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Sacramento Bee: Turbulence is the norm - Lakers chase a title, brace for a shake-up
By Scott Howard-Cooper -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, April 11, 2004
Dysfunctional, sure, but now comes breaking apart at the seams before your very eyes, the latest in masochism from the people who have done it all before and still find new ways.
These are still the Los Angeles Lakers, combustible to themselves and the rest of the NBA as long as they're at it, only nothing like anyone is used to. They near the latest crescendo moment with the potential of a closing window of opportunity this time. It's self-generated like almost every other pox upon their house but a relevant topic no matter what direction the arrows come from.
Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water. With a 23-6 record since the All-Star break and a 12-3 mark since Karl Malone came off the injured list to re-form the Big Four with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton, the Lakers sent renewed chills throughout the league and estimates of potential playoff wreckage in their wake. But there was also the emerging issue of the toll among the Lakers themselves.
Bryant plans to opt out and become a free agent in July, even at the insistence he wants to stay. Coach Phil Jackson is in the final months of his contract. Payton can become a free agent and has not hidden his frustration at a limited role. Rick Fox has another season left on his deal but said he might retire. Ditto for Malone. Derek Fisher can opt out. Lower on the billing, but key reserves nonetheless, Horace Grant, Slava Medvedenko and Bryon Russell will be free agents.
"We have a full plate this summer, there's no denying it," general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "But all our guys are professionals. The ones we're talking about in particular are veterans. They've been through contract situations before. They can stay focused."
But does it add a sense of urgency to these playoffs?
"You would hope that wouldn't be the case," Kupchak said. "You would hope that every player shows up every day with that same determination for a championship. But, maybe. Particularly the older guys. Maybe the older players feel a sense of urgency."
It's not entirely as dizzying as it seems. The day before the story appeared that Fox would consider retirement, he was talking to Kupchak about an extension. But it is unquestionably unstable, in the long shot that moments of instability even register with them anymore, after so many other Laker Moments.
They just haven't had any like this before. The Showtime era ended with the unimaginable jolt that Magic Johnson was retiring after testing HIV-positive in 1991, the impetus for an unscheduled start on the future. Worries about the future were evident in 1999: Dennis Rodman was signed; Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell were traded; O'Neal was considering opting out; a coaching change was looming that would eventually deliver Jackson; and Jerry West was distancing himself as the face of the franchise. But they weren't championship favorites that season, as everyone in the league concedes L.A. will be these playoffs with physical and emotional health, and there never was anyone close to O'Neal saying he was genuinely interested in leaving.
In the 2004 world:
* Bryant continues to say he wants to remain with the Lakers - opting out would be a chance to negotiate a new contract - and others say that's his move for keeping the peace. Clippers players, more to the point, note that Bryant confidants have told them to pass the word to management that interest in moving down the hallway inside Staples Center is real. That would allow him to stay in Los Angeles, put his future success in the face of his former team and obtain a heavyweight contract without his new team having to help the Lakers in a sign-and-trade.
* Jackson indicated in February, when negotiations on an extension were tabled, that he would enjoy the chance to window-shop, spinning the pressure on the Lakers that he could be just as happy elsewhere. Most recently, though, he said it will be L.A. or a hiatus. It'll take a big check to keep him, but no one on the team needs to be reminded how splintered things really could have been without his strong hand.
* Fisher has gone from a starter in the backcourt to a reserve role since Payton's arrival, remains a commodity as a playoff performer and energy player, and some Clippers say he has also sent word of potential interest. Fisher first has to decide if he will opt out and walk away from $6 million over two seasons. The certainty is that point guard is the position the Clippers most need to address, either through an established veteran or a draft that could have several possibilities in the lottery, depending who decides to come out.
* Malone and Fox are all about emotion, not whether they want to remain Lakers. Fox has always played heart-on-sleeve, but the last three seasons in particular for Malone have been about evolving more toward sentiment than tangible acquisitions. The loss of his mother-in-law was the reality check that prompted him to appreciate the grand life of a professional athlete instead of jet-setting through his career, so he enjoyed some of the hardest times in Utah, record-wise, the most. The passing of his mother last summer was a crushing blow that drained excitement from him and got him thinking seriously that 19 seasons is already enough time away from his family.
Malone has lived the last calendar year of his professional life by the senses more than anything. The Lakers were Malone's first choice all along if he left the Jazz as a free agent, but that would have changed if L.A. was coming off a title, specifically because he wanted to feel as if he made a difference in a team winning and was not simply jumping into the middle of a parade. Breaking the career scoring mark would be an important record to him if it comes, but because of the emotional payoff of being considered the best at something, not for the plateau itself.
Just as it has become about the passions for most all of them, what could be in the playoffs, and then into July.
"A lot of it is timing," Kupchak said. "It's turned out we're going to have a busy summer. It wasn't planned."
