Lakers: From Gory to Glory Days

Remember Benoit Benjamin in a Laker uniform?

Remember Mike Dunleavy, the bright, young coach who got them to the NBA finals in his first season?

Remember Dunleavy leaving after his second season to go back to . . . Milwaukee?

Remember Randy Pfund’s “offense of the ‘90s,” which he never explained, perhaps because he never figured out what it was, even if it sounded neat?

Remember Magic Johnson coming out of retirement to coach?

Remember Magic ripping his players and retiring again?

Remember Magic’s comeback as a player? Remember last spring, when two players bumped referees, one went boating and the whole mess blew up in the playoffs?

Yes, it has been a challenging decade in Lakerdom, where the local dynasty aged in the ‘80s and disappeared in the ‘90s, only to be rebuilt into an emerging young power almost before you could say “Beat L.A.!”

It was a fast turnaround, but it was no slam dunk in this era of the salary cap. The previous Laker champions were built around Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, who got it in their heads one day they wanted to move to Los Angeles.

This team is built around Shaquille O’Neal, whose love of the area was only one of his many whims.

The Lakers had to make themselves respectable enough that O’Neal wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with them, while saving him $10.7 million worth of cap room, the base for a seven-year, $120-million deal. To do that, they had to throw Vlade Divac, Anthony Peeler and George Lynch over the side.

Return with us now to those thrilling (?) days of the early ‘90s to see how the West was won, lost and, perhaps, won again.

What a brief, strange trip it’s been.

1990-91

Pat Riley, who has quietly worn out his welcome with players and the front office, has retired after a five-game upset at the hands of the Phoenix Suns in the 1990 playoffs. He is replaced by Dunleavy, a little-known assistant on Del Harris’ Milwaukee Buck staff.

The Lakers retire Michael Cooper and amass enough money to sign Sam Perkins.

With the 27th pick in the draft, they get 6-foot-11 Elden Campbell, an Inglewood kid who was allowed to escape to Clemson. When Magic Johnson sees him in camp, he tells Campbell he could make $3 million a year and tells the media this young shot-blocker will help right away.

Campbell isn’t ready and plays little. Minutes before a game, he’s spotted in the dressing room, eating a container of Pringle’s sour cream potato chips and washing them down with Gatorade, with a pamphlet on nutrition under his stool.

Expected to fade, the Lakers go 58-24, second in the Pacific to the Portland Trail Blazers, whom they upset in the West finals. They take the first game from the Chicago Bulls, then lose four in a row. As transitions go, this one seems fine.

1991-92

Times are good. Jerry West lands Sedale Threatt, the long-sought backup who will give Johnson some rest. Magic is so excited, he surrenders some salary to get the Lakers under the cap to make the deal possible.

Everything changes in a hurry.

On Nov. 7, 1991, Johnson announces he is HIV-positive and is retiring. The franchise is devastated, physically and emotionally.

“I think somewhere out there there’s a young little kid who’ll be as great as Magic Johnson as a player,” a shaken West says. “But he won’t be as great a leader.”

Expected to drop out of sight, the Lakers go 43-39, sixth in the Pacific (the Clippers, closing with a rush under new Coach Larry Brown, are fifth at 45-37), but make the playoffs. Unimpressed, the Trail Blazers roll over them, 3-1, in the first round.

Dunleavy gets a huge offer to become general manager-coach of the Bucks and leaves, re-devastating what remains of the franchise.

1992-93

West makes a run at Kansas Coach Roy Williams, who isn’t interested, and hires Pfund.

Magic comes back in training camp but retires again before the season starts.

The Lakers are 26-23 on Feb. 22 when West trades Perkins to Seattle for Doug Christie, a Pepperdine rookie who has held out all season, and Benjamin, a career bust.

Of all West’s moves, it’s one of the least appreciated. Perkins is their best player, but West is leery of the “trap of the middle,” in which aging teams waste years fighting to stay respectable, rather than take their lumps, drop into the lottery and try for a young star. It’s a classic dilemma, which many general managers back away from, but West pulls the trigger.

