AN UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE : Mychal Thompson Gets Pumped Up Without Losing Shooting Touch

Guys such as Mychal Thompson, to whom life is but a continuous stand-up comedy routine, are hard to take seriously. They fire off one-liners and twisted observations so readily that you tend to overlook such mundane matters as basketball.

Thompson’s Laker teammates, alternately amused and annoyed by his act, recently drew a caricature of the 6-foot 9-inch swingman on a locker room chalkboard. Written inside Thompson’s exaggeratedly large head were, “Hot Air.”

But, wouldn’t you know it, when Thompson finally takes something seriously, the Lakers strongly object and claim it could be detrimental to his career.

Always one to flout convention, Thompson has blithely disregarded the Lakers’ established weightlifting program, designed to strengthen all parts of the body without limiting flexibility.

Instead, as compulsive about weightlifting as he is about comedy, Thompson works out at Gold’s Gym in Venice, widely known as a haunt for serious body-builders, as well as serious eccentrics.

That has caused some disagreement between Thompson and the Laker staff, which fears that the important sixth man will lose so much flexibility, he will not be able to lift his arms above his head to shoot.

As always with Thompson, though, the joke is on the Lakers.

Thompson, who admits that he has slightly modified his weightlifting routine, at the Lakers’ request, certainly has not lost his shooting touch. In fact, he leads the National Basketball Assn. in shooting percentage, at 60.6%. His closest competition is Philadelphia’s Charles Barkley at 58.6%.

Gary Vitti, the Lakers’ trainer, looks at Thompson’s unconventional weight program, then at his lofty shooting percentage, and simply shakes his head.

“How can I tell him anything now ?” Vitti asked.

All Laker players, except Thompson, do specially designed weightlifting exercises that stress muscular endurance rather than size and strength. This is accomplished by lifting with less weight but many repetitions.

Thompson, however, likes heavy weights and short repetitions about 3 days a week. He said he had settled into that routine long before joining the Lakers during the 1986-87 season and that he has experienced no problems with either his shooting touch or flexibility.

Trying to delay the aging process, Thompson, who will be 34 next Monday, said he is as dedicated to weightlifting as ever, but has recently cut his trips to the gym from 4 to 3 times a week.

On the morning of a recent Laker game, Thompson requested that an interview be conducted in a weight room adjacent to the Lakers’ locker room at the Forum, so he could pump some iron before the shoot-around began.

He spoke amid the clang of barbells and paused during his responses to maintain proper breathing while doing arm curls.

“Maybe they think I overdo it,” Thompson said. “But I give my body enough time to recuperate after games and practices. They think I lift too heavy and it affects my shot or something. I think it helps me. They know that.

“You have to approach conditioning with a lot of intensity. You can’t burn yourself out, but if you get the (repetitions) in at night and between games, you can do it 3 times a week. When you do it, you do it hard and fast. I feel stronger this way than their way.

“Mentally, it helps you feel better about yourself. It makes you feel you’re doing more to stay on top of your game. And doing it this way has kept me from injuries.”

Well, not always. Last season, when Thompson was even heavier into weightlifting than now, he hurt his shoulder while bench-pressing. The Lakers, at that time, ordered Thompson to give weightlifting a rest. A compromise was reached. Thompson said he would stop bench-pressing.

Maybe it is a coincidence, but Thompson’s shooting percentage has improved 9% this season. He puts it down to more playing time at center in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s final season, not the absence of bench-pressing.

Still, he said, he no longer visits the gym on game days and no longer engages in marathon lifting sessions with his body-building buddies when he does work out.

According to Vitti and Coach Pat Riley, the change has left Thompson 10 pounds lighter and much more fluid in his shooting. And, according to Riley’s statistics, Thompson has been more productive than 10 of the NBA’s starting centers.

“The shoulder thing happened lifting,” Thompson said. “I guess I was going too heavy, too often on the bench press last year. Gary Vitti warned me about it, told me to slow down. I was doing up to 300 (pounds). I was feeling so good, so strong.

“But it caught up with me. I was doing everything last year, bench-pressing and stuff 4 times a week. Since I hurt my shoulder, I haven’t benched, but I still work out. If you stretch and take it easy, you’re OK.”

Perhaps Thompson still frequents the gym because he feels at home among the assortment of characters there. He recently was the subject of the cover story of Pump magazine.

“I fit right in there,” he said, laughing.

It is not as if Thompson, a native of the Bahamas, simply wants to look good when he lies on the beach back home during the off-season. He does not grease his body and strike poses in front of a mirror before games. But he does like a body with some definition.

Thompson said that when he was traded to the Lakers in February of 1987, he was almost as happy about the proximity of the gym as he was about the chance to play on a championship team.

“If you’re into weightlifting, Gold’s Gym is like Carnegie Hall, like the Mecca,” Thompson said.

Riley said that Thompson had played a pivotal role in the Lakers’ consecutive NBA titles and that he is a major part of this season’s try for a third straight championship.

“Without Mychal the last 2 years, I don’t think we would’ve won,” Riley said. “Or, at least, we would’ve been hard pressed to win either year.”

Thompson’s role has increased this season, with Abdul-Jabbar’s minutes significantly reduced. In recent games, however, since Riley announced his 2-week evaluation period for Abdul-Jabbar, Thompson and Abdul-Jabbar have often played together.

“That worked for us a lot last year, but I got away from it this season and I shouldn’t have,” Riley said. Should Riley decide to use Abdul-Jabbar off the bench after the evaluation period ends, seemingly a remote possibility at this point, Thompson says he would not mind starting. But his preference, he said, is to be Abdul-Jabbar’s backup or to play alongside him.

“We need Kareem for the stretch run and the playoffs,” Thompson said. “I’m the same player whether I’m the starter or reserve. I get starter’s minutes (27), anyway.”

Thompson, averaging 10.2 points and 6.6 rebounds, has been so consistent this season that Riley said he does not believe the Lakers need to acquire another power forward before the trading deadline Feb. 23, as rumors have had the club trying to do.

“If somebody just wanted to give us one, then, yeah,” Riley said. “But if you were to bring another big man in right now--without having to give up anything like a front-line player--he’d demand minutes that would take away from a lot of people’s minutes.” After Abdul-Jabbar retires, the Lakers will have $1.5 million to use to sign a free-agent center. Already, there has been speculation that the Lakers will try to sign Philadelphia 76ers center Mike Gminski, who will be a free agent after this season.

One possibility that has not been rumored is that the Lakers will hand over Abdul-Jabbar’s departed starting job to Thompson for a season or 2 until a permanent replacement could be found.

That is because the Lakers must use the $1.5 million, half of Abdul-Jabbar’s current contract, before next season or lose it under salary-cap restrictions. “I think we could win with Mychal (next season),” Riley said. “There’d have to be some changes, a shift in focus. And I don’t know how far we’d go. I think we could win 50 games. But we wouldn’t want to do that. We want to bring in another center.”

Thompson does not take it personally. He agrees with that thinking.

“I like being a backup,” Thompson said. “Next year, after Kareem leaves, I still want to be a backup. I expect it. I like it here, and I want to have a good time my last 2 or 3 years in the league, maybe win a few more championships. Then, I’ll start my real life.”

Which, if you can take Thompson seriously, will include running for the prime ministry of the Bahamas. Or maybe, given his obsession with weightlifting, he will instead try to win the “Mr. Caribbean” body-building title.