THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : West’s Words Don’t Help Smooth Out the Lakers’ Bumpy Path

Earvin and Jerry: It ended quickly, but the Laker foundations trembled last week.

Magic Johnson took exception to Jerry West’s seeming dismissal of his performance to a Cleveland reporter--”Magic has been playing OK. At times, he’s looked like the Magic of last year.” Johnson even wondered aloud if he wanted to remain a Laker. A short meeting with West chilled everything out. The franchise endures.

What’s going on?

Like the economy, the Lakers are confronting an age of limits. The team that won 72% of its games in the 1980s and 75% over the last half of the decade has to raise its game to join the Portland-San Antonio elite in the West. The strain tells on men such as West and Johnson, whose drive fueled the Laker ascent.

With Pat Riley gone, this is West’s team, and West is a hard judge of anyone, including himself. Said a longtime observer: “Jerry honestly believes he had a mediocre NBA career.”

Johnson gives up a lot for the team as a matter of course and isn’t used to being taken for granted, much less looked at askance.

Nerves are being rubbed raw and could be again. These are times that will try Laker souls.

Since the subject has come up, how are the Lakers doing?

GOOD

Sam Perkins--Fate keeps putting him on the spot; he was drafted ahead of Charles Barkley in 1984, given a $3.2-million-a-year contract in 1990. All he does is anything anyone could ask. He posts up, shoots from the perimeter, makes 51%, defends against centers and big forwards. His coaches from Dean Smith to Bob Knight to Richie Adubato loved him, and now the Lakers know why. They’re 15-5 with him starting, and all you’ve heard since is, “We didn’t know how good he was.”

OK-PLUS

Magic Johnson--Maybe more the franchise than ever before. Laker confusion shows in his game and has, particularly in his shooting. He was at 21% on three-point attempts until going 11 for 24 over the past five games. The season’s big moments--at Phoenix, at New York--came after the Lakers saddled him up and rode him home.

A.C. Green--You can’t always prove it with numbers. As important as his hustle and hard-nosed play off the bench is his willingness to accept being on it. His name is still being mentioned in trade speculation, though. If nothing else, the Lakers can’t make much of a move without freeing up his $1.7-million salary.

OK

James Worthy--You still need instant replay to follow his moves, like last week’s 360-degree-spinning-left-handed-layup that rolled off the rim against the Clippers. But he was thrown off-stride by his Houston embarrassment and is only lately showing signs that he’s back. A career 56% shooter, he was at 47% over 18 games from Houston to the end of the last trip. In his last two games, though, he went 25 for 37.

Byron Scott--After a slow start, he’s beginning to make his outside shots again. He shot 41% for the first 12 games, 51% since. He still isn’t challenging defenses as he did at the top of his game. A successful return to the running game would help him.

Mychal Thompson--What he’s got, they get. Probably in his last Laker hurrah.

OK-MINUS

Vlade Divac--Hasn’t been awful, hasn’t been great. Hasn’t been what they thought he’d be, either.

Terry Teagle--Icebound. Just can’t get over the hump.

Larry Drew--He has to fill the biggest shoes of all, but the Lakers have been dropping like a rock when Johnson sits. West is shopping up a storm for point-guard help, so Drew has to show something. A better running game and a turnaround by Teagle would help him, too.

Notes

The Golden State Warriors’ Don Nelson on 7-foot-2, 285-pound Louisiana State sophomore Shaquille O’Neal: “I can’t get my eyes off him. I think I’m in love.” If all you had to look at were Alton Lister and Steve Johnson, you’d be emotional, too. . . . Since the Baddest Boy of All, Rick Mahorn, arrived, Philadelphia is 4-2 against Detroit. Says Mahorn, who has a hard feeling or two toward his ex-mates: “I wish we could play them 82 times.” . . . Travel is broadening, so more of it must be good: The 76ers played in Miami last week, chartered home, saw their flight diverted to Pittsburgh by fog, checked into an airport hotel at 3 a.m., awoke at 6 a.m., boarded a 7:30 a.m. commercial flight, saw it turn back on the runway, arrived home at 11 a.m., came from behind to beat the Pistons that night. Said Charles Barkley: “Guttiest win I’ve ever been associated with.”

The decision by Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas to miss the Pistons’ Christmas Eve charter to Chicago cost each a $250 fine and, reportedly, at least $2,500 each for the plane they chartered the next day. Said Laimbeer: “The age of my kids dictated my presence was important when they opened their gifts. I’ve always preached my family was more important. I guess I put my money where my mouth was.” Laimbeer has been talked out of retiring the past two seasons. Does he sound like he’ll be harder to sell this summer? . . . Word in GM circles: The Pistons will listen to offers for one of their guards. Because Vinnie Johnson commands little value and they’d be loath to part with Joe Dumars, this leaves Thomas. Indeed, there was a Danny Manning-for-Thomas rumor last week. The Pistons are so starved for offense, Coach Chuck Daly will take a chance playing William Bedford, whose defense Daly pillories.

Stacey (Moby) King had gone nine games without scoring in double figures when the Bulls’ Phil Jackson made him a starter, obviously to see if that would revive him. In his starting debut, the 6-11 King had six points and one rebound, or in the words of a Chicago observer, “one more rebound than a dead man.” In his second start, King bounced back with two points and three rebounds. . . . Stand by your man, for a while, anyway: Miami management is trying to back long-endangered Ron Rothstein for the moment. Managing partner Lew Schaffel says Rony Seikaly’s latest complaints about playing time were “both stupid and regrettable.” . . . Moe Better Blues: Doug Moe’s name has come up as a Heat replacement, since he went to Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High with Schaffel and another Heat partner, Billy Cunningham. . . . Says another member of the Moe-Cunningham Tar Heel mafia, Larry Brown: “I just hope Doug stays out the whole season. He’ll have his pick of jobs. Nobody is going to forget him.”