NBA PREVIEW

Shaquille O’Neal in Los Angeles, Charles Barkley and Kevin Willis joining Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston--the day of the finesse Western teams is over. The other powers are still lurking. The SuperSonics hope they grew up. The Jazz hopes it hasn’t grown up too much. The Spurs would like David Robinson to show up one spring. Here’s how it looks, in predicted order of finish.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Coach: Del Harris.

Last season: 53-29, second in Pacific Division.

Gone: Vlade Divac, Anthony Peeler, Sedale Threatt, George Lynch.

New: Shaquille O’Neal, rookies Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, Byron Scott, Rumeal Robinson.

Despite premature jubilation within and without the organization, despite everything they have to prove--can they defend, rebound, shoot from the outside, show some poise?--there’s no getting around their overwhelming power, speed, and talent.

“They were a problem for us without Shaq,� Seattle Coach George Karl said, “and the last time I checked, they got Shaq for nothing. They didn’t have to give up anything to get him.

“He’s replacing Divac. Divac is one of the few guys we kind of controlled.�

Of course, potential is as potential does.

*

SEATTLE SUPERSONICS

Coach: George Karl.

Last season: 64-18, first in Pacific.

Gone: Ervin Johnson, Frank Brickowski, Vince Askew.

New: Jim McIlvaine, Craig Ehlo.

After many pratfalls, they vaulted over their hump last spring, reaching the finals when Gary Payton’s game became as good as his mouth and Shawn Kemp went from manchild to Man.

However, undercutting the maturity theory, Kemp, who had just signed a contract extension, staged a “holdout,� saying it wasn’t about money, that he needed to “renew� himself and, finally, that it was about money.

For all their volatility, their victory totals under Karl are 55-63-57-64 (after going 102-102 before he arrived), so it’s obvious they’re doing something right.

So far, McIlvaine looks better than Ervin Johnson but less than a $5-million-a-year player. Brian Williams would have been better but turned them down, a missed opportunity all around.

*

HOUSTON ROCKETS

Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich.

Last season: 48-34, third in Midwest.

Gone: Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown, Kenny Smith, Mark Bryant.

New: Charles Barkley, Kevin Willis, Brent Price.

After back-to-back playoff miracles, the aging Rockets figured to go fast and did, in an injury-filled season and a second-round SuperSonic sweep.

With his window down to a sliver of light, Tomjanovich got Barkley for a last title run, even if it cost half his eight-man rotation.

However, putting Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler together may be tricky (see the West-Baylor-Chamberlain Lakers). Price, the new point guard, broke his arm, so Tomjanovich is choosing between a second-round pick and two CBA guys. All in all, it could work or it could blow up on the pad.

*

UTAH JAZZ

Coach: Jerry Sloan.

Last season: 55-27, second in Midwest.

Gone: Felton Spencer.

New: Brooks Thompson.

Every fall everyone asks if Karl Malone, 33, and John Stockton, 34, are too old. Every season they win 55 games or so. Every other spring (‘92, ‘94, ‘96), they reach the Western finals and lose.

The Mailman-Stockton-Jeff Hornacek triangle remains the game’s most efficient (they averaged 56 points and shot 51% last season). Bryon Russell of Long Beach State happened in the playoffs, giving them their missing small forward. However, center remains in the hands of journeymen. The Jazz hasn’t been truly menacing since Mark Eaton’s heyday.

*

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Coach: Bob Hill.

Last season: 59-23, first in Midwest.

Gone: No one of note.

New: Dominique Wilkins.

In Robinson’s six postseasons, the Spurs have been dumped in the first round twice and the second three times. They got beyond that only once, with Dennis Rodman, who kept taking his sneakers off at the wrong time.

Robinson is 7 feet 2 and 250 pounds but has a 32-inch waist and gets pushed around in postseason hurly burly. The other starters are reclamation projects like Avery Johnson, Charles Smith and Vinny Del Negro or reeds like Sean Elliott.

