Little Toe Might Be Big Laker Problem

The smallest toe on Shaquille O’Neal’s left foot looks bad. A scar runs lengthwise on the side of it and another creases the base.

What’s worse is he’s a month out of surgery today and it still feels to him like someone just dropped a point guard on it.

On Friday, media day for the Lakers, while everyone else talked about fresh starts and the burgeoning NBA dynasty, O’Neal spent a good deal of time mulling the relative condition of his pinky toe. He is not sure he will be able to play when the Lakers open defense of their second consecutive championship, Oct. 30 against Portland at Staples Center.

Though that sounds bad for the Lakers, and while that little piece of news sent tremors through a gym full of television, radio and newspaper folk, it should be remembered that the Lakers showed again last season that if there is anything less critical than the NBA regular season, it’s NBA training camp. Left to prove still is if training camp in Hawaii can possibly be more casual than training camp in El Segundo, though Shaq’s non-participation would seem to skew the test group.

Two hours before the Laker charter lifted off, O’Neal lifted his left foot, peered at his toe and said, “It’s kind of hurting pretty bad, that little pinky, rinky toe. So, when I go back in 30 days, hopefully it’ll be better. Then I’ll see.”

Doctors will examine him again near the end of October. In the meantime, O’Neal will receive daily treatment from trainer Gary Vitti and staff, and he will try to keep up with his conditioning on a treadmill or a bike or in a pool. O’Neal said he weighs 339 pounds, give or take a small child, not drastically different than last season, when he was the Finals MVP after wasting the very fit, very trim Dikembe Mutombo.

Asked about opening the regular season on the floor rather than the bench, O’Neal said, “I’m not sure. It’s all up to the doctors. Hopefully, I will be. If not, Kobe and the guys will hold the fort until I get back in. We’re not going to win or lose anything in the first month.”

There was other newness. Robert Horry arrived with braces on his teeth. Slava Medvedenko took lessons in English and sounded nearly fluent. Mitch Richmond said leaving dreary Washington and landing in a place where championships are commonplace might well make him young again.

Kobe Bryant spent his summer alternating between the weight room and the living room, having taken Phil Jackson’s advice to take a load off his aching ankles and weary psyche.

His arms looked big and his eyes refreshed; apparently he is ready for any fort-holding required in O’Neal’s absence.

Bryant’s camp will be delayed at least five days because of the death of his grandfather Friday in Philadelphia. Bryant is scheduled to fly to Philadelphia today, attend the funeral Tuesday or Wednesday and rejoin the team in Honolulu, probably by Thursday.

Bryant claimed he considered the lessons of last season’s championship for hours at a time, mostly while on his couch.

“I got pretty good at it,” he said.

Seriously.

“Just thinking back, reflecting,” he said. “And thinking about how we went from one level to the next level. It took a great deal of focus to stay off my feet, to just relax and look back.

“There’s so many things you learn over the course of a long year. It’s difficult to put into words. But we just have to be confident that our experience will pay off this season.”

For Bryant and the Lakers--but Bryant, in particular, it would seem--there is a new challenge out there. It is Michael Jordan. And while Jordan’s Wizards would not appear to be a threat, the news of Jordan’s return is bigger than the potential three-peat by the Lakers.

Invited by Jordan, Bryant had scheduled a trip to Chicago, where he would have been among the players pushing Jordan into NBA shape. Terrorists attacked New York and the Pentagon the day before, however, and Bryant did not go.

There were rumors that Bryant didn’t attend because he didn’t want to provide Jordan with a premature scouting report, which Bryant disputed.

“He’s helped me out a great deal last season, and the season before,” Bryant said. “So I would have loved to have helped him out. He gave me advice on certain things, what to do in certain scenarios. I really appreciated it.”

They will stand on the same floor Feb. 12 at Staples Center.

“If this was a couple years ago, I’d probably be foaming,” he said.

Not so anymore, he said. But others can’t deny their curiosity, including O’Neal.

“We’re going to see what type of defense they’re playing,” O’Neal said. “If they’re playing man-to-man, give [Bryant] the ball. Like, ‘Go ahead, Kobe, see what you got.’ That’s all you do.”