Wednesday, June 21, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Future precarious for championship Lakers
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Magic Johnson believes the Los Angeles Lakers may be one star short of a dynasty.
Johnson, the key player on five Lakers' championship teams in the 1980s, isn't sure the 2000 NBA champions have all the right stuff to dominate this decade — at least not yet.
"I think we have most of the key parts, but it depends on how the team is changed," Johnson, now a team vice president and minority owner, said after the Lakers beat Indiana 116-111 Monday night to win their first NBA title since 1988.
"You know this isn't the same team you're going to see next season. You know we're not going to be afraid to pull the trigger."
The Lakers won the championship despite weak spots in their roster, so executive vice president Jerry West is expected to wheel and deal during the off season.
A scary thought for the rest of the NBA's
teams: the Lakers with a scoring power forward (P.J. Brown, Brian Grant?) to make opponents pay for double- and triple-teaming Shaquille O'Neal. Throw in a new longrange sharpshooter and a big-bodied backup center, and the Lakers certainly would look like a dynasty.
"Jerry West has always done an excellent job with this ballclub and I'm sure he's going to make the right decisions again." Kobe Brant said.
Johnson said there was really not much comparison between the current Lakers and the team of the 1980s, which he believes was considerably better.
"They're still learning how to win. We had three superstars — Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), James Worthy and myself — and we knew how to put teams away, knew how to win." he said.
Glen Rice, a free agent who made $7 million this year and wants more for his next contract, may be one player who won't be back. Rice, 33, never lived up to his job as
the third option — behind O'Neal and
Bryant — in the Lakers' offense.
Backup center John Salley and reserve Brian Shaw also are free agents, and both are expendable. The Lakers' starting lineup this season was, outside of O'Neal and Bryant, a bit of a patchwork affair that included 35-year-old Ron Harper, who won three championship rings in Chicago, and 36-year-old A.C. Green, who won two with Los Angeles in the '80s.
Larry Bird, a high-scoring forward who
led Boston to three championships, believes the Lakers have a good chance of being the league's best team over the next few years for one reason — O'Neal.
"He's just so dominating that they have an opportunity here to do something great for a number of years," said Bird, who did what he said he was going to and stepped down after three seasons as the Pacers' coach following their Game 6 loss.
"They're very good, but they are not great
veter. Hearn said of Shaq and Kobe's team.
Robert Horry, with the Houston Rockets when they won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, knows how precarious life at the top can be.
Chick Hearn, the Lakers' broadcaster for the past 40 years, said this team isn't as good as the ones in the 1980s, or the 1972 champions led by Wilt Chamberlain and West.
"Because we won it, everybody will jump on the bandwagon," he said. "But if something happens next year, we have a little lull, they'll all jump off."
King to coach Olympic tennis
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Billie Jean King believes she will be coaching a dream team in the Sydney Olympic Games.
"I look good because I am like Phil Jackson. I get all the great horses," King said Tuesday after being introduced as the coach of the U.S. women's Olympic tennis team.
Under Olympic rules, the top players who qualify must be picked for the team.
"I don't have a choice," King said. "I don't get to choose like I do at Fed Cup. I have to go stricly by the rules and go by rankings. In a way, it's easier for me because I don't have a choice."
The United States conceivably could be represented by secondranked Lindsay Davenport, who won the singles gold medal four years ago in Atlanta. No. 5 Venus Williams and No. 6 Monica Seles. For the doubles, King could select either Serena Williams, who is ranked eighth in singles but has won several Grand Slam tournament doubles titles with her older sister Venus, or Lisa Raymond, who is top-ranked in doubles.
"We have the best players in the world in America," King said. "I am lucky to be the coach. I don't win it, they win it. I just try to make it fun for them and help them."
Rick Ferman, chief executive of the U.S. Tennis Association, said selecting King was special this year since the Sydney Games, to be held Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, mark the 100th anniversary of women competing in the Olympics.
"There is no one who is more responsible for the growth of women's athletics worldwide than Billie Jean." Ferman said.
The men's captain will be announced soon, a USTA spokesperson said.
Four years ago, King's team swept the gold medals in Atlanta. Mary Joe and Gigi Fernandez, who are not related, took the doubles gold.
This year's team must be selected on July 10, the day after Wimbledon ends. That, King said, could create a problem, especially if someone is injured.
"They all want to go," she said.
"Now, will they change their minds? That's always a possibility. And injuries: Lindsay's back, Venus' wrist, Siren's knee."
"A lot of things can happen in July August and early September,
"There is no one who is more responsible for the growth of women's athletics worldwide than Billie Jean."
CEO of the U.S. Tennis Association
Rick Ferman
so it is really difficult. I know I have talked to athletes in other sports and they all have the same feelings, just have no idea. Make the decision Monday after Wimbledon, maybe in September they are not even playing anymore."
To be eligible to be selected as a replacement, players declare themselves available for the Olympics and go through other procedures, including drug testing, within the next two weeks.
The effort, however, is worth it, said King.
The Olympics are very special because it includes all the different sports, she said. "It includes major league sports (and) includes very minor sports that are very obscure.
"It is a wonderful experience to meet athletes from throughout the world, but also athletes in different sports. It really does bring a feeling of everyone really being together from a global sense," she said.
10 cities in the running to hold 2008 Olympics
The Associated Press
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — All 10 cities hoping to stage the 2008 Olympics met yesterday's deadline for submitting replies to a questionnaire distributed by the International Olympic Committee last February.
The cities are Bangkok,
Thailand; Beijing; Cairo, Egypt;
Havana; Istanbul, Turkey;
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
The group will submit a report to the IOC executive board, which will meet Aug. 28 to 29 to decide which cities would remain official bidders.
Osaka, Japan;
Paris; Seville,
Spain; and
Toronto.
toronto.
Under procedures adopted last year by the IOC,
prospective host cities must go through a bid acceptance procedure to determine
Four or five cities are expected to make the final cut.
The final decision on the host city for 2008 will be made at the IOC session in Moscow in July 2001.
Beijing, Toronto, Paris and Osaka are considered early
OLYMPIC GAMES
whether they should be approuved as official candidates
approved as official candidates. A group of experts will study the replies to assess their technical, financial, political and other capabilities of staging the games.
front-runners.
As a result of the Salt Lake City bid scandal, which resulted in the expulsion or resignation of 10 IOC members last year, members will be prohibited from visiting 2008 bid cities.
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