Friday, September 28, 2001

Lakers arrive
today to begin
run at 3-peat

The NBA champs open camp
tomorrow at UH and will play
2 preseason games here

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From staff and wire reports

When last seen in June, the Los Angeles Lakers were dismantling the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers to complete a 15-1 playoff run -- best in NBA history.

Now, on the eve of training camp, it appears the pieces are in place for a third straight championship despite a semi-made-over roster and offseason surgeries on Shaquille O'Neal, Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen.

"The three-peat, from my experience, has always been a down year, less than the year before," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said yesterday, and he would know, having coached the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls to three straight titles twice in the 1990s.

"It's human nature to relax, there's no doubt about it," Jackson said. "I don't think it has to be like that for this team. Reaching 60 wins is what we're after. I think this team can do that."

The Lakers are due to arrive today on a charter flight from Los Angeles with their first practice set for tomorrow on the University of Hawaii campus. They have added a second exhibition game at the Stan Sheriff Center after opting not to play in Japan due to the recent terrorist attacks.

The first exhibition game with the Golden State Warriors is set for Oct. 7 at 4:30 p.m. There are about 1,000 tickets available. The second game will be played Oct. 9. Tickets for that game go on sale Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Stan Sheriff box office. Ticket prices range from $10-65.

This is the first time the Lakers have practiced here since Jackson took over the team two years ago. He coached his first Lakers team to an NBA-best 69-13 record en route to their first championship since 1988.

But the road was bumpy in the postseason -- they lost playoff games by 19, 29 and 33 points, and had to rally from a 15-point deficit in the final 1012 minutes to beat Portland in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

That was nothing compared to most of last season, when injuries along with the well-publicized differences between O'Neal and Kobe Bryant contributed to a very unchampionship-like 48-26 record through 74 games.

Then, buoyed by the coming together of O'Neal and Bryant along with the excellence of Fisher, who missed the first 62 games of the season following surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right foot, the Lakers suddenly came together.

First came an eight-game winning streak to end the regular season. And then the incredible postseason run.

"They were the best team I'd ever seen in the playoffs," said Jackson, who singled out the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, who went 12-1 in the postseason, for comparison, and didn't mention any of the championship teams he coached in Chicago.

The current Lakers have 10 holdovers from last season and 10 newcomers in the battle for 12 roster spots, plus those on the injured list.

Fisher, who underwent surgery for another stress fracture in his right foot on July 3, and Madsen, who had an operation on his left wrist the same day, figure to be sidelined until at least December.

It's hoped O'Neal, who had surgery on his left small toe Aug. 29, will be in the starting lineup Oct. 30 when the Lakers open the season against Portland.

"I think he'll be ready sometime in training camp," Jackson said. "It takes a while before you really get yourself in shape."

Jackson said O'Neal had promised he would report to camp under 300 pounds and in great shape, but that was before his surgery.

Now, there's a bit of uncertainty.

"Another end of the scale -- we're going to get something better from Shaq because he's not going to have the pounding practices at the beginning of the season," Jackson said. "We'd like him to be ready to really start rolling sometime at the end of November."

With the injuries and newcomers in mind, Jackson said he expected a slow start to the season, but added: "I don't think we'll be as panicked this year as last year."

Gone from last year's team are starting forward Horace Grant, backup center Greg Foster, and reserve guards Ron Harper, Tyronn Lue and Isaiah Rider.

Among the newcomers are forwards Samaki Walker and Dickey Simpkins, center Jelani McCoy and guards Lindsey Hunter, Mitch Richmond and Dennis Scott, who was signed yesterday.

"We have been steadily putting this roster together since June 25," Jackson said. "We think we have some great additions to this team. We're going to miss a Horace, a Harp, a Tyronn Lue who helped us win championships.

"Once we get some guys back," he added, referring to those who had surgeries, "we think we'll be fine. I think we'll have the athleticism."

Jackson said he was leaning toward Walker as the starter at power forward, with Robert Horry again coming off the bench, and Hunter at Fisher's spot in the backcourt.

And he said the two questions he had entering training camp concerned O'Neal and his conditioning and the status of Richmond's right knee, which flared up last week.

"A very healthy Mitch Richmond could be very good for this team," Jackson said.

In terms of the entire picture, Jackson pointed out the Lakers don't have "a big body" behind Shaq.

However, he added: "As a coach, I know if Shaq's not in our lineup, we're going to have a difficult time anyway."