It’s Bad for the Lakers, but There’s Still Hope

Well, it’s not the same season it was a couple of days ago, is it?

The news that Shaquille O’Neal is out eight to 10 weeks is bad (if it’s eight) or worse (if it’s 10). Eight gets him back in mid-April, with a week to get ready for the playoffs. Ten gets him back at the beginning of the playoffs.

In any case, whatever their chances were of winning a championship, they’re worse. Fans may underrate the importance of and the difficulty in achieving cohesion, but coaches never do.

In case you couldn’t figure it out for yourself, the Lakers won’t continue to win at the 17-4 pace they’ve been on since Christmas.

Shaq was on a most valuable player pace, or what would have been an MVP pace in any season in which Michael Jordan wasn’t leading the scoring race by four points and his team didn’t have a 43-6 record.

Last fall, Coach Del Harris said he wasn’t going to harp on O’Neal’s free-throw shooting, he just wanted him to get back among the leaders in rebounding and blocked shots, where his totals had dropped annually since his rookie season.

Ask and your Diesel will deliver. When Shaq went out, he was fourth in rebounding, third in blocked shots, second in field-goal percentage, third in scoring (and about 1,000th in free-throw shooting.)

In O’Neal’s stead, Elden Campbell will play center, but it just won’t be the same.

Disappointment notwithstanding, Laker management did not approach this season as a must-win, despite fans’ expectations. Nor has management talked long-term and acted short-term.

When Harris chained Kobe Bryant to the bench, organization insiders say owner Jerry Buss personally told his coach he’d like the youngster to play more, a tacit assurance Delmer wouldn’t be held responsible for teenage mistakes.

There will come a time--and it won’t be long--when the Lakers will expect to win and everybody will be held accountable according to that goal, but it isn’t quite yet.

When they played the Bulls just before the All-Star break, Jerry West called the visitors “a remarkable team,� adding, “I think everybody else is playing for second place.�

Down the road, there may even be pluses to O’Neal’s absence, as there were on the occasions that Cedric Ceballos went out, giving Eddie Jones a chance to emerge.

Jones, the one-on-one scorer they’ll need in the playoffs when opponents start hacking Shaq, will have to assume the burden of go-to guy. He may or may not enjoy the burden, but it will be good for him.

Bryant will get to play more. This will be fun for the whole Laker family and hopefully, he’ll settle down and stop shooting it every time he gets it.

Nick Van Exel will have to keep himself and everyone else together. Staying together will be the most important task for them all because harder times are coming, and they’re going to have to be poised enough to handle them.

As far as their prospects in the West, their playoff berth, that’s not something anyone knows and, besides, who cares?

The Rockets won the 1995 title after finishing sixth in the West and winning four playoff series without home-court advantage. If you’re good enough, you’re good enough. If you aren’t, home-court advantage won’t save you.

So there are many benefits the Lakers may derive, although you may be assured they’d have preferred to pass up each and every one of them if they could have their Shaq back.

That’s not how it happened, so everyone will just have to deal with it.