Tuesday, October 5
By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Not that he's switching to Al Gore's camp, heaven forbid, but it didn't take long for Phil Jackson to remove the blue "Bill Bradley for President" button from his white Lakers golf shirt.
"I figured I'd sell Bradley," Jackson said, as he put the button in his pocket after about only two minutes of media day at the Forum. "But I've got to sell Nike, too."
|  | | Scottie Pippen's not a Laker, but Phil Jackson has other worries. |
More than that, he's got to sell the Lakers on the triangle offense, sell Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant on the meaning of teamwork and sell the Lakers on doing what it will take to shed the big, round button they wear heading into his first season in L.A.
Undisputed Underachievers of the NBA.
First, however, they've got to learn a new offense, which is really a new way to see the game. How big is the learning curve? By comparison, Shaq will think making free throws is a breeze.
"If I had my druthers, I'd like to see 'em get to the finals in the Western Conference and give themselves a chance to win it all," Jackson said. But installing the triangle and getting things to run smoothly, he quickly added, "will be hard. Very hard.
"Maybe in December, some of 'em will really get it down, and we'll have a basketball team where we can judge whether they are going to be champions or not," he said. "But these guys are going to go to remedial reading for a month. Then they'll be going to junior high school and then they'll get their secondary education in pro basketball. We have to teach them new skills, they have to learn a new system and we have to correct bad habits."
Like getting swept out of the playoffs, to name only the biggest. That's something O'Neal and Bryant have become very accomplished at, while sniping at each other along the way over who's the boss of this team. (It's Phil now, fellas.) Last season marked the second straight year that the Lakers lost a playoff series in only four games. That's something that's happened to Jackson only once in his coaching career -- when he was leading the Albany Patroons of the CBA. He came West after a year's hiatus with a different perspective. From the other side of the broom.
"I came here to win a championship," he said. But at the outset, his immediate goal is not as grandiose.
"I think this team should be looking to win 60 games," he said. "They did it a couple of years ago. It's a realistic number. As for as me, I don't want to lose a single game. That's my approach."
There are other major sales jobs along the way, of course. He wants Shaq to lose weight and add some assists to his game. Not to mention change camps from Gore to Bradley. "I think Bill Cosby is responsible for that, but I've got to get Shaq on the right side of the tracks," Jackson said, smiling.
O'Neal, looking svelte in the Lakers' new uniforms, is obviously making progress on the weight issue. The latter will be Jackson's biggest challenge, since Shaq has averaged only two per game in his seven NBA seasons. As for supporting Gore, it's a free country, right?
Jackson also has to sell Bryant on playing within the system, and not feel like he has to get his shot every time down the floor. Jackson's biggest ally in that campaign is that Bryant is just 21 and eager as ever to learn.
"I don't think Phil will have to be a mediator," Bryant said of his sometimes rocky relationship with O'Neal, which many see as the No. 1 issue facing the Lakers. "I don't see any problems between the two of us, really."
You don't have to sell Jackson on what Scottie Pippen would do if he were here to help in the Lakers' transition program. Even with Pippen going to Portland, the Lakers privately maintain that they can still get him in a deal for Glen Rice, Robert Horry and Travis Knight.
"But he's with Portland now, so we'll see what happens," Jackson said. "Portland had a reason to get him, so they'll use him. If they have success with him, then they certainly aren't going to want to give him up."
So there's no secret how Jackson is rooting. He'd like Pippen to get along with his new teammates about as well as he did at the end with Charles Barkley.
"Of course, we'd all like to have a player like him," Jackson said. "Scottie played this offense for 11 years and had six championships. So he's fit for what I can run. But it doesn't mean that there aren't other people that can play this."
But can Shaq and Kobe and Rice and Rick Fox play it as well as people named Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Kukoc? That's the ultimate selling job facing Phil Jackson.
Rim Shots I
Livin' large: Michael Jordan shelled out $30,000 to rent a plush condo while attending the Ryder Cup. During the matches, he flew in a chef to prepare gourmet dinners for himself and a few of his friends. Mario Lemieux provided the finest of wines, while John Elway was another house guest ... Ron Artest hasn't exactly gotten off to a flying start in the NBA, flunking out of the league's mandatory orientation program for first- and second-round picks. The ex-St. John's star was sent home from the recent five-day session for breaking a rule. Sources say Artest, now with the Bulls, failed to attend a scheduled meeting and instead was found with a woman in his room. He also left the orientation program poorer, getting hit with a $5,000 fine ... The Knicks went to Charleston with NBA's No. 1 payroll, as usual. New York's 12-man roster is making $71 million ... One Western Conference coach has it on good authority that Charles Barkley, who agreed to "one-year deal" for $9 mil, already has a deal in the bank for next season with the Rockets, at $14 mil. As far as the NBA knows, no such deal exists. Pssst: There's another big bag of money in the same Houston vault, with newest Rocket Shandon Anderson's name on it ... Bison Dele, contemplating early retirement, told Pistons he won't come back until his head is 100 percent. Which would be the first time.
Rim Shots II
Pacers coaches so impressed with off-season workouts of rookie Jonathan Bender, they're already comparing him to Kevin Garnett -- but with the perimeter game Garnett has never acquired. Sounds too good to be true. ... Except for Tim Duncan and Keith Van Horn (on some nights), the 1997 draft is shaping up as a major bust. Subtracting Duncan, who can get big money any time he wants, among top players, only Van Horn has been rewarded with the maximum $71 mil contract. Eight of the first 11 picks have been traded, with three players on their third teams. Only Duncan, Warriors' Adonal Foyle (who nobody wants) and Raptors' Tracy McGrady are still with original teams. Clips' No. 1 pick of '97, Maurice Taylor, certain to be moving on next summer. VP Elgin Baylor went to the mat to get Taylor his money, only to be rejected by owner Donald Sterling ... How much money does new St. Louis Grizzlies owner Bill Laurie have? Enough so that when he bought the team, he didn't even bother to open the books ... Everyone calls the new five-second rule the "Barkley rule," but it's going to hurt Shaquille O'Neal more than anyone else.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com. |  |