West has something else on his mind, though he doesn’t talk about it at the time.

“We had bodies,” he says now. “We had a very good center in Vlade. We didn’t know what Elden Campbell was, and the only way we were going to find out was to say, ‘Here, this is your job.’

“And at times, it was painful to watch. For me, that was our defining moment.”

Campbell develops, slowly. Christie develops--as a Toronto Raptor, two teams later. Benjamin is Benjamin, but West finds a taker in Benoit’s college coach, New Jersey’s Willis Reed.

Beyond its immediate impact, the trade changes everything. It starts the Lakers down the rebuilding road, and there can be no turning back.

Pfund squeezes out a 39-43 finish, fifth in the Pacific--the Clippers are fourth at 41-41--and the Lakers slide into the playoffs seeded No. 8, against the top-seeded Suns and their new star, Charles Barkley.

The Lakers win the first two at America West Arena.

The Suns win two at the Forum.

Back in America West for Game 5, the Lakers lead, 95-91, with 1:08 left. The Suns tie the score on a fadeaway 17-footer by an almost prone Dan Majerle with 13 seconds left in regulation and win in overtime, 112-104.

1993-94

The draft provides a pleasant surprise. After using their first pick for North Carolina’s George Lynch, who will prove game but outmanned, the Lakers nab Cincinnati’s Nick Van Exel in the second round.

Van Exel had been expected to be a No. 1 pick but showed so much attitude in visits, he’s left languishing when the Lakers get him 10 picks into the second round, No. 37 overall. He quickly proves to be a commanding figure in a pint-sized body, a fine playmaker and a promising, if streaky, shooter.

Suddenly the Lakers are young--Divac, Campbell, Christie, Van Exel, Peeler, all 25 or under--and wild.

West’s defining moment winds up defining Pfund right out of town. With the team at 27-37 and the Forum emptying, owner Jerry Buss prevails on Johnson to coach.

Magic accepts reluctantly, starts 6-2 amid sellout crowds and great excitement but quickly sours on the project, shocked to find a generation gap and players who don’t want to hear of the glories of Showtime.

“Everybody cares about me, I, I, I,” Johnson says as the season drags to a dispirited 33-49 end, the franchise’s second-worst in Los Angeles.

“ ‘Where’s my minutes, where’s my shots, what’s wrong with my game, why can’t I get my game off?’ . . .

“They wanted that [Showtime] removed from them. They didn’t want to deal with that. They call themselves the ‘90s Lakers.”

1994-95

With Buss still eager for a marquee name, the Lakers contact Kentucky’s Rick Pitino. Newspaper reports mention an unheard-of $4-million salary, but Pitino isn’t interested.

West hires Del Harris--Delmer to friends--a respected veteran, if not one to throw off sparks, a la Pitino.

Harris has been out of work for a year and was even passed over by the Clippers, despite a one-man petition drive--”a fax a day,” says a Clipper official. The Clippers, instead, chose Bob Weiss, who lasted a season.

To those close to West, the hire isn’t such a surprise. West is friendly with Don Nelson and has a fondness for Nelson guys, such as Harris and Dunleavy.

The draft, the Lakers’ only dip into the lottery, at No. 10, nets Temple’s exciting Eddie Jones. In a deal that seems an afterthought--it’s made in September, normally a quiet period, three weeks before camp--they trade their next No. 1 pick to Phoenix for Cedric Ceballos.

For West, it’s no afterthought. Though Ceballos has been in the league four seasons, he’s only 25. In a short stint as a starter while Barkley was hurt the season before, he rolled up big numbers nightly.

Ceballos does the same thing for the Lakers, averaging 21.7 points, eight rebounds and becoming an all-star. He jokes his new nickname is “ ‘Chise,” short for Franchise.

The Lakers become an exciting, high-scoring team, jumping to 48-34. Harris becomes coach of the year.

They upset the SuperSonics in the playoffs, then carry the powerful San Antonio Spurs, who have the league’s best record, to six games when Van Exel makes a dramatic three-point basket to tie Game 5 in regulation in San Antonio, then a running three-pointer in overtime to win it.

Not only are the Lakers young and promising, they have whipped their payroll into shape. Their key players are signed at reasonable prices, and they’ll be among the wealthiest shoppers in the summer of 1996, when the first big free-agent class goes on the market.

The class has just been enlarged by a new labor contract, which ends restricted free agency. Now the best center available won’t be Dikembe Mutombo but (drumroll) Shaquille O’Neal.

The Lakers barely dare to hope for O’Neal, who seems content in Orlando, but one never knows. One way or another, the Laker future looks brighter.

1995-96

Or does it?

West, saving money for the next summer, makes no major moves. Sam Bowie, a valuable backup, retires. Jones is hurt in camp. Divac, coming off a career year, fades as Campbell puts up his best numbers. One way or another, it seems the team can’t get more than 28 points and 17 rebounds out of the tandem.

The Lakers start 17-17 when Johnson starts making noises about returning as a player. The first time, he pulls back, dismayed at an upset loss, saying he could never come back to “a team like this.”

Finally, he comes back. The Lakers finish 32-11 with him . . . and fall apart.

Instead of chemistry, they break into constituent elements. Ceballos, who says he always wanted to play with Johnson, is upset at giving up minutes, shots and the spotlight. He jumps the team for a weekend and is spotted on a houseboat with friends at Lake Havasu.

Van Exel, who has welcomed Johnson back, even to the point of giving up the ball in some situations, slumps and pushes referee Ronnie Garretson. Johnson, the elder statesman, perhaps frustrated at his own limitations after five years away, bumps referee Scott Foster.

Having anointed themselves worthy contenders to reach the finals against the Bulls, they exit in the first round against Houston amid more finger-pointing, much of it by Johnson.

Did they just blow the whole deal, Shaq-wise?

West has his fears, but, assured by agent Leonard Armato that O’Neal will consider them seriously, he trades Divac to Charlotte for its No. 1 pick, Kobe Bryant, freeing up $3.7 million but stripping the Lakers of their only center.

The auction begins. The Lakers offer O’Neal a seven-year, $105-million deal. Orlando counters, beating the Laker number.

West, told his offer isn’t high enough, is directed by Buss to keep going, even though his vice president has his own doubts and an organization going nuts.

The Lakers donate the promising Peeler to Vancouver, with Lynch, for a No. 2 pick, freeing up an additional $3.4 million, putting them $10.7 million under the cap. With annual 20% raises, they can go to $120 million. If O’Neal says no, West will sign Mutombo for something like $55 million and bank some money, but it won’t be the same.

Their Diesel comes in. The Lakers have been acting as if their lives depend on O’Neal. The Magic stops at $115 million, noting its offer, with more money up front and no state income tax, has the same value.

Unimpressed and feeling unappreciated, O’Neal chooses the Lakers, informing West at 2 a.m. in Armato’s Atlanta hotel room, two days before the Olympics.

West, in the NBA version of combat fatigue, likens the signing to the birth of his children and talks of retiring.

“We had days when we felt good about our offer being attractive and in the ballpark,” he says now, “and all of a sudden somebody tells you your offer isn’t attractive or in the ballpark.

“We’re in the hotel room and we’re waiting and waiting and waiting. I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, he’s changed his mind!’

“All of a sudden, there’s a call. It was him. He was tied up getting his credentials. When he walked through the door, what a relief.”

When O’Neal walked through the door, a Laker era ended. It’s not one they’ll miss.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TONIGHT’S GAME

Lakers vs. Portland

* Site: Form

* Time: 7:30.

* TV: Fox Sports West

* SHOWTIME: Shaquille O’Neal has never won a championship, and Trail Blazers are the first step toward one. C8