Laker Veteran Griping About Season

It’s not only the fans who have suffered while watching the Lakers this season. Chick Hearn, in his 39th season as the team’s play-by-play announcer, says he can’t recall a Laker team that left him as deflated as this year’s underachieving model.

“It’s been a very disappointing season,” he says, “because I was in total agreement with most in the organization who thought the Lakers were going to be a contender for the championship this year, and [they’re not].”

Tuesday night’s 113-86 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, he says, was a “shocking, intolerable, embarrassing performance . . . the crowning blow to what has been an uphill battle most of the season.”

What’s missing in Lakerdom?

“Leadership and chemistry,” Hearn says. “They just don’t play together as well as they should, and they’re not strong defensively. . . .

“[Shaquille O’Neal] has been dominating all year--the big fella is having a great year--but . . . I don’t think he’s a leader. I don’t think they have a leader. And it’s pretty tough to draw a group together without a leader. . . .

“They’ve got some good players--some very good players--but they don’t have a very good team. That unity has to be there. Not that they don’t like each other or they don’t get along, but they just can’t get it together as a unit.”

Hearn, who has broadcast every Laker game since Nov. 21, 1965, says the current team is “not even close” to achieving the success of the 1980s championship teams of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

“Those teams played defense,” he says. “They played tenaciously all the time and they took losses a lot harder than this team does.”

CHICK’S NEW NEST

Hearn, who has long complained about his upper-level broadcast perch “high above the western sideline” in the Great Western Forum, learned this week that he won’t be on the floor in the new Staples Center, as he is in every other NBA arena.

But he’s not complaining.

“It looks like it’s about 25 feet up off of the floor,” he says of his new lower-level work space. “It looks like it’s going to be great.”

Hearn says the view from the floor is not always the best.

“If you’re on the same side as the teams, it’s no good because the coaches will run in front of you and block your view,” he says. “But it’s also an advantage because I know all the referees so well. It’s an intimate game, and sometimes I get stuff down there that I don’t get upstairs.”

NETWORK DARLINGS

Forget the inconsistent performances, half-hearted efforts and underwhelming record.

TV loves the Lakers.

Despite the lockout, the ratings for NBA games on NBC, TNT and TBS are about the same as they were last season, and the Lakers have replaced the Chicago Bulls as the main attraction.

The Lakers have made eight appearances on NBC, with three more upcoming, including Saturday night’s game against the Utah Jazz at Salt Lake City. They’ve made 10 appearances on TBS and TNT, with two more to go.

“It’s a team that has some really established superstar-type players and some of the most intriguing players in the league,” Kevin O’Malley, senior vice president of sports programming for Turner Sports, says of the Lakers. “One of the big questions going into this shortened season was, could the Lakers raise their game to the level of potentially winning a championship? And there was a great deal of curiosity about the chemistry of the team.

“And that has translated into good audience numbers.”

QUE PASA?

It seems incredible, but in the attempt to broaden their radio audience by switching flagship stations from KRLA (1110) to KLAC (570) this season, the Angels have tuned out most of Los Angeles County for as many as 20 games.

KLAC also broadcasts Laker games, so when there’s a conflict with the Angels, the Angel game is farmed out to KIK (94.3 FM), a tiny Anaheim station.

One problem: In most of Los Angeles County, that spot on the dial is occupied by KBUA, a Spanish-language music station.

“I’ve been a longtime and long-suffering Angel fan for almost 25 years,” says reader Ron Shinkman of Sherman Oaks, “and this is the latest indignity. . . . It’s impossible to get the games.”

The Angels, aware of the problem, say this is a temporary situation made worse by the compressed NBA schedule and that it will be resolved . . . next season.

“Our goal is to get every game that’s not on KLAC to be carried throughout the market on one or two additional stations,” says Bob Wagner, vice president of advertising sales and broadcasting for Anaheim Sports. “There are a lot of stations in Los Angeles, but they might not be appropriate for this type of programming.

“It’s kind of a needle-in-a-haystack situation, and we’re working through the process.”

Wagner, hinting that the Angels got a late start because they didn’t believe there would be an NBA season this year, says the team is talking with several stations about carrying the games but doesn’t expect to complete a deal before the end of the NBA playoffs.

“Our ultimate goal would be to do it this season,” he says, “but I don’t want to raise the level of expectation and say it’s imminent.”

How about making a call to KDIS (710) or KABC (790), which used to carry baseball games and, like the Angels, are owned by Disney?

SHORT WAVES

USC’s remaining Pacific 10 Conference baseball games, starting with tonight’s game at Stanford, can be heard live on the Internet at www.usctrojans.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for April 10-11, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over the air Channel Rating Share Golf: The Masters 2 6.3 19 Baseball: Angels vs. Texas 9 2.3 5 Horse racing: Blue Grass Stakes; Wood Memorial 7 .8 2

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: Prince Naseem Hamed vs. Paul Ingle HBO 3.5 8 Baseball: Dodgers vs. Colorado FSW2 2.1 5 Soccer: San Jose vs. Kansas City ESPN2 0.7 2 Baseball: Arizona vs. Atlanta TBS 0.6 2 Horse racing: Arkansas Derby ESPN2 0.6 2 Tennis: WTA Bausch & Lomb Championships ESPN2 0.6 2 Pro basketball: Clippers vs. Portland ESPN2 0.6 1

*--*

****

SUNDAY

*--*

Over the air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Lakers vs. Seattle 4 11.5 21 Golf: The Masters 2 9.6 19 Pro basketball: Houston vs. Utah 4 5.4 12 Hockey: Ducks vs. Phoenix 9 1.4 2 Hockey: Kings vs. Dallas 11 1.3 3

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Angels vs. Texas ESPN 1.9 3 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup Food City 500 ESPN 1.0 2 Baseball: Arizona vs. Atlanta TBS 1.0 2 Tennis: WTA Bausch & Lomb Championships ESPN2 0.9 2 Auto racing: Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix FSW 0.9 2 Baseball: Dodgers vs. Colorado FSW2 0.7 1

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.