason awards and honors

OK, so it's not really midseason, but you get the point. Here it goes.

--MVP: Kobe Bryant, Lakers. Hands down the best player in the league over the first half of the season. People knock him because he doesn't make the players around him better, but I say he's too busy carrying them every night.

--Coach of the Year: Byron Scott, New Orleans. It's nice to see Scott rebound so quickly after Jason Kidd ran him out of New Jersey two years ago. Nobody expected the Hornets to have a winning record, let alone be in the playoff race. But here they are sitting in the seventh spot in the West.

--Rookie of the Year: Chris Paul, New Orleans. You think Atlanta isn't kicking itself for not drafting this guy No. 2 overall? Imagine Paul with all those young, athletic players on the Hawks. Atlanta's mistake is the Hornets' gain. Paul isn't just a highlight reel, he's a young point guard who actually gets it.

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(1) FIVE QUESTIONS WITH JOSH CHILDRESS

- Vincent Bonsignore

(2) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

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(3) OFF THE GLASS