Shaq finds new team and new aura in Tinsel Town

Sporting News, The, July 29, 1996 by Shaun Powell

They acquired him on a humbug, anyway. So maybe this was revenge against the Magic for being so lucky, for getting the right ping-pong ball not once, but twice. For building a budding basketball power in the middle of Florida, for goodness sakes.

Whatever. Orlando is back to being a Mickey Mouse town. Shaquille O'Neal is in Los Angeles, making movies and cutting rap CDs and, oh yeah, playing a little hoops.

The Magic did what they could to keep their 7-1, 303-pound, 24-year-old franchise center from leaving. But of all the teams stung by free agency in this crazy summer - the Pistons by losing Allan Houston Washington by losing Juwan Howard - none will feel the impact more than Orlando.

"We're disappointed," says John Gabriel, the Magic's general manager. "We lost a family member."

With Shaq, the Magic had championship aspirations. Without Shaq, the Magic are just another pretty good team capable of winning 45 or 50 games and losing in the first or second round of the playoffs.

With Shaq, the Magic were on NBC every other Sunday. Without Shaq, the Magic will be on TNT every other Tuesday.

Strangely, they are still an elite team by Eastern Conference standards. There are Chicago and New York and maybe Miami, and then there is everyone else. That's where the Magic sit in the immediate post-Shaq era. They are the Cavaliers and the Pacers.

The Magic still have life because they still have Penny Hardaway, one of the top three all-around players in the league who is fury capable of aft a team. He showed his true value last November, when the Magic went 18-5 while Shaq nursed a broken thumb.

But during the course of a season and especially in the playoffs, the Magic went win 18 of every 23 games.

I don't think what we did without Shaq has any bearing on what next year will be like," Magic coach Brian Hill says. "For anybody to expect us to win as much without him as we did with him is totally unrealistic."

The defection of O'Neal was because of one reason: Shaq. wanted a lifestyle change. It wasn't about money; the Magic's $115 offer was heavily front-loaded (starting with $24 million) and, therefore, was fairly comparable to the Lakers' $121 million offer. It wasn't about being closer to the entertainment industry because Shaq made his movies and records while in Orlando.

And it wasn't about being on a better team, because the Lakers don't have anybody with Hardaway's talent.

Shaq wanted L.A. because the city could offer what Orlando couldn't. Los Angeles had beaches. It had celebrities; too often, Shaq felt the drawbacks of being the only name in Hooterville. He was stung y the results of The Orlando Sentinel poll, where 91 percent responded that Shaq wasn't worth $115 million (memo to Shaq: No one would've received a "yes" vote except Mickey).

"I think he had a better chance to win here than in L.A.," Magic executive Pat Williams says. "It came down to the aura of Los Angeles."

At least in the immediate future, Orlando faces a few problems. It's locked into its team this season because it's exceeded the salary cap, which means ifs locked into Jon Koncak at center. It will have to gain a new identity and incorporate a new style. The team, after all, was built around O'Neal. "It's going to be a huge challenge for us, no question," Williams Says.

Magic quotient

The Lakers resigned Elden Campbell, but don't expect a guaranteed return by Magic Johnson. He has expressed a desire to return, but the same reasons Johnson retired last spring still exist. He won't play point guard, and he remains an uncomfortable fit inside a young Lakers locker room. Johnson said he was out of touch with today's players, and the addition of O'Neal won't change anything. Still, the Lakers could use Johnson, be cause other than Campbell and O'Neal; size is sorely missing on the front line.