Vulnerable without Shaq

NEW YORK CITY — After a woeful 2-6 start, the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are looking more and more vulnerable without Shaquille O’Neal in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

To NBA vice president for international media relations Terry Lyons, it’s no surprise. I visited Lyons in his office at the Olympic Tower near St. Patrick’s Cathedral here the other day.

"You lose your key player and it’s tough to get on track," said Lyons. "Look at the New York Knicks. Without Antonio McDyess, they’re struggling. But with the Lakers, they don’t seem worried. I guess they realize once Shaq is back, things will fall into place. They’ve got this thing about putting it all together when it really counts."

There is talk that the atmosphere in the Lakers locker room is hardly somber despite the poor kickoff. The players were rumored to be laughing off the early losses. The only Laker who doesn’t seem to enjoy the skid is Kobe Bryant who’s breaking his back trying to keep the L.A. ship from sinking in Shaq’s absence.

In his first eight outings this season, Bryant averaged 27.7 points and shot .875 from the stripe. No teammate comes close to his production. Devean George is the team’s second leading scorer and he’s hitting at an 11.7 clip.

With 15 pounds of muscle added to his imposing physique, Bryant has bulked up to anticipate a lot more banging at the post. He’s assumed the responsibility of loading the Lakers on his back while Shaq recovers from toe surgery. Shaq should’ve made his season debut against Atlanta last Tuesday but postponed it after still feeling some pain in his foot.

It wasn’t easy packing the added weight on his body. Bryant, 24, worked out six hours a day, six days a week during the offseason. He did weights (squatting 400 pounds and bench-pressing 300), sprints, shooting drills, creative drills, and plometrics to improve his speed, quickness, and agility.

Bryant said with his new-found strength, "rebounding is coming easy." Last season, he averaged 5.5 boards in 80 games. In eight outings so far this campaign, Bryant is hauling down an average of 10.4.

"I just worked extremely hard," said Bryant quoted by David DuPree in USA Today. "Hopefully, I can get in the post a little more and start abusing some guys down on the block."

With the losses piling up, Lakers coach Phil Jackson hasn’t been much in the limelight lately. This year is particularly significant in his career because another title, his 10th, will break the tie with Boston’s Red Auerbach for most championships ever. Jackson is obviously avoiding a debate on how good he really is without an anchor star like a Michael Jordan or a Shaq.

If the consensus is Bryant is destined to languish in Shaq’s shadow throughout his career, he’s not inclined to agree. He hasn’t won an MVP because the man in the middle is just too imposing to ignore. But without Shaq, Kobe clearly can’t do it alone. Similarly, Shaq can’t do it alone either. He tried in Orlando and couldn’t get the job done–remember the 4-0 wipeout by Houston in the finals? With Kobe, Shaq has a perfect Robin to his Batman role. The Lone Ranger wouldn’t have survived the Cavendish gang’s ambush if not for Tonto but let’s face it, the hero will always be the Masked Man, not the poor braided caddy who speaks broken English.

Bryant, who’s due to become a father to a baby girl in the first week of February, said what drives him isn’t the ego trip of earning an MVP trophy but the gratification of winning a title.

The Lakers’ 95-83 loss to Atlanta was their fourth in a row, the club’s longest in over seven years. In a season where Jackson absorbed as many losses in succession, his teams never advanced beyond the conference semifinals–a bad omen for the Zen Master. The 2-6 start is the team’s worst after eight games in 36 years.

But what can you expect from a squad whose starting center is Samaki Walker and whose sub is Slava Medvedenko? Jackson took another shot on the chin when third-string center Soumaila Samake was suspended by the league for taking steroids. Not that Samake’s presence would make a difference.

With a slew of oldtimers in the Lakers cast, depth is a major problem for Jackson. Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Brian Shaw, Tracy

Murray, and let’s not forget, O’Neal are in their 30s. Oddsmaker Jim Feist said, "anything more than a minor injury to O’Neal or Bryant could really hurt the Lakers’ playoff seeding… we know, we know, Jackson’s rarely if ever has a deep bench at his disposal but it’s bound to catch up with the Lakers."

Jerry West is no longer around to work his magic in fortifying the Lakers’ player corps. The scheming Jackson took care of that. So who will preside in the backroom to save the Lakers from disintegrating? Jackson’s girlfriend Jeanne Buss? West is now in Memphis and his latest sleight-of-hand was luring Hubie Brown out of a TV job to coach the Grizzlies.

Shaq hopes to make it right once he’s back in the groove. But despite that Superman logo on his bicep, Shaq’s only human. He hurts and bleeds like a mortal. That realization is probably keeping Jackson awake at nights, with or without Jeanne.