Past Greats Are Watching

The Lakers of the mid-1980s, a few days from assembling en masse at Staples Center to acknowledge the 20th year after the 1985 championship, have been watching this season unfold from afar.

“As a fan, it’s very hard to watch,” said Jamaal Wilkes, a member of three Laker championship teams in the 1980s. “From a business point of view, it’s going to have to happen at some point, probably better now than later. As great of a Laker as [Shaquille O’Neal] was, he wasn’t as good as my friend Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. He certainly wasn’t getting younger. You do it now, bite the bullet.”

Wilkes, 10th on the Laker all-time scoring list, said the struggles this season underline the work done by Phil Jackson in five seasons as coach.

“It shows what a tremendous job Phil Jackson and his regime did when he was here,” he said. “We took it for granted. Pretty awesome what he accomplished.”

Abdul-Jabbar, the league’s record-holder for career points, said the rebuilding process could take longer than years past.

“I think that the whole thing is a cyclical thing,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “You’ve got to make certain plans and then get lucky to get in position to get the right guys.

“There’s not that much talent [to go around]. You have to do a lot of maneuvering to get the right pieces to play together.

“It’s a very difficult thing. You’ve got 30 teams vying for key personnel. It’s a challenge for GMs these days.”

The 1985 team will gather for a halftime ceremony at Monday’s game against Phoenix.

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Interim Coach Frank Hamblen said he hadn’t given any deep thoughts to coming back next season. “It’s hard,” he said of his current job description. “It’s not fun. Mothers don’t let your sons grow up to be interim coaches.”

Hamblen said Rudy Tomjanovich left him a voice mail the other day. “He said he’s feeling great, had his last cancer treatment and everything’s fine,” Hamblen said.

Tomjanovich, who resigned as Laker coach Feb. 2, underwent periodic maintenance procedures to help prevent recurrence of bladder cancer, which he was diagnosed with two years ago.

TONIGHT

at Seattle, 7:30, Channel 9

Site -- Key Arena.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 33-42; SuperSonics 50-24.

Record vs. SuperSonics -- 0-3.

Update -- Seattle has struggled without injured forward Rashard Lewis, losing three of its last four games. Lewis, averaging 20.7 points, is out indefinitely because of a bruised right foot.