So this is what passes for the Cavalry these days.

The horse is the white knight, the line being thrown to the drowning man, the whole boat. Shaquille O'Neal, having already wrapped up his second MVP award, now sets out to do something about the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers, or whatever pieces he can readily find. At least he won't have difficulty locating the panic button.

The XXL Factor is back, and so are the Lakers. Not all the way, but Shaq clears his throat and gets a double-double. Not all the way, but the three-time defending champions open training camp with everyone liking their chances again and maybe just a little bit appreciative for the head start.

	By sitting on the bench, Shaquille O'Neal showed just how valuable he really is to the world champs.

Game on!

"This is a joke, but it's true," Doc Rivers said. "When you're doing defense on the board, you do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. That's how you deal with the Lakers right now. And then when Shaq comes back, you do 1, 2, 3, 4 -- then you do the 5."

The Orlando Magic coach made a big motion with his arm.

"That's the difference," Rivers said.

He made a gigantic motion.

"It covers the whole board," Rivers said. "I mean, hell, he changes the game. He's a freak of nature and everyone would be different without him."

It will, of course, take time for rehabbing O'Neal to have an impact. What time is tipoff for tonight against the Bulls, the expected opponent for the comebaq? About 7:35 p.m. in Los Angeles? OK, then, 7:38.

"The minute he steps on the floor," Rivers said. "A guard or Grant (Hill), guys like that, it takes time. He might not play well (right away). But they're a completely different team because he's still bigger, faster and quicker than any 'big' on the floor, even at half speed. So there's still nothing you can do about it. He's still going to block your shot. He's still going to be in there getting rebounds. You watch Golden State the other night against them: The last 12 minutes of the game, they (the Warriors) posted every single time. Now, are they going to do that when Shaq comes back? I don't think so. People are pounding it down low against them and then taking it to them on the dribble because they know, 'What can you do?' But once he comes back, it's a whole different ballgame."

There goes the opponents' strategy the first 12 games. Lack-a-Shaq.

The Lakers lost nine of those, in what would have been a staggering notion at the start of the season, even with the extended absence expected. The Mavericks torched L.A. on Tuesday and Steve Nash said the Lakers are just another team without Shaq, and Dirk Nowitzki said O'Neal is pretty much the Lakers. By the start of play Thursday, the defending champions were 22nd in scoring and 18th in scoring defense. Except that they weren't the defending champions.

For all his moments of greatness, it took O'Neal doing nothing to prove his value once and for all. Not the preseason poll of general managers that predictably confirmed he would be the first choice for starting a franchise. Not going through three centers with size (Rik Smits, Dikembe Mutombo, Todd MacCulloch) to win titles. And not blasting through routine double- and triple-teams.

Doing nothing.

The winner and still champ. Kobe Bryant is a stud (no matter what a new round of critics wrongly claim), Tim Duncan is a franchise, Kevin Garnett is fabulous and even underrated in some ways, and Tracy McGrady has a brilliance that is only starting to show ... but O'Neal remains the only player no one can answer. Everyone knew this before, of course. But it had never been shown until now exactly how much he tilts the scale.

	“	This team is built to be able to play around Shaquille O'Neal. Outside of myself. I just kind of developed into my own a little bit. But everybody here is orchestrated to play around the big fella. ”
		— Kobe Bryant

"This team is built to be able to play around Shaquille O'Neal," Bryant said. "Outside of myself. I just kind of developed into my own a little bit. But everybody here is orchestrated to play around the big fella. That's why we're so good when he's here. Are we vulnerable now that he's out? Absolutely. But when he gets back, all of a sudden the people you look at as being vulnerable, now they're strengths. They come to the forefront."

Derek Fisher.

Robert Horry.

Rick Fox.

O'Neal has long been the dominant force in the game -- not just the one player no opponent can match up with, but the one none can even come close to dealing with, short of running multiple defenders. So Laker struggles in his absence are not a shock. But to have the roof collapse? He wasn't just the foundation to three titles. He was the side frames, too.

Bryant tried mightily to fill the same role. To knock him because it didn't happen is unfair. He is 6-foot-7 and a wing player. So are a lot of people. None apart from McGrady as talented, but Kobe has to go through two lines of defense -- the perimeter and then the interior -- to get to the basket. There is no other O'Neal.

Not that all the problems disappear as soon as he returns. Not to be forgotten is that coach Phil Jackson noted after the Dallas game that "I'm not too happy with my team from the standpoint of competitiveness," which has everything to do with attitude and approach. The Laker Rule is immediately imposed -- it's November and only one team has proven it can get away with hitting the snooze button and leaving a wake-up call for March.

But sore spots beyond Shaq's toe, there are a few.

"I look around the locker room and I don't see any fire in anybody's eyes. Everybody's just kind of dozing off a little bit," Bryant said. "I don't know if they're waiting for Shaquille to get back or whatever. I don't know. But there's just no intensity ... I can't really tell you what they're thinking. I don't know. The shots that they're getting should be going down. They're the same type of shots they're going to get when Shaquille gets back, that they're going to have to make. They have to be more aggressive and play within themselves and things will work out for them."

"Kobe's trying to make us competitive," Jackson said. "But a lot of guys are doing their job rebounding, trying to do the job defensively, that process. Kobe, who went from being a playmaker triple threat just a week ago, has really felt like he's had to shoulder a lot of responsibility shooting the ball and scoring for us. That's a whole different set of works there, because it makes it difficult to play alongside of him, as a teammate."

Ah-hem.

Added Bryant: "I don't really care that they understand how I feel. I want them to knock down open shots."

It's feeling a lot more like a season in full swing already. Now, 2002-03 begins for real.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.