Harris Laments All-Star Absence

Whatever disappointment he hid over not being the Western Conference all-star coach has come out. Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones are going to New York next weekend . . . and Del Harris isn’t.

The downer that originally existed because the loss itself to the SuperSonics, one day before the deadline to determine such spots, was the biggest, the fact that it sent Seattle’s George Karl to Madison Square Garden secondary. But then came the next-biggest, the knowledge that the largest all-star contingent from one team in 15 years is going and their coach just missed the chance to be part of the party.

Harris couldn’t help but think what it would have been like to be there.

“Of course,” he said, visibly disappointed. “That’d be quite a thing.”

So, maybe next year?

“If we stay healthy,” Harris said. “I think if Shaq had been healthy all year, we’d be running away with it [this season]. How many losses would we have? I don’t know. Five? Six? We certainly wouldn’t have too many.”

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Four on the floor. The Laker representatives in New York want it--O’Neal, Bryant, Jones and Van Exel playing together, if only for a few minutes.

“I’d be surprised,” O’Neal said, figuring Karl, the Seattle coach, won’t budge an inch to hype any such Lake Show.

Or will he?

“Knowing George, he probably will,” Harris said. “He likes to do different things, and that would be a different thing to do.”

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Coaches were prohibited from voting for their own players when balloting took place to determine the all-star reserves. But they weren’t prohibited from helping, so Trail Blazer center Arvydas Sabonis was among Harris’ choices to fill out the Western Conference roster.

“I think he’s a good player,” Harris said. “Plus, I didn’t want to pick another small player and hurt my guys’ chances.”

Whether it made a difference is not known because the tallies are not announced. One of the guards Harris voted for made it, Jason Kidd. He also went with forwards Vin Baker and Tim Duncan, but would not disclose all his selections.

“I don’t want to say who I did not vote for,” he said. “We have to play them.”

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The 31-10 record heading into Wednesday was the Lakers’ best mark at the midpoint of a season since 1989-90.