Winter Gets a Tough Job: Helping Shaq at Foul Line

Coach Phil Jackson has assigned assistant coach Tex Winter to be Shaquille O’Neal’s main free-throw tutor, and says that O’Neal’s poor exhibition-season shooting is correctable.

“He doesn’t have a rhythm when he’s on the line,” Jackson said before Friday’s 112-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns. “And it’s all about finding a rhythm and the timing of being into the shot.

“And when he gets that, he starts to focus on it, then he’s OK. His mechanics aren’t good, his trajectory isn’t good, but if he could just find a rhythm, that might help him a little bit. But he’s not there yet.”

Jackson, who says he has told O’Neal to get more trajectory on the shot, called a play at the end of regulation Thursday against Golden State to put O’Neal on the line, after O’Neal had missed his first nine in the game.

O’Neal missed the first but, after Jackson called a 20-second timeout, made the second to send the game into overtime.

“I realize down the stretch everybody’s going to put me on the line,” said O’Neal, who made only 24.2% of his free throws in the Lakers’ first three games. “I realize if we want to go all the way, it’s going to be in my hands. I like that type of pressure. . . .

“I probably need to take a little more time. You know, for me, it’s just a concentration thing. Usually when I try too hard, I don’t do well.”

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In the last Laker game at the Great Western Forum, the Lakers got 37 points from O’Neal but lost to the Suns, who were without stars Jason Kidd (leg injury) and Tom Gugliotta (ejected) for most of the game. O’Neal played 40 minutes, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and made five of 15 free throws.

Forward Robert Horry left the game in the second quarter because of a sore left knee. The injury was not considered serious and Horry is listed as day-to-day.

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Jackson indicated some interest in Bison Dele, who is due $5.67 million this season but has sent the Detroit Pistons his retirement papers and is believed to be in Lebanon.

Dele, who helped Jackson’s Bulls win a title in 1997 before he changed his name from Brian Williams, is expected to be put on Detroit’s suspended list, which would maintain the Pistons’ rights for a possible trade, if Dele decides not to retire.

“I had a special relationship with Brian Williams--I don’t know Bison Dele, I’ve never met him,” Jackson said. “If Brian Williams wants to talk to me about playing basketball and he comes and tells me he’s Bison Dele, yes, we’ll have a conversation and have lunch together. . . .

“He was maybe one of my best students I’ve ever had, one of the brightest kids I’ve ever had as a basketball player. So we had a natural connection.

“I’m very disappointed to hear he’s leaving basketball because I think he’s a terrific player, actually, and sometimes doesn’t get focused for a whole season or focused for the long term, but he really has an impact on the game and can be a great player.”