If This Is Bad, Just How Good Will Lakers Be?

Every once in a while, someone asks me, “What’s wrong with the Lakers?” I am never surprised by this question, because I knew that every time the Lakers lost a game, someone would wonder what was wrong with the Lakers. Therefore, let me tell you exactly what is wrong with the Lakers.

Nothing.

They are every bit as good as I thought they would be, and not three-fourths as good as they are going to be. The team’s record is 17-7 going into tonight’s game against the Portland Trail Mix--I’m sorry, I mean Blazers--and in first place in the Pacific Division, winning more than 70% of their games.

It’s funny how nobody listens, when the Lakers ask for a few weeks of patience to let a team with eight new players get to know one another. As soon as they lose a few pre-Christmas games, it’s like the end of the world because they can’t play as well one night as they did 24 hours earlier.

Never mind that Cedric Ceballos was lost to them because of an injury. Heaven forbid that a team struggles when it loses its previous season’s leading scorer.

Here they are, trying to adapt to Shaquille O’Neal’s presence at center, trying to turn Nick Van Exel from a point-scorer to a point-passer, trying to get Jerome Kersey back from an injury of his own, trying to use rookies Derek Fisher and Travis Knight in a way they once used veterans Sedale Threatt and Vlade Divac, trying to keep rookie Kobe Bryant from getting rusty or restless on the bench, trying to make newcomer Sean Rooks understand why he isn’t getting more playing time, trying . . .

Oh, forget it.

Del Harris was completely justified the other day, when he said he was getting sick of “defending” a team that had one of the best records in the NBA.

This team is right on schedule.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a box in the daily newspaper that keeps you abreast of where previous “Showtime” teams were at this same point of the season. With players such as Magic, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers were 16-8 in a season when they eventually won 60 games. They were later 18-6 in a season when they won 65 games.

The more I watch this club, the more I wish people would remember what Jerry West said upon signing Shaquille O’Neal, that please, give this team some time.

Fisher, Knight and Bryant are new to professional basketball. They haven’t even gotten their feet wet.

Eddie Jones and Van Exel just turned 25.

O’Neal is 24.

They have been together as teammates for all of two months. Karl Malone and John Stockton have been together since dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

Bryant should be a college freshman. He is so young, he refers to teammate Byron Scott as “Mr. Scott.” He is so young, he gets in for half-price to watch game films. Chick Hearn is old enough to be his great-grandfather. (Sorry, Chick.) He is so young, he can’t remember Laker basketball from way back in the ‘80s.

The Lakers have gotten more out of Fisher and Knight than they could possibly have expected. Once again, West’s acumen at finding players is uncanny. He practically outsmarted himself, finding rookies so good that he can’t find playing time for the rookie he coveted most.

That’s the way the ball bounces.

What