New-Look Lakers Usher in New Era

More than 800 guests attended a Chamber of Commerce luncheon the other day at the Biltmore Hotel for a sneak preview of the new Los Angeles Lakers, who begin their season tonight after having undergone a total makeover, like a movie star at a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon’s office.

Chick Hearn, the ageless beauty about to work his 2,871st consecutive game for the Lakers, got up to make the introductions, but was interrupted by Shaquille O’Neal, the backboard breaker and mischief maker about to work his first. A man of wealth and taste who owns a pair of size 22-EEE, mink-lined alligator boots, O’Neal took off his funky hat and his cool shades--Oakleys, I think--and plopped them on Hearn’s head.

“How do I look?” asked Chick.

“Better,” said Shaq.

There’s a new look everywhere you look in Inglewood, because only five Lakers remain from a 53-victory team. These mighty Forum power rangers, they range from Generation X’s Kobe Bryant, who just turned 18, to the ex-generation’s Byron Scott, who was in the Laker lineup when Kobe had just turned 5. I believe that Byron’s position this season will be officially listed as shooting guard/chaperon.

The young, reconstructed Lakers, who make the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets look as old as the Harlem Globetrotters, seem to be having a good time, getting acquainted with one another. They slam-danced on the Forum floor after practice a couple of days ago, for a nonprofit video project Cedric Ceballos was involved with, thumping chests the way sumo wrestlers bump tummies.

“Why can’t they block out like that?” Coach Del Harris joked, out of earshot.

Oh, heck. Make it in earshot.

“Why can’t you block out like that?” Harris hollered at the players.

Impatient one moment, with anything less than total commitment, but patient the next, understanding that these mix-and-match men must mesh as a unit, Harris has a load on his hands, a team with a high payroll and lofty expectations, yet low on experience and familiarity with one another, let alone with the coach’s style of play. Learning to look for O’Neal, the first Laker go-to guy in years, with a game on the line will take practice unto itself.

O’Neal seems as happy, so far, as he first did in Orlando, when he stepped off the plane wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Los Angeles is his town now, one where he feels very welcome, overlooking the fact that a few years ago, a cop stopped O’Neal in his $80,000 Mercedes-Benz downtown, for what seemed to Shaq to be no good reason. The cop asked where and how O’Neal got the car. Beverly Hills, Shaq said, adding, “I paid cash.”

L.A.: It’s not just a city, it’s an adventure.

For someone who already in his young life has gone bungee-jumping in Florida, para-sailing off the coast of Mexico and crashed a motorbike in Hawaii, living large is nothing new for Shaq Diesel, the overgrown kid with “Man of Steel” on his arm. Laker public-relations people say O’Neal has been a delight to work with so far. And he looks as relaxed to me as he did the day I saw him turn at the sound of “Shaq!” to find that the voice belonged to President Clinton, who wanted to chat about the time he saw Louisiana State play Arkansas.

Kid brother Kobe can learn a lot from been-there, done-that Shaquille, on the court and off.

Making faces at Bryant, while the Laker teen spokesman gave an in-depth interview to a woman from a tabloid TV show on everything from his jump shot to how many children he hopes to have, O’Neal put devil’s horns behind the interviewer’s blond hair with his fingers, making Bryant break up. Seizing the moment, the woman spun to O’Neal and asked: “Are you like a big brother to Kobe?”

“Ask him,” said Shaq.

“He says you are.”

“OK,” said Shaq.

“Any advice for Kobe on handling the media?” she inquired.

Shaq quickly ended the conversation, saying, “Short answers only.”

Well, dunk you very much. Enjoying his change of scenery, O’Neal will wear 34 on his new golden shirt, a number previously worn by Lakers of all sizes and shapes including Erwin Mueller, Stan Love and Petur Gudmundsson. Fans of the Lakers should have fun, fun, fun till their daddies take their Benzes away, monitoring the team’s progress while O’Neal records his first jam, first block, first victory and, keep your fingers crossed, first free throw.

At the heart of this team, otherwise, will be the play and behavior of Ceballos and Nick Van Exel, chief scorer and playmaker, respectively, who hopefully learned from the New York Yankees that what comes first is the team, not the individual. Sacrifices are sometimes necessary, whether it be playing time or statistics. In recent seasons at crunch time, a Laker play might have been anybody’s guess. From now on, it’s: Get the ball to 34.

Autographing basketballs after practice, O’Neal was asked by Harris, “You just write ‘Shaq,’ don’t you?”

“Nope. Whole name,” Shaq said.

“You could save a lot of time,” the coach advised.

Whereupon the Laker blast from the past, Scott, called down from where he was autographing a ball, “Orlando Woolridge really had it down. He’d just sign, ‘O,’ over and over again.”

Kobe Bryant looked up and laughed. For all he knew, though, Orlando Woolridge was a high school in Florida.