It never is. It's just the Lakers.
By Scott Howard-Cooper -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, April 11, 2004
Dysfunctional, sure, but now comes breaking apart at the seams before your very eyes, the latest in masochism from the people who have done it all before and still find new ways.
These are still the Los Angeles Lakers, combustible to themselves and the rest of the NBA as long as they're at it, only nothing like anyone is used to. They near the latest crescendo moment with the potential of a closing window of opportunity this time. It's self-generated like almost every other pox upon their house but a relevant topic no matter what direction the arrows come from.
Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water. With a 23-6 record since the All-Star break and a 12-3 mark since Karl Malone came off the injured list to re-form the Big Four with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton, the Lakers sent renewed chills throughout the league and estimates of potential playoff wreckage in their wake. But there was also the emerging issue of the toll among the Lakers themselves.
Bryant plans to opt out and become a free agent in July, even at the insistence he wants to stay. Coach Phil Jackson is in the final months of his contract. Payton can become a free agent and has not hidden his frustration at a limited role. Rick Fox has another season left on his deal but said he might retire. Ditto for Malone. Derek Fisher can opt out. Lower on the billing, but key reserves nonetheless, Horace Grant, Slava Medvedenko and Bryon Russell will be free agents.
"We have a full plate this summer, there's no denying it," general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "But all our guys are professionals. The ones we're talking about in particular are veterans. They've been through contract situations before. They can stay focused."
But does it add a sense of urgency to these playoffs?
"You would hope that wouldn't be the case," Kupchak said. "You would hope that every player shows up every day with that same determination for a championship. But, maybe. Particularly the older guys. Maybe the older players feel a sense of urgency."
It's not entirely as dizzying as it seems. The day before the story appeared that Fox would consider retirement, he was talking to Kupchak about an extension. But it is unquestionably unstable, in the long shot that moments of instability even register with them anymore, after so many other Laker Moments.
They just haven't had any like this before. The Showtime era ended with the unimaginable jolt that Magic Johnson was retiring after testing HIV-positive in 1991, the impetus for an unscheduled start on the future. Worries about the future were evident in 1999: Dennis Rodman was signed; Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell were traded; O'Neal was considering opting out; a coaching change was looming that would eventually deliver Jackson; and Jerry West was distancing himself as the face of the franchise. But they weren't championship favorites that season, as everyone in the league concedes L.A. will be these playoffs with physical and emotional health, and there never was anyone close to O'Neal saying he was genuinely interested in leaving.
In the 2004 world:
* Bryant continues to say he wants to remain with the Lakers - opting out would be a chance to negotiate a new contract - and others say that's his move for keeping the peace. Clippers players, more to the point, note that Bryant confidants have told them to pass the word to management that interest in moving down the hallway inside Staples Center is real. That would allow him to stay in Los Angeles, put his future success in the face of his former team and obtain a heavyweight contract without his new team having to help the Lakers in a sign-and-trade.
* Jackson indicated in February, when negotiations on an extension were tabled, that he would enjoy the chance to window-shop, spinning the pressure on the Lakers that he could be just as happy elsewhere. Most recently, though, he said it will be L.A. or a hiatus. It'll take a big check to keep him, but no one on the team needs to be reminded how splintered things really could have been without his strong hand.
* Fisher has gone from a starter in the backcourt to a reserve role since Payton's arrival, remains a commodity as a playoff performer and energy player, and some Clippers say he has also sent word of potential interest. Fisher first has to decide if he will opt out and walk away from $6 million over two seasons. The certainty is that point guard is the position the Clippers most need to address, either through an established veteran or a draft that could have several possibilities in the lottery, depending who decides to come out.
* Malone and Fox are all about emotion, not whether they want to remain Lakers. Fox has always played heart-on-sleeve, but the last three seasons in particular for Malone have been about evolving more toward sentiment than tangible acquisitions. The loss of his mother-in-law was the reality check that prompted him to appreciate the grand life of a professional athlete instead of jet-setting through his career, so he enjoyed some of the hardest times in Utah, record-wise, the most. The passing of his mother last summer was a crushing blow that drained excitement from him and got him thinking seriously that 19 seasons is already enough time away from his family.
Malone has lived the last calendar year of his professional life by the senses more than anything. The Lakers were Malone's first choice all along if he left the Jazz as a free agent, but that would have changed if L.A. was coming off a title, specifically because he wanted to feel as if he made a difference in a team winning and was not simply jumping into the middle of a parade. Breaking the career scoring mark would be an important record to him if it comes, but because of the emotional payoff of being considered the best at something, not for the plateau itself.
Just as it has become about the passions for most all of them, what could be in the playoffs, and then into July.
"A lot of it is timing," Kupchak said. "It's turned out we're going to have a busy summer. It wasn't planned."
It never is. It's just the Lakers.
