Lakers coach Phil Jackson, owner of an NBA-record 178 playoff victories, will have surgery to replace his right hip next Tuesday -- the same day his team opens training camp.

"It's to the point where he can't really function without having surgery," Lakers spokesman John Black said Friday. "He's had a problem with it for a long time. He was hoping that by doing physical therapy, it would get better over the course of the summer. Instead of getting better, it got worse."

Given the reputation Kwame Brown had for having a fragile mental state, Phil Jackson knew going into the season that he wasn't going to be hard on him for having difficulty learning the triangle offense; if he struggled he was just going to be asked to run the floor and rebound.

"I think now my mindset and my teammates' mindset should be: If I have the ball on the block, let me go to work," Brown said. "As opposed to the beginning of last season, I was looking to just pass the ball and get the ball to Lamar (Odom) and Kobe (Bryant).

"I think now that when I get the ball, I've earned the trust in them and in myself to go ahead and go to work."

The Lakers announced the signing of Devin Green on Monday.  Per NBA policy, terms were not released.

He played in 27 games for the Lakers last season.

The right knee that had arthroscopy surgery appears to be getting stronger by the day, Kobe Bryant is reporting, which is good news for Lakers fans.

"The knee's getting healthier and stronger day by day," the Los Angeles Lakers' star told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I haven't been able to run yet; I should be cleared to run in a while. I've been doing a lot of weight training, things of that nature."

Bryant hopes to hit the court running before the end of the month ? just in time for the start of training camp Oct. 3.

"We just have to play it by ear," he said. "The most important thing is to get all the strength in my leg back. You don't want to rush it."

Bryant expects to be 100 per cent healthy by the time the Lakers open the season Oct. 31 against the Phoenix Suns.

While in Tapei this summer, Kobe Bryant was quoted as saying that the United States National Team would have to work on its chemistry in order to win the 2008 Olympics.

"Those words never came out of my mouth," he said. "I think something must have gotten lost in translation. Obviously, they misunderstood everything I was saying."

Bryant also hopes the signing of Vladimir Radmanovic, Maurice Evans and Shammond Williams will help improve the Lakers.

"We made some key additions with those guys," Bryant said. "We turned some heads the way we performed last season. We were a very young team. We're still a young team. I think it will be exciting."

The U.S. basketball team will have to work on its internal chemistry if it wants to perform well at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Kobe Bryant said to the Associated Press on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Lakers' All-Star guard was visiting Taiwan on a five-leg tour of Asia to meet with fans.

Last Sunday, the U.S. players returned home from the world championship in Japan with bronze medals -- just like the country won at the 2004 Olympics.

Both results were widely seen as disappointments.

Bryant told a news conference in Taipei that a newly assembled team always needed some time together before starting to play with consistency.

"Years playing together will jell us as a unit, [but] if there is no chemistry, it's going to be tough to beat all those talented teams," he said.

Bryant said he was confident the two years up to the Beijing Olympics would be enough to find that chemistry.

Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock, the 58th pick in the NBA draft earlier this summer, has signed a contract with the Lakers.

Pinnock, a 6-foot-5 guard who entered the draft following his junior year at George Washington, was taken by the Mavericks before being traded to the Lakers for a 2007 second-round draft choice.

Pinnock averaged 14.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 steals for George Washington last season. He then played for the Lakers in the Summer Pro League and averaged 10.6 points and 2.3 assists in 24.5 minutes.

Terms were not announced Wednesday by the Lakers.