The Road to Top Could Be Crowded

Now that the 400 other players have finally gotten rid of that skinny bald guy with the single-digit handicap and six-digit championship ring collection, would you be shocked to learn that the most important players in the NBA this season could be . . .

Tom Gugliotta and Latrell Sprewell?

There’s no Michael Jordan to put everything in order. The Bulls’ dynasty is dust. There are actually almost no Bulls left to speak of, anyway.

So, as NBA executives jam the phone lines and gulp down the caffeine in preparation for the opening of the trading and free-agent signing period, all Jordan’s retirement does is mess up the landscape even more.

This isn’t the second coming, it’s the second leaving.

In the right place at the right time for the right team--maybe the Lakers--an unheralded but talented do-it-all forward such as Gugliotta might mean the difference between a third-round playoff loss, and a title.

Meanwhile, any team that lands the combustible but talented Sprewell--the Miami Heat or San Antonio Spurs or any of the other offense-craving teams seeking a trade with the Golden State Warriors--suddenly jumps up about two rungs on the playoff power list, though it does help to remember that Golden State hasn’t exactly been a postseason terror of late.

There’s another six-title player named Scottie Pippen on the market now too.

Anyway, the point is that Jordan’s absence makes nearly every pretender a contender, and any contender that can grab a top-line free agent is a championship favorite--even a team that has lost eight of its last nine playoff games to the Utah Jazz.

“Everybody knows that the championship [went] through Chicago,” said Laker guard Eddie Jones. “And now, Scottie may be somewhere else, Michael’s retiring. . . . I mean, it’s wide open.” And Jones has a specific team in mind for the NBA race’s pole position. “I think it’s us,” he said. “We just have to go out and be that tough mentally, that tough physically to win a championship. . . .

“I mean, we’ve had two years where we couldn’t get beyond that point. You know, we’ve watched Chicago, we’ve watched Utah, we can step in and carry that toward winning a championship.”

As proof that everybody likes playing this game, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant tossed around the idea of Gugliotta in a Laker uniform with a bright look in his eyes and all but began diagraming plays.

Gugliotta is a free agent, but could only join a capped team such as the Lakers in a trade for a big-salaried player such as Elden Campbell. Gugliotta’s a good passer. He can shoot. He works hard. He could play forward alongside Robert Horry. He could eliminate the need to re-sign Rick Fox, who’s almost a lost cause, anyway, because of the salary cap.

In this speculative atmosphere, is it wrong to think Gugliotta might be the missing piece?

“Well, Googs would be great for this organization because he could keep the floor spread,” Bryant said. “He can knock down that open shot, he’s a threat, make guys like Karl Malone work on the defensive end.

“It’s very important that you keep the floor spread, so guys like myself and Shaq can penetrate and get to that hole, and he can knock down open shots. Googs would fit in perfect.”

Even Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t resist the Gugliotta discussion.

“He can do a lot,” O’Neal said. “He can shoot, play defense . . . he’s an all-around good player. He’s been underrated for a long time. I think he needs to get a lot more credit than what he’s gotten.”

But there are other franchises with perhaps even better claims to favorite status. Assuming a key signing here, a good trade there, eight to a dozen teams could be celebrating in late June or July, or whenever this season ends.

A look at them, and why:

* Indiana Pacers: Don’t look for big movement here since Indiana has only center Rik Smits and swingman Jalen Rose to sign, an elite player in Reggie Miller, and took Jordan and the Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference finals last season.

The Pacers were the envy of the league during the lockout, nearly their entire roster showing up for daily workouts, and logically should be leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors, who only now are beginning to put together their starting lineups.

It sounds strange, but it looks as if the road to the title might run through Indianapolis, though there are some hairpin turns in store for everybody.

* Utah Jazz: Another stable team in an unstable league. The Jazz, as always, battles the ravages of time, but no longer has to suffer at the hands of Jordan, who denied Utah titles the last two seasons.

Utah, which hopes to land free-agent center Isaac Austin, has waited its turn, but at some point, aren’t the Lakers going to figure out how to guard Malone and John Stockton on the pick-and-roll?

* Whatever team signs Pippen: This could be the Phoenix Suns, though the lower-than-expected $30-million salary cap might crimp Phoenix’s plans to sign free agent Antonio McDyess, then go after Pippen. Chances are the Suns can’t afford both.

This could be the Lakers, who could use Pippen’s playoff nerves but would have to include Jones and possibly others, along with Campbell in any sign-and-trade deal with Chicago.

This also could be the Rockets, who are old and slow but can re-sign Charles Barkley and still be very irritating in the playoffs.

* Whatever team makes the smartest use of the middle-class exception for a key veteran looking for a championship: Want Kevin Johnson as your point guard? Maybe the Lakers or the SuperSonics or the Rockets do. How about Loy Vaught as a dependable forward?

* Whatever team trades for Sprewell: This could be the Heat, which desperately needs a scorer. This could be the Spurs, who have two towers and a bunch of spare pieces.

* LAKER UPDATE: Bryant says he’s not thinking about replacing Jordan or leaving L.A. Page 3

* CLIPPER UPDATE: In the other news conference today, Chris Ford is expected to be named coach. Page 3