NBA OUTLOOK : Bulls Are Favored to Three-Peat

Almost everywhere you look, the NBA looks different.

Sure, Magic Johnson is back at point guard for the Lakers, but Larry Bird’s back won’t let him play. Charles Barkley is now a Phoenix Sun. Shaquille O’Neal is performing magic in Orlando. The New York Knicks have seven new players. And nine head coaches are pacing the sidelines with new teams.

One thing hasn’t changed, however.

The Chicago Bulls are favored to win their third straight championship.

Last season, Michael Jordan became the first player in NBA history to win consecutive regular-season and postseason MVP awards. As coach Phil Jackson has said, “Michael never plays a bad game.”

Scottie Pippen gives every indication that he, too, will be a consistent All-Star, and most of the rest of the cast--Horace Grant, John Paxson, Bill Cartwright, B.J. Armstrong, Stacey King--is back, although Paxson and Armstrong are coming off knee surgeries.

The newcomers are Rodney McCray, Trent Tucker and probably one rookie, replacing Cliff Levingston, Bobby Hansen and Craig Hodges.

Jackson’s only worry is that the game might become too “mundane,” a Jacksonism for the fear that Jordan and Pippen might get burned out and won’t be able to handle the night-after-night challenge of teams wanting to knock off the champions.

Deep down, however, he believes they will respond like champions.

“This ball club works hard and is motivated--our competitive zeal is a given,” Jackson said of his less-than-spartan training camp regimen for Jordan and Pippen. “Sure, we have different rules for different players. When you have guys who play 38-40 minutes a night, the important thing is getting them to produce in games and the playoffs. Training camp is more for the young players and the new players to learn the system.”

The fact that no team has won three straight NBA titles since Boston captured eight consecutive championships from 1959-66 is motivation enough for Jordan.

“It won’t be hard; we’ll be ready to challenge,” Jordan said. “We shouldn’t take the attitude that we will defend our championship. We have to be aggressive to win a third. It hasn’t been done in 26 years, so that’s enough to drive you.”

Out West, Johnson’s unretirement overshadows the arrival of Barkley in Phoenix, but Barkley might have a bigger impact on the balance of power.

One of those expected to benefit most from Johnson’s return is center Vlade Divac, who first began to blossom under Johnson’s tutelage. But his production dropped last season because of injuries and Johnson’s absence.

“Magic does a lot of things for me. He supports me and throws me the right pass at the right time,” Divac said. “He makes me a better player. I’m happy he’s back.”

“My game is the same,” said Johnson, who proved to himself and everyone else at the Olympics that he can still play on a championship level. “It’s the same game it’s always been--get the ball to the open man and create.

“It’s good to have him around,” forward A.C. Green said. “His experience and knowledge of the game is a big benefit. And to actually have him on the court is another tremendous benefit. It’s a big difference, psychologically and mentally.”

Barkley, after a tempestuous career in Philadelphia, was traded by the 76ers to Phoenix for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry.

But the Suns still have Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle and newly acquired Danny Ainge to dance with Barkley.

“We have a versatile offensive team and we’ll have a balanced team,” new coach Paul Westphal said. “We have two players in Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson that no one has demonstrated they can guard 1-on-1. We have to put players around them who can hurt the other teams if they double-team. And if they don’t double-team Charles, he might get 30 shots. If they do, Chambers might get 30.”

Portland, which has lost in the Finals two of the last three seasons, and Utah, defending champion in the Midwest Division, should battle the Suns and Lakers for Western Conference supremacy.

The Trail Blazers stood pat with its top six players--Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Kevin Duckworth, Jerome Kersey and Cliff Robinson--but coach Rick Adelman will try to work veterans Rod Strickland and Mario Elie and rookies Tracy Murray and David Johnson into the mix.

Utah added Jay Humphries in order to implement a three-guard rotation with overworked John Stockton and Jeff Malone. Olympic power forward Karl Malone may have to play some at center to cover for the injured Mark Eaton.

Cleveland, which added Gerald Wilkins to give coach Lenny Wilkens more flexibility, has a strong nucleus in Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance and John Williams. The Cavs, along with the new-look Knicks, appear to be the most likely challengers to Chicago in the East.

Pat Riley has an entirely new cast around his inside muscle men, center Patrick Ewing and forward Charles Oakley. Rolando Blackman, Doc Rivers, Charles Smith, Tony Campbell and rookie Hubert Davis will join holdover role players John Starks and Anthony Mason to give Riley flexiblity at every position.

“I’ve been impressed with the play of nine or 10 guys, and eventually the process of who functions together the best will work itself out,” Riley said. “I feel most comfortable with Patrick and Oak starting together, and after that we’ll have to see what happens.”

The selection of Reggie Lewis as captain is the clarion call for the beginning of a new era for the Boston Celtics, who edged the Knicks for the Atlantic Division title last spring.

Bird, who led the team to three NBA championships, retired when it became obvious that his back would not let him play without pain. Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, holdovers from the Bird era, picked Lewis as captain.

“Chief and McHale, they decide who becomes captain of the team,” said Lewis, who led the team with a 20.8 scoring average last season and is starting his sixth NBA season. “The way the team is in a transition period, I guess they felt it would be good to let a young guy assume leadership responsibility.”

McHale is still around although his health has been as tenuous as Bird’s in recent years. The prospect of another pain-filled season is not attractive to him.

“If I could look into a crystal ball and know I could be healthy, I’d be excited,” McHale said. “If I looked in a crystal ball and knew I wouldn’t be healthy, I wouldn’t play.”

Orlando’s O’Neal leads a trio of rookie big men that could make an impact for years to come.

“I have to put more arch on my shot and work on my defense,” the 7-foot-1, 302-pound O’Neal said.

The Suns and Lakers are among the nine teams with new coaches. Westphal, long the heir apparent to Cotton Fitzsimmons, is in Phoenix, Randy Pfund takes over in Los Angeles, replacing Mike Dunleavy, who is returning to Milwaukee.

Chuck Daly, a two-time championship winner for Detroit, moves to New Jersey and his spot with the Pistons is being filled by Ron Rothstein. Other newcomers are Dan Issel in Denver, Jerry Tarkanian in San Antonio, Doug Moe in Philadelphia and Garry St. Jean in Sacramento.