Hill, though uptight with the press, is a good technician who’s popular with players. He asked for an extension after last season’s second-round loss to the Jazz. By way of reply, General Manager Gregg Popovich told him he wasn’t thrilled with the job he’d done.

Wilkins, returning from exile in Boston and Athens, will help, but Rodman would help more.

*

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

Coach: P.J. Carlesimo.

Last season: 44-38, third in Pacific.

Gone: Rod Strickland, Buck Williams, James Robinson, Harvey Grant.

New: Kenny Anderson, Isaiah Rider, Rasheed Wallace.

Striking boldly, or wildly, Trader Bob Whitsitt loaded the Trail Blazers up with youth and question marks.

The general manager paid $6 million a year to sign Anderson when no one thought Anderson could find $3 million. He traded for the troublesome Rider and the immature Wallace, then drafted Jermaine O’Neal, an 18-year-old prep player.

Rider, gifted but yet to decide whether he wants to play in the NBA, promptly went into his act, missing this, showing up late for that, and was suspended for the season opener.

However, this is a big, talent-laden team. It finished 18-4 last season after Carlesimo began starting Arvydas Sabonis. Carlesimo thought he had a long season feuding with Strickland, but he hasn’t seen anything yet.

*

SACRAMENTO KINGS

Coach: Garry St. Jean.

Last season: 39-43, fifth in Pacific.

Gone: Sarunas Marciulionis.

New: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

They broke through last spring, making the playoffs for the first time in the ‘90s, scaring the SuperSonics in the first round, and they may not be through.

No. 1 draft choice Predrag Stojakovic signed in Europe, but the Kings got a proven scorer, Abdul-Rauf, a bargain after angering patriots in Denver, to back up Tyus Edney, a pleasant surprise as a rookie.

On the Kings, Mitch Richmond shoots and everyone else jumps on opponents’ backs chasing the ball. Olden Polynice has found a niche. Brian Grant and Michael Smith are rambunctious forwards. Corliss Williamson, who started slowly as a rookie, had a fine exhibition season. If he makes it from Scoreless back to Big Nasty, the Kings will be a night’s work.

*

PHOENIX SUNS

Coach: Cotton Fitzsimmons.

Last season: 41-41, fourth in Pacific.

Gone: Charles Barkley.

New: Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Chucky Brown, Mark Bryant.

Owner Jerry Colangelo always has something up his sleeve. In this case, it’s called “Next season.�

With an old, fading team, he bit the bullet and traded Barkley for four Rockets, all in the last year of contracts, giving the Suns nine free agents next summer--and the ability to get $12 million under the cap.

As if to confirm Colangelo’s judgment, Kevin Johnson, trying to play a last season, is already out because of a “sports hernia� and creaky Hot Rod Williams sat out most of the exhibitions. The Suns simply hope to stay respectable, to remain attractive to prospective free agents. With Danny Manning, Michael Finley, Cassell, et al., they have a chance.

*

DALLAS MAVERICKS

Coach: Jim Cleamons.

Last season: 26-56, fifth in Midwest.

Gone: Popeye Jones, Cherokee Parks.

New: Eric Montross, Oliver Miller, Derek Harper, Chris Gatling, rookie Samaki Walker.

Their future is . . . when exactly?

Once considered rising stars, they’ve averaged 23 wins a season in the ‘90s. Having now bulked up their front line and bench, the question is, how good are their “stars?�

Impetuous, rock-throwing Jason Kidd is a playmaking prodigy, even if shooting is coming slowly. He got up to 34% on threes last season, so there’s hope.

However, Jim Jackson began acting weird and playing soft last season, and Jamal Mashburn has been soft since he showed up. Then there was the laughable Jackson-Kidd feud over a woman.

Cleamons, promoted from the Bulls’ bench, is the new coach/surrogate father. Old pro Harper, returning home, has been assigned a cubicle between Kidd and Jackson, hopefully to counsel, not referee.

*

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Coach: Flip Saunders.

Last season: 26-56, fifth in Midwest.

Gone: Andrew Lang.

New: Rookie Stephon Marbury, Stojko Vrankovic, Cherokee Parks.

Imagine, a glimmer in Minneapolis.

The draft of high school senior Kevin Garnett (14 points and eight rebounds a game as a starter) led to the trade for the rights to Georgia Tech freshman Marbury, who showed a world of talent in exhibitions.

However, General Manager Kevin McHale gave up Andrew Lang, an undersized but decent center, for Marbury and now must try Vrankovic, a 7-0 Croatian who was a dud with the Celtics in 1991-92 when one of his harshest critics was . . . McHale.

This is a closely watched team because no one knows how the Class of ‘95--who can be free agents in ‘98--will behave. Will Garnett, the prize, re-sign with the Timberwolves or head for the Lower 47?

*

DENVER NUGGETS

Coach: Bernie Bickerstaff.

Last season: 35-47, fourth in Midwest.

Gone: Dikembe Mutombo, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Jalen Rose.

New: Ervin Johnson, Mark Jackson, Ricky Pierce.

This “rising power� stuff must be harder than it looks.

Before the Mavericks, the Nuggets were the hot young team in the West, but free agency--and frustration--finished them off.

Mutombo departed, tired of Bickerstaff and vice versa. Bickerstaff then signed Johnson, who averaged 19 minutes, two blocks and three fouls in Seattle, and traded for Pierce, 37, and Jackson, 31.

You’ve heard of rebuilding? This is the process in reverse.

Date to remember:

July 1, 1998--Antonio McDyess can become a free agent.

*

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Coach: Rick Adelman.

Last season: 36-46, sixth in Pacific.

Gone: Kevin Willis.

New: Mark Price.

It’s no easy trick to go from Nellie Ball to the conventional version, so it’s no surprise the new regime is taking on water.

Tim Hardaway was traded last season, to keep him from choking Latrell Sprewell. The Warriors would like to find takers for Don Nelson’s last two mistakes--Donyell Marshall, a bust with seven more seasons (at $42 million) left on his contract and Cliff Rozier, a career underachiever who is owed $2 million over the next two--but no one’s that stupid.

Meanwhile, the impasse with Rony Seikaly continues. He hates them and vice versa. As a preseason, it doesn’t look promising.

Date to remember:

July 1, 1998--Joe Smith can become a free agent.

*

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

Coach: Bill Fitch.

Last season: 29-53, sixth in Pacific.

Gone: No one of note (officially).

New: Kevin Duckworth.

Gee, imagine finding these guys here.

Have they been reasonable in negotiations with Brian Williams? Does it matter?

If he leaves, they lose what credibility they had built up since Manning left. Of course, when Manning left, he took with him the credibility they had built up since the end of their experiment with Bill Walton, which cost them the credibility. . . .

Date to remember:

July 1, 1998--Loy Vaught and Brent Barry can become free agents.

*

VANCOUVER GRIZZLIES

Coach: Brian Winters.

Last season: 15-67, last in Midwest.

Gone: Byron Scott, Gerald Wilkins.

New: Rookies Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Roy Rogers, Anthony Peeler.

Not to jinx them but . . . welcome to the new rising power in the West?

Bryant Reeves did well after a slow start. The draft produced a haul: Abdur-Rahim, the talented Cal freshman, and Rogers, a smooth-talking, late-blooming shot-blocker from Alabama with a problem knee that dropped him to No. 22 but didn’t slow him in exhibitions.

Then the Grizzlies got Peeler, their price for taking George Lynch’s $2 million in salary and freeing up room for the Lakers’ last bid for O’Neal.

It might be too soon for them to actually win games--they started 2-0, finished 13-67 and are still getting younger--but keep an eye on them.