The Lake Show Part Ii

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

"If we're ever going to be a really good team, we're going to have to beat the Lakers," says Longley of his current team, the Suns.

Shaq is the starting point for beating the Lakers. There is no comparable center in the NBA-7-1, 330 pounds and young. Alonzo Mourning is 6-10, 261. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon are 37, Arvydas Sabonis will be 36 and David Robinson will be 35. Dikembe Mutombo is 34. The best centers in O'Neal's age group are guys such as Shawn Bradley, Greg Ostertag and Bryant Reeves. There is no promising group or' young centers who will develop in the next couple of years, leaving O'Neal free to roam the paint like Godzilla in Tokyo. Denver's Raef LaFrentz (6-11,240), Minnesota's Radoslav Nesterovic (7-0, 248), the Clippers' Michad Olowokandi (7-0, 269) and Golden State's Erick Dampier (6-11,265) could develop into good big men in the West, but they are undersized. Of course, most telephone poles are undersized when it comes to dealing with O'Neal.

Still, the Lakers can be beaten, even with O'Neal, though the list of teams capable of doing it is short:

Trail Blazers. Portland will return pretty much the same team next season. Sabonis must stay healthy. At 7-3, 292, he is physically suited to guard O'Neal and got better at it as the Western Conference finals progressed. Rasheed Wallace is 6-11 and developing into one of the NBA's top offensive threats and, in the playoffs, Scottie Pippen forged his role as team leader. The Blazers will age quickly over the next couple of years--seven of the 12 players on the playoff roster are over 30--so next season could be the team's last hope. Odds: 2-1

Pacers. After the first two games of The Finals, the Pacers played the Lakers well. Though the team has six free agents and a new coach to deal with, expect essentially the same group with some minor adjustments, including moving Rik Smits to the bench and inserting Austin Croshere as the starting power forward and Travis Best or Jalen Rose as the point guard. Odds: 5-1

Spurs. This pick is iffy. Want proof?. Check out all these `IFs.' IF the Spurs sign Grant Hill for one season at $3 million (and IF Hill thinks the Spurs can get to The Finals, there's a chance he would go for it), and IF San Antonio keeps Tim Duncan and IF Duncan stays healthy, and IF Robinson stays healthy, and IF Sean Elliott does not retire, and IF the team can trade Samaki Walker for a big guard, then the Spurs have a shot at toppling the Lakers.

Actually, with Duncan and Robinson in the frontcourt, San Antonio could possibly beat the Lakers without Hill. Odds: 8-1

Knicks. Assuming Ewing fades away (to the bench, or worse yet, to the Wizards), the Knicks have the transition game the Lakers are powerless to stop. But the Knicks would be equally power less to stop the Lakers in the half-court game. A fun contrast, but the Knicks are a long shot. Odds: 15-1

Kings. They are young, athletic and deep, and though their talent level does not match the Lakers', the Kings are capable of pulling off an upset. Maybe they got lucky to push the Lakers to five games in a short series, but like the Blazers and Pacers, they also learned some valuable lessons about defending Los Angeles. In each of those series, it took a couple of games for the Lakers' opponents to figure out the best way to defend L.A. because you can't match its style in practice. Game experience is most valuable, and the Kings got five games' worth this year. Odds: 20-1