EL SEGUNDO -- The Lakers aren't exactly excited about having Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol participate in the Olympics, but they know they're not in a position to prevent it.
"I played in one of those tournaments many, many years ago," said general manager Mitch Kupchak, a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 1976 Olympics, "so it's hard for me to say a player shouldn't experience that, from a personal point of view.
"From an organizational point of view, and a selfish point of view, you'd like your players -- particularly the ones who've played through June -- to get nothing but rest. But when it's your country involved, and your players are clearly passionate about it, I don't know how you can step in and say it's not something we want you to do."
Coach Phil Jackson also noted the players' enthusiasm.
"They're so gung-ho about it," said Jackson, "that I just have to allow them my blessing to play, even though they know my feelings about it.
"They know how we feel about their talents and we want their talents to be used for people that really pay their salaries, obviously."
Bryant and Gasol might not be the only ones in action this summer. Jackson said Ronny Turiaf (Martinique) and D.J. Mbenga (Congo) could play for their national teams this summer, as well.

Other notes from Friday's concluding day of exit interviews:
-- Andrew Bynum said he remains on track to begin jogging in early July after knee surgery to repair his injured kneecap. "There's no pain on the kneecap," he said, only some minor discomfort at the point of the incision.
Bynum also said it was difficult to only be able to watch as the Lakers lost the NBA Final to Boston.
"You definitely want to be playing when your team's struggling," he said. "It was horrible. ... People didn't see me as much as they wanted to, but it was just real hard to sit right there but (you) can't do anything."
He's also looking forward to finally getting to play with Gasol.
"I think it will work great," he said. "The guy's unbelievable. He's got a lot of skills. He can be on the weak side with Kobe, and I think that's going to be a phenomenal one-two (punch). Like he'll be playing the pinch post and isolating on the wing on the side block, and I'll be able to be in there doing what I do, block shots and get rebounds, getting duck-ins off the post and get in low position and wait for the ball."
-- Lamar Odom is also confident he can work in combination with Bynum and Gasol. The difference, he said, will mostly be defensive, "because it's a little different from playing a power forward to playing a small forward. ... Get my core and my leg strength down, pick my feet up a little bit. I'm looking forward to it.
"Offensively, it won't be (difficult). I'll just use the same advantage I use now. Bigger than a three (small forward), you can take him to the post, and playing a four (power forward), you can take him outside."
Odom tried to shrug off criticism of his play during the Finals, and media speculation he might be traded this offseason.
"Sometimes, I just realize that some people don't understand," he said, regarding those who want him to do more. "People that know the game, they understand what I do and how I do it."
Odom -- who said he wants to end his career as a Laker -- said the speculation about his future came up during his exit interview with Kupchak.
"It's crazy," he said, "because as soon as I walked into my meeting, Mitch said, 'I'm sorry about something that came out in the paper yesterday.'
"It's been going on ever since I've been here. I came over in a pretty big trade. Since then, we've missed the playoffs, lost twice in the first round and then lost in the championship. I know people want results, and results are winning consistently."
-- Derek Fisher is confident the Lakers will be better in 2008-09 as a result of the experience they gained this year -- including the thumping by Boston in the NBA Finals.
"It takes some experiencing of the process to gain a better understanding of the commitment it takes to get there," said Fisher. "I think for a moment there, we thought we already knew. ... We still know there's a gap there that we have to close.
"The best defensive team in the NBA, they were the champions. The season before, the San Antonio Spurs, they've always been one of the better defensive team, and they won a championship. So understanding that physically being present and stopping people on the defensive end are always going to be required, almost mandatory, to be a champion. ...
Hopefully, you want to come back better individually, and that makes the sum of the parts even greater."