The Lake Show Part Ii

Sporting News, The, July 3, 2000 by Sean Deveney, Stephen Siegel

Can the Lakers produce a worthy sequel next season (something like The Godfather Part II of an NBA season comes to mind)? Here's what the Lakers must do to capture back-to-back titles--`It's not personal, Reggie, it's business'--and which teams might stop them.

Ron Harper and Kobe Bryant are sitting in a small room tucked somewhere in the hollow underbelly of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a few hours after the Lakers defeated the Pacers in Game 6 of The Finals to clinch this season's title. Bryant is on Harper's lap, laughing, taking short slugs out of a bottle of Korbel champagne. Bryant, who turned 21 last August, is not much of a drinker, and the champagne is going to his head. He pours some on Harper, who, having experienced three NBA championship celebrations in his career, has the good sense to close his eyes as it drips over his face.

Bryant then decides to douse himself, letting the champagne roll over his forehead. But he has not closed his eyes, and when the bubbly hits his sockets, it does not take long for him to realize this was an unwise decision. His face crinkles tight. He rubs his eyes. The joy of an NBA title is interrupted by this brief bout with blindness and pain before someone comes to the rescue with a black Lakers' T-shirt, which Bryant uses to clear his eyes.

Consider this championship lesson No. 1 for Bryant: When immersing oneself in celebratory booze, be sure to keep one's eyes closed.

"Man, I'm all sticky," Bryant says. "And don't get it in your eyes. That stings. That stings bad."

That's a lesson Bryant and his teammates should keep handy. For eight of the Lakers, this championship experience was a first, the first opportunity to spray champagne in each others' faces without fear of getting a retaliatory knock on the head. For many of them, it will not be their final championship experience because the Lakers have themselves in position to dominate the NBA over the next four or five years.

But as many as six of the 12 Lakers on the playoff roster will not be with the team next season. The moves the Lakers make will be designed to fill in the team's holes, and for a team that went 82-23 over the regular season and the playoffs, filling the holes may mean, what, 85-20? This is not an inviting prospect for other NBA teams.

"That team over there is going to be tough to beat over the next few years," retiring Pacers coach Larry Bird says. "I don't know who can stop them."

After Game 6, as Lakers owner Jerry Buss sat discussing his team's future, center Shaquille O'Neal--who averaged 38 points and 16.7 rebounds during The Finals, earning him series Most Valuable Player and making him just the third player, joining Michael Jordan ('96 and '98) and Willis Reed ('70), to win the MVP awards for the regular season, the All-Star game and The Finals--took a seat next to Buss and began clearing his throat and delivering less-than-subliminal messages.

"Ugh-hmmm ..." O'Neal started, before adding in a low voice, "extension." A couple of coughs, more throat clearing and another, "Mmmgghh ... extension."

Buss smiled. "Anything you want, baby."

O'Neal registered one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, becoming the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1976-77 season to be among the NBA's top three in scoring (29.7, 1st), rebounding (13.6, 2nd), field-goal percentage (57.4, 1st) and blocked shots (239, 3rd). He turned 28 in March. Extending his contract is like a trip to the lobotomist--a no-brainer. The deal will be done this summer.

"Everybody's noticed this fantastic improvement in him, the way he passes, the fact that he can shoot so much better," Buss says. "He just seems to feel that he is the best player, and he set out to demonstrate it and certainly did so, I think, to everyone's satisfaction."

But after O'Neal--and Bryant--there are some suspicious characters at every position, which could lead to a bumpy summer:

Point guard. Harper was good when the Lakers needed him most, in the conference finals (10.7 points a game) and The Finals (10.8 points). He's 36, though, and may be better suited for bench duty or retirement. But Harper is 6-6, which makes him the ideal point guard for coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense, which favors big guards. The Lakers signed 6-1 Derek Fisher last summer to a seven-year deal, but he is too small to figure as the starter. And the list of free-agent point guards--Anthony Carter (6-1), Howard Eisley (6-2) and Darrick Martin (5-11)--offers no promising candidates. Wouldn't it be ironic if the Lakers signed Pacers free agent Mark Jackson (6-3)? Harper says he will play again if Jackson asks him back. That's the most likely scenario, although the Lakers may pursue a shooting guard to convert into a point.

Shooting guard, After O'Neal, the only sure thing with the Lakers is Bryant. Part of the team's development this season has been the emphasis put on O'Neal, which means the emphasis has been taken off Bryant. "I think Phil sat down and told him whose team it really was," Pacers guard Reggie Miller says, "I know there was some type of tension between (O'Neal) and Kobe, but, you know, Phil came in here and said, 'This is Shaq's team.' That's no knock on Kobe because he is a fabulous player. But everything runs through Shaq." Despite the reduction in emphasis, Bryant averaged a career-best 22.5 points in the regular season.