Tuesday Insider

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Beat L.A.?

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: No deal for the Knicks | NBA takes another step toward Charlotte | Will LeBron play for Team USA? | Peep Show

Want the definition of humble pie? Try looking at the Western Conference standings on the first week in December and finding yourself wedged in between the Warriors and Nuggets. Or watch your team struggle to win an overtime game against the 2-14 Grizzlies.

The Lakers are coming undone. And for once, coach Phil Jackson isn't sure what he has to do to turn the three-time World Champions back into contenders.

"Well, it just is another loss," Jackson said after Sunday's loss to the Timberwolves. "They seem to be piling up now with some regularity and we can't seem to stop that momentum at this particular time and right ourselves and feel like, OK, we have a feel now for what we're trying to do."

It may be premature to panic over the Lakers' 6-12 record. But consider this. The Lakers have already lost more games than Jackson's 1995-96 Bulls did in an entire season. And no one is sure exactly when this team will hit rock bottom.

Injuries are mounting, the team's chemistry is suddenly out of wack and an injection of Shaquille O'Neal has done little to change the Lakers' fortunes over the last week.

The last three years have proved that a team with two mega stars and a cast of role players is all you need to win a championship. But with one of those mega stars ailing and the other one overcompensating, the Lakers are looking very stagnant.

Four-peats aren't all they're cracked up to be. Winning hides most, if not all, of a team's problems. But under the unforgiving spotlight of losing, the flaws that once looked like character are morphing into warts.

The Lakers are still going to war every night, but nowadays it's the Civil War that gets re-enacted at the Staples Center.

Shaquille O'Neal

Center

Los Angeles Lakers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

6 24.7 10.2 2.0 .518 .615

"We're kind of beating ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot," O'Neal said. "Yes, I think we can correct it, but ... we have to do some soul searching and everyone has to do their part."

After a tough loss last week, Kobe Bryant lashed into several teammates for not giving their all.

"I understand Samaki [Walker] has some back problems and he's hurting, but he's not hurting any more than I am," Bryant told reporters after the game. "I'm out there playing my butt off every single night. Hurt. Bad ankle. Can't walk. Don't matter. I'm out there playing. They should be out there playing as well."

The comments didn't play well in the locker room, adding more fuel to growing speculation that there's a serious rift between Kobe and the rest of his Laker teammates.

"It's painful, because that's a character shot," Walker said. "When you attack somebody's character, that's the worst thing you can do."

The bickering isn't the only thing that ails the Lakers. They rank 18th in the league in scoring. They rank 22nd in points allowed. They are shooting just 41.5 percent from the field as a team, 28.3 percent from three. With the exception of rebounding, the Lakers have been mere mortals in almost every aspect of the game.

Is the focus gone? Did the urgency and pride that defined the Lakers walk out the door along with Jerry West?

"Am I worried?" Rick Fox told the L.A. Times. "Uh, I may be worried that we're not taking the losses serious enough. It's hard to digest what has happened the last month and a half, because it's been an array of issues, which all line up to an array of excuses. So, you know, when you think about it, they all boil down to excuses.

"So, at what point do you put the excuses aside and realize winning four championships in a row is not easy? If it was easy, [it would] have been done numerous times before.... I don't know why we feel we're going to show up and [win]. It's kind of how we look sometimes when I watch it on tape; it's as though the presence alone of the Lakers on the floor is supposed to diffuse any attacking mentality of an opponent.... We went out and took three championships and right now we think somebody's going to hand it to us."

For Shaq, the answer is directing the team's frustrations externally instead of internally. "We're obviously down. but we've been in much worse situations. We have the type of group that we react better when we have to fight. And obviously, we have to fight right now early in the season."

Horry Better Amid the Soul-Searching

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

Lakers in Free Fall

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

Kobe's fire guides, burns

Jerry Brewer / Orlando Sentinel

Walker Is 'Hurt' by Bryant Remarks

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

No deal for the Knicks

Latrell Sprewell can breathe easier for a while. The Knicks let their $4.5 disabled players exception expire Monday night, meaning Spree and the rest of his teammates can now go down with the ship together.

Latrell Sprewell

Guard-Forward

New York Knicks

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

7 16.9 3.1 4.3 .393 .786

Knicks GM Scott Layden addressed reporters about five hours before the exception expired to deliver the bad news. "In all likelihood we won't use the injury exception," Layden said. "We looked at all the possibilities, and we didn't see anything out there that would significantly improve the team. And that was the goal with the injury exception."

"The deals that presented themselves to us we didn't feel were good enough comparing them to the players we have," Layden said.

According to the N.Y. Post, Layden had last-ditch discussions with the Blazers and Suns on Monday. The Blazers have backed off their interest in Spree since Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Ruben Patterson were involved in off-the-court incidents the past 10 days. Blazers GM Bob Whitsitt promised fans in a press conference that they would start taking fewer risks when it came to players with questionable backgrounds.

The Suns have been trying to pawn Penny Hardaway off on the Knicks all summer, but Layden felt the team was better off sticking with Spree. There were several other smaller deals out there for the Knicks' taking. They could have worked out a Danny Fortson-Chris Mills for Charlie Ward and Travis Knight trade, but the Knicks weren't interested. The T-Wolves were working hard to swap center Marc Jackson for the Knicks' exception, but again Layden felt that Jackson didn't have what it took to significantly improve the team.

Of course, because this is New York, nothing is ever over. Expect more Spree trade rumors as we move closer to the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

"We know that the trading deadline is later in the year, and it doesn't prevent us from in the near future or future trying to improve the team as we always said we would if we could," Layden added.

Layden Passes On Injury-Exception Deal

Marc Berman / New York Post

Knicks make no exception

Frank Isola / New York Daily News

NBA takes another step toward Charlotte

The NBA took another major step toward granting Charlotte an expansion team for the 2004-05 season Monday when the expansion committee hammered out the details and rules that will likely govern the league's 30th team.

The NBA will charge $300 million for the expansion team, the Charlotte Observer reported. That's more than twice the $125 million the Toronto Raptors and then-Vancouver Grizzlies paid to join the league in 1995.

The league also had a few other surprises up its sleeve. After beginning play in fall 2004, the expansion team would have a chance at the No. 1 overall pick in the rookie drafts in 2005 and 2006. The Raptors and Grizzlies were barred from getting the top pick in their first three drafts.

The team would be able to immediately share in the NBA's national television revenue. However, it wouldn't get a share of the money redistributed from the league's luxury tax the first few years.

If all goes according to plan, the league would hold a dispersal draft following next season. Each existing team would protect eight veterans. Charlotte would choose about 12 veterans from those left unprotected. No existing team would lose more than one veteran. Charlotte would also be allowed to sign free agents with any remaining money it would have under the cap.

With so many young players being stashed away on rosters, and with so many teams trying desperately to cut payroll, the expansion team should be able to find a few gems in the expansion draft. Teams like the Nuggets, Clippers and Bulls, who are undergoing youth movements, won't be able to protect all of their young players. Take the Bulls, for example. If they protected their top eight players, someone like Eddie Robinson, Marcus Fizer or Trenton Hassell would be available for the draft.

And you can expect that several overpaid veterans like Danny Fortson, Maurice Taylor and Austin Croshere will be available.

All in all, given the rules, the Charlotte Expansion Team (already known as the "Bugs" around the league) should be able to field the most competitive expansion team the NBA has seen.

"They'll have access to a lot of talent," one GM told Insider. "Teams draft differently now. A lot of potential guys are stashed away on rosters. If you can only protect eight guys, a few of those guys have to be sacrificed. They'll be the envy of many teams that wish they could start again with a blank slate. They won't have to deal with the mistakes that were made before the financial climate in the league changed."

1st pick possible in early years

Rick Bonnell and Leonard Laye / Charlotte Observer

Draft terms ignite NBA excitement

Tom Sorensen / Charlotte Observer

Will LeBron play for Team USA?

Stu Jackson and the rest of USA Basketball promised that next year's Olympic squad would rekindle the days when Magic, Michael and Larry Legend played for the red, white and blue. But who knew that the team may include a kid who has yet to play a college or NBA game.

That's right, Team USA is considering extending an invitation to LeBron James.

"It's a possibility," Jackson, chairman of USA Basketball's Senior National Team Committee, told the Bloomberg News. "Our objective is put the best team together.''

James chose not to comment Monday when contacted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"We have not heard anything from anyone in an official capacity with USA Basketball," said Gloria James, LeBron's mother. "We would prefer not to comment until we hear something official."

James is just the latest high-profile name to be floated by USA Basketball. Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen and Tracy McGrady are already considered locks for the team. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant are reportedly mulling things over. Chris Webber, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton, Steve Francis, Antoine Walker and Jalen Rose have also indicated that they'd love to play.

But Jackson indicated Monday that he's pushing the committee to take a long look first at players like Paul Pierce, who played for Team USA at the World Championships this summer. Pierce, Michael Finley and Andre Miller all played well, despite the team's poor record.

"With Paul, and all the guys on the team, we were all disappointed about the performance of that team individually and collectively," Jackson told the Boston Herald. "But I don't think as a committee we should lose sight of the fact that those 12 players said yes [when other stars begged out] and committed their time, 25 days out of their summer, to compete for USA Basketball. In my mind, that can't be forgotten. And we appreciate overall the way this team was received, the way this team responded from a media standpoint and a community relations standpoint.

"We just didn't play well and we lost. But it's incumbent upon me to let the committee know that the 12 guys that were there did say yes for us. And that has to count for something."

USA Basketball May Invite Teenager James to Join Olympic Team

Scott Soshnick / Bloomberg

Report says LeBron might be Olympian

Tim Rogers / Cleveland Plain Dealer

Pierce strong U.S. candidate

Steve Bulpett / Boston Herald

Peep Show

Cavs: Ricky Davis plans on fighting his two-game suspension from the team. The Cavs suspended Davis on Saturday after he got into an argument with Tyrone Hill on the court over a defensive switch. Davis' agent, Dan Fegan, said Monday night that he was going to fight the suspension with the NBA Players Association. He has not yet filed a grievance with the NBPA. "We're going to challenge this," Fegan told the News Herald. "This won't hold up to arbitration scrutiny. There's nothing in the team handbook about arguing with a teammate." Fegan said Davis has not asked to be traded. "Ricky has always maintained that he has no problem with Cleveland or Cleveland's fans," he said. "He always gives 100 percent. He wants to win and plays the game with passion."

Pistons: Coach Rick Carlisle is changing his starting lineup again. Carlisle said he was reinserting small forward Michael Curry into the starting lineup in place of rookie Tayshaun Prince. Point guard Chauncey Billups, who has missed the last six games because of a sprained right ankle, also is expected to be back in the lineup Wednesday. Chucky Atkins will return to the bench. "It's not right for me to expect us to be a great defensive team and not put our best defensive players on the floor to start games," Carlisle told the Detroit News. "If I am going to talk about us being a defensive team, then I have to walk the walk in putting these guys out there. I like this team. And I just know in my heart that unless we can get back to a true defensive posture, we aren't going to be the kind of team we can be."

Bulls: Jay Williams is taking all of this losing personally. "It has been hard," Williams said. "But I'm going to win on this level. I'll never become numb to losing. It's always going to hit me deep inside. I think some people, if their team is losing, just take the loss. That's not me. It never has been me. I'll just keep working harder and harder. Trust me."

Bucks: Toni Kukoc had successful surgery Monday to repair a torn ligament in his right hand and will be sidelined for five to six weeks. He was placed on the injured list, but no one was activated to take his place on the roster, meaning the Bucks will go into their game Tuesday in Washington with 11 active players. Coach George Karl said he would rely more on Kevin Ollie, who has done a good job for the Bucks all season. "He's playing so well," Karl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "He's our leading plus-minus guy by far. When he's on the court, we win."

Mavs: Eduardo Najera's MRI on his left knee came back negative and the third-year forward was cleared to play Monday against Toronto. However, when he experienced soreness in the knee before the game, it was decided he would sit out his second game in a row. "I have pain, but I just have to suck it up, which I'm good at," he told the Dallas Morning News. "I'll just handle it with medicine and blessings."

Kings: The Kings have so many injuries (Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Hidayet Turkoglu, Scot Pollard, Mateen Cleaves) you're going to have to read the Sacramento Bee's updated to get the latest progress reports on all five players.

Nuggets: GM Kiki Vandeweghe is asking folks to be patient with No. 5 pick Nikoloz Tskitishvili. "All rookies are at different stages," Vandeweghe said. "You look at [Miami Heat forward] Caron Butler. He's probably the most mature of the rookies. To play him 35 minutes, that may make some sense, but to have a guy like 'Skita' who's so young and so raw and not as mature physically, to play that many minutes, that would hurt him." Of the top 10 picks in the June draft, only Chris Wilcox (5.6 minutes a game) has played less than Tskitishvili.

Heat: Coach Pat Riley fought the rules changes that allowed zone defenses starting last season. And even after the rules were changed, Riley refused to give in and use a zone himself. But Riley had a change of heart Monday night and used a 1-2-2 zone to befuddle the Suns in a 100-90 Miami overtime victory. "I was almost embarrassed to call it during the timeout," Riley told the Arizona Republic. "I said, 'Oh God guys, here we go.' They all laughed."

Davis to fight his suspension

Bob Finnan / Willoughby News-Herald

Lineup changes again

Chris McCosky / Detroit News

Williams: Losing hurts

K.C. Johnson / Chicago Tribune

Hand surgery sidelines Kukoc for 5-6 weeks

Tom Enlund / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

NBA honors Mavericks' Big Three, head coach

Eddie Sefko / Dallas Morning News

Timetable still no clearer for five injured players

Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

Tskitishvili's best shot is staying lat

Aaron J. Lopez / Rocky Mountain News

Riley swallows his pride, goes to zone; Heat shuts down Suns

Bob Young / Arizona Republic

[Traceman]

He's out 5-6 weeks with a wrist injury. I'm not surprised but at some point you would think that the guy's luck would change. He was playing pretty well too. Tough (but predictable) break for the Bucks.