Lakers Get Stonger as Youth Fills Vacuum Left by Abdul-Jabbar

The farewell tour seems nothing more than a distant memory. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is gone and, in an immediate sense, forgotten.

That is not an insult, no matter how it sounds. Last season, the Lakers gave him the respect he had earned. He turned 42 in April. He was an old basketball player. His statistics and production were at all-time lows.

Still, the Lakers talked of his greatness. They talked of how they would miss him. When it finally was time for him to leave, his teammates bought a Rolls-Royce for him.

But when the Lakers met in Hawaii for training camp, Coach Pat Riley no longer looked backward. He no longer had to massage Abdul-Jabbar’s ego and hope it would pay off in a last-second, game-winning sky hook. Riley made it clear that the new-look Lakers were aggressively moving forward. He said they were faster, quicker, younger and no longer confined to a half-court offense.

“The anchor,” Riley said, dramatically, “has been lifted.”

Riley could defend his use of the word “anchor” by noting that Abdul-Jabbar steadied the ship. But there also is little doubt that with Abdul-Jabbar in the lineup, the running game could bog down and the defense was a step slow.

Whether intended or not, the Lakers’ players also indicate they do not miss the older Abdul-Jabbar’s diminished skills. That is evident when they talk about the potential of 21-year-old Yugoslav rookie center Vlade Divac, who was only 1 when Abdul-Jabbar began his rookie year.

“We’ve changed,” Magic Johnson said, “because the addition of Vlade makes us a little bit better.”

Better? In the first 37 games of the season, Divac has averaged fewer than 19 minutes a game.

But after 37 games, the record indicates the Lakers are better. At 28-9, they not only have the best record in the league, but they are three games better than their 25-12 record at the same point last season.

They also have achieved something they did not last season. On Sunday, they beat the Pistons, 107-97. That broke a seven-game losing streak against the Pistons--including two regular-season games last season, four games in the National Basketball Assn. finals and the first meeting this season.

“Any time you lose a great center, you lose a great dimension,” Riley said. “But we’re a better team this season.”

When describing their improvement, the operative word among the Lakers, who will be at Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks tonight, is defense. For years, they have been an underrated defensive team, primarily because their defense was sporadic. They were capable of impressive defensive displays, but not over an extended period.

This season, however, they have given up an average of 101.0 points a game, ranking third in the league. In the last three seasons, the Lakers never allowed less than an average of 107 points a game, and they have ranked eighth, 11th and 12th in defense.

Riley credits much of the improvement to Mychal Thompson, who replaced Abdul-Jabbar in the starting lineup. “Mychal Thompson is one of the best low-post defenders in the league,” Riley said.

“Their defense is tougher,” said Phoenix Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, whose team lost in the Western finals to the Lakers last season. “I personally think the Lakers are better now, not because Kareem is gone, but because they’re more versatile. A lot of times, you used to set picks with Kareem’s man, and Kareem couldn’t come outside and cover. Now they jump out and cover. Thompson and Divac both will get out there.”

Offensively, the Lakers no longer have the sky hook to rescue them when a play breaks down and the shot clock is running out. But they still have Magic Johnson and James Worthy, and that seems to be more than enough. Johnson leads the Lakers in scoring with a 21.7 average and is second in the league with 11.6 assists a game. Worthy averages 21.4 points and had 31 to lead the Lakers in their victory over the Pistons on Sunday.

The Lakers have been so efficient as a team that they have been able to withstand an off year by shooting guard Byron Scott, who has not fully recovered from the hamstring injury that kept him out of the finals last season.

Scott said the injury has healed, but he has not fully regained his strength. Last year, he could curl 70 pounds with his left leg; this year, he can curl only 30 pounds. That obviously has affected his jumping ability and his jump shot. Scott, a 50.8% career field-goal shooter, has made a career-low 44.1% of his shots and is averaging 15.4 points, his lowest average since the 1985-86 season.

Scott’s struggles, however, have not slowed the Lakers. And they seem to be invigorated by the presence of Divac, the 7-foot-1, 245-pound center who has averaged 8.8 points and is the fourth-leading rebounder on the team with 6.3 a game. He also leads the Lakers with 45 blocked shots and should surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 85 last season.

“Vlade has grown leaps and bounds and has given us excellent play at center,” Riley said. “He really has surpassed expectations for us. It’s a real gift.”

The Lakers got lucky because of the language barrier. Divac’s inability to speak English scared many teams, which is why he lasted until the 26th pick of the first round. Before the draft, scouts said Divac was as good a talent as Pervis Ellison, the No. 1 pick.

Divac has had his moments. On Jan. 15, he had 25 points in 28 minutes against the Sacramento Kings. But he also has had his rookie moments. He was so overmatched against the Pistons’ James Edwards and the game Sunday was so intense that Divac played only six minutes. And now he gets to meet the Knicks’ Patrick Ewing.

“In two or three years, if he works on his strength and defense, he will be a force in this league,” Scott said. “He’ll find out against Patrick. He’s going to have to be very physical, even though he’s not a very physical player. He’s going to have to learn to use his lower body a lot and try to move Patrick out, and then hope and pray that Patrick misses a lot of shots.”

That makes Divac no different from any other center in the league. And if Abdul-Jabbar were in the middle, the Lakers still would need to hope he wouldn’t be too much of a defensive liability. But he’s gone. And the Lakers are moving forward nicely.