Jackson Says O’Neal’s Progress Is Encouraging

Sure, he may needle his star center about free throws, but Laker Coach Phil Jackson said Saturday that he has been pleasantly surprised by Shaquille O’Neal’s recovery from off-season toe surgery.

“I was worried,” Jackson said at the Laker compound in El Segundo.

“Going in the week I thought that he was suffering the pangs and the muscle aches that you get from not being in great shape. But he survived 35 minutes on Thursday night and looked to me to be pretty active, although I didn’t play him as many minutes [Friday] night. And he performed in practice today so I think he’s making progress.”

O’Neal’s durability could be tested in the season’s first week, though, as the Lakers play four games in six days.

“We have, obviously ... a pretty healthy start for an opening week, then we won’t have a game for like five days again,” Jackson said. “So we’re not behind the 8-ball as much as I anticipated with him and his conditioning.”

O’Neal said he’s at about 80%, has no worries and that he always seems to play better with an injury nagging him.

He also said the implementation of the zone defense wouldn’t affect his physical game much because he is used to double-and triple-teams.

“I’ve always said that I’m the NFL’s best NBA player and the NBA’s best NFL player,” O’Neal said.

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Jackson all but announced Samaki Walker as the Laker starting power forward for opening night. Robert Horry, though, still figures to get the bulk of the minutes at the position.

“We really saw it as a battle for that position with Samaki, Slava [Medvedenko], Mark Madsen all playing for the minutes that will be available around Rob’s time,” Jackson said.

“We hoped Slava had more experience, but he hasn’t shown that, and that Mark would be back by the middle of this month, and he wasn’t. So it’s kind of fallen by default on Samaki and if he can’t do it, then Rob is the next person.”

Jackson was also impressed with Walker’s potential as O’Neal backup at center, though he seemed a bit disappointed in Medvedenko’s showing.

“Slava did play well,” Jackson said. “It’s just that a lot of times, his play is myopic.”

Madsen underwent off-season surgery on his left wrist but has been slowed during camp by a strained abdominal muscle.

And, no, the second-year power forward did not tweak it during his “dance” at the Lakers’ championship celebration in June.

“The wrist is just great and the abdominal strain is getting better daily,” Madsen said. “I’ve been doing some Stairmaster [workouts] and some agility things.”

Madsen expects to start the year on injured reserve.

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Jackson said the Lakers have used the exhibition season to experiment with the zone defense.

“Personnel dictates a lot, on the other team, as to whether you play it or not, [though] it’s expected to be played a lot more in the league [this season],” he said. “But I think it will just be after timeouts, end of games, special situations instead of a steady diet.”