LAKERS SHAQ-KLED - Part II

Does Shaquille O'Neal feel that he is not the stabilizer he was tabbed to be? Is he the cause of the Lakers non-championship seasons? Is too much expected from this superstar player?

Hmmm. Is there something wrong with this picture? Well now…

The complaints of O'Neal being abused are ridiculous just ask Toronto's VINCE CARTER. Carter took an O'Neal pounding in a recent Raptors game against the Lakers. Why is everyone else walking around in pain after being bashed by the human aircraft carrier and he's complaining?

Do the Lakers want their money's worth OR WHAT!!! Does O'Neal know it all too well and feel the pain and pressure from those above? Leave the Angels out of this. We're talkin Lakers management here. Well maybe this élitist group would prefer to be noted as top brass.

Since O'Neal joined the team July 8, 1996 the Lakers have traded away every player who was there the prior season. If you're thinking the Lakers are a tailor made team around the Shaq-Man you could be 100% correct. The problem is the suit is a little bit too short.

West moved many players to have enough in the kitty to pay the big fella. His mega-buck contract required some creative arithmatic. That meant trading and releasing many of the 95-96 players who were good enough to enable West to win his ONLY NBA Executive of the Year award.

Jerry West ['He's The Best' - as the LA reporters put it] has wrangled and mangled a young talented team to tatters. Hears the deal. How did all of this come about?

The Lakers started to unravel after MAGIC JOHNSON announced November 7, 1991 that he was infected with the HIV Virus and would retire. That 1991-92 season the Lakers finished in the standings BEHIND their cross-town rival Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers finished with a 45-37 record and the Lakers trailed with 43-39. They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in four games by the Portland Trail Blazers.

In the 1992-93 season the Lakers again finished behind the Clippers in the standings. The Clips had with a 41-41 record and the Lakers finished below .500 with a 39-43 record. To finish behind the perceived lowly Clippers is as embarrassing as it could get for the Golden Boys. But it got worse.

In the 1993-94 campaign the Lakers finished with a 33-49 record, 30 games behind division winner Seattle. It was the second worst record in franchise history. That includes the 12 years [1948-49 to 1959-60] the franchise was in Minneapolis. The Lakers were being flushed down the NBA toilet.

JERRY WEST hadda-do something. Can you imagine the Lakers being the laughing stock of the NBA for bringing up the rears of the Clippers? Look it up…it is written.

EDDIE JONES was the teams 1994 first round draft pick [10th overall]. CEDRIC CEBALLOS was acquired from the Phoenix Suns for a first round draft choice. The team improved its record to 48-34. The San Antonio Spurs eliminated them in the second round of the playoffs in six games.

West 'He's The Best' received the NBA Executive of the Year award for… as previously mentioned… the first time. Or as the Lakers media guide puts it, "A long overdue accolade for a man who helped guide the Lakers through one of the greatest decades in sports history and had once again positioned the team among the NBA's ELITE."

Then came the first year of the Shaq-man 1996-97. O'Neal left the Orlando Magic and signed as a free agent. Mass house cleaning began. Lakers set out to pasture were: Vlade Divac, Anthony Peeler, George Lynch, Derek Strong, and Sedale Threatt.

The organization, fans and LA press were pounding their chests with Shaq's arrival. They were in the BOW-WOW, WOOF-WOOF talking championship mode. In Shaq they felt they had the answer for what they needed to make it to the promise land… the NBA Championship. They were wrong.

The Lakers improved their record to 56-26 for a second-place finish in the Pacific Division one game behind Seattle. They were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz in five games. All was NOT joyous in "Glitter Gulch" or the "Fabulous Forum."

In the 1997-98 season the team finished tied with Seattle for first place in the Pacific Division with a 61-21 record. Utah swept them in the Western Finals. There were NO EXCUSES accepted.

Finger pointing and quarreling broke out. Rumor had it that Eddie Jones and then Lakers coach DEL HARRIS' days were numbered in Hollyweird. Shaq complained of needing rebounding help to take the load and pounding off of him.

Then came the abbreviated 50 game season of 1999. March 10, 1999 may go down as the blackest day in Lakers history. It will go down as the day that will forever haunt the franchise.

That was the day of the infamous Eddie Jones, ELDEN CAMPBELL trade. That was the day when the Lakers let it all hang out and dropped their bombs [press National Radio below for "Lakers Bombs Away"].

On the surface the key in this trade was Jones for GLEN RICE. Under the surface O'Neal lost more rebounding and pounding help with the 7-0, 255 pound Campbell's departure. That same day The Lakers waived 6-10, 242 pound reserve forward CORIE BLOUNT.

Before the big trade Bad Boy DENNIS RODMAN rode into town February 23, 199 as the hired gun to be the answer to Shaq's rebounding help. Rodman did the job until he short-circuited and the Lakers asked him to leave… EXIT stage left April 16th, 1999.

O'Neal liked and wanted Rodman around. The Lakers brass didn't. O'Neals rebounding and pounding woes were just beginning. The weight was again on his broad shoulders. At that point the Lakers were like a jelly doughnut….sweet and soft in the middle.

When the dust settled gone were ALL of the Lakers players who were on the team the year before O'Neal arrived in the "Glitter City" were history. The team that earned Jerry West his only NBA Executive of the Year award. He flushed them down the toilet. The last of that group to go were Jones and Campbell. OK let's not beat that trade to death, lets go forward.

The other Lakers not mentioned in the year before pre-O' Neal alumni include: Nick Van Exel, Cedric Ceballos, Magic Johnson, Fred Roberts, Anthony Miller, and Frankie King. Johnson returned from his retirement to play 32 games during the 95-96 season.

In recent years the Lakers organization boasted how YOUNG and talented their teams have been. And reached its zenith in 97-98, the 61 win season. Now going into the new millennium they are embracing the old school player. They are reaching out for MATURITY while throwing in the towel admitting that youth didn't get it done. We're not flipping flapjacks here this is what going on.

Does O'Neal feel that he is not the stabilizer he was tabbed to be? Is he the cause of the Lakers non-championship seasons? Is too much expected from this superstar player?

West had now gone championship ring shopping. The hiring of former Chicago Bulls coach PHIL JACKSON [see "Phil 'Action' Jackson" @ National Radio] brings seven rings to the table.

Seasoned veterans A.C. GREEN, 36, returns for his second stint with the team. Green won two NBA Championships with the Lakers 87-88 teams.

Former LA Clipper RON HARPER, 35, returns to town with three Chicago Bull's championship rings 96-97-98. When he was a Clipper, Harper was screaming that he felt like he was in jail. He wanted out of Dodge.

JOHN SALLEY, 35, has to be the biggest surprise pick-up. So much so he's not listed in the NBA Register of Players. The Lakers web-site has no history on Salley other than the current season information. The comedian has two rings from Detroit 89-90 to his credit. CAN I GET A WITNESS?

When last sighted, Salley was trying to launch a syndicated TV talk show. Salvaged from the talk show junk pile Salley is now a Laker. I don't make-em up folks. He's been out of the league since the 95-96 season. Is this the rebounding and pounding help that Shaq is looking for? The pressure mounts.

BRIAN SHAW also joins the team and will turn 34 during the season.

In these transactions the Lakers have padded their average age and now have four players [including ROBERT HORRY] and one coach with NBA Championship experience. They've picked up 12 rings through acquisitions. One troubling factor here is the acquired players are considered old by NBA standards, like CHARLES BARKLEY… the guy O'Neal assaulted.

West appears to be trying to stabilize a uncentered or unfocused team with the OLD HEADS. Is the young stallion O'Neal starting to feel insecure? He's a tremendous talent with no rings? Why the violence?

Part 3: SHAQ….SOMETHING'S BURNING

TRIVIA QUESTION: who was the NBA's number one overall draft pick in 1994?

WAYNE GRETZY: After the "GREAT ONE" was inducted into the NHL Hall Of Fame, it brought back memories of one encounter that I had with him.

Gretzky was always reluctant to talk about his achievements. This made my job difficult because I was field producing Great Moments In Sports feature audio segments for BOB COSTAS Inside Sports Magazine radio show.

The NHL's best-ever player preferred to talk about the game, and he was good at it. So I shifted gears and asked him what he thought about violence in hockey. He quickly responded that he already said all that he had to say on the subject to the NHL.

I was never able to get a good flow of communication with Gretzky. My feeling was that for him to talk about his achievements would dilute his focus in what he was trying to accomplish. What he did accomplish is breaking 61 records during his illustrious 21-year career. He is one of those "JUST DO IT" guys. Talk is cheap, and Gretzky was none of that.

To put what he did in perspective Gretzky had more ASSISTS (1963) in his career than former record-holder Gordie Howe scored in TOTAL career points (1850). Gretzky was 38 when he retired. Howe played professional hockey past the age of 50.

HELPING HANDS: The PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS posted a 10-1 record in their first 11 games of the season. They led their opponents in assists ( 26.1 - 19.5 ).

After a 97-91 loss last Friday, Philadelphia 76ers' coach LARRY BROWN said of the Trail Blazers, "They share the ball. They're a real team. I think they've got a focus like they're going to sacrifice anything to win a championship."

KARL MALONE ON A ROLL WITH BUTT-AHH: Karl Malone's 39 point performance in Monday's 108-93 Jazz victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves placed the 'Mailman' just 52 points from being the third place of the all-time NBA scoring list.

MICHAEL JORDAN currently holds down the third spot with 29,277 career points. Malone's NBA career began in 1985-86 making this his 15th in the league. He entered this season having played 1118 regular season games.

The 1984-85 NBA season was Jordan's first in the league. Ironically, he was only the third overall in that year's draft. During his career he played 930 regular season games. The multi-sport athlete didn't play the 1993-94 season spending that year playing baseball. He returned to play ONLY 17 regular season game in 1994-95.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Hakeem Olajuwon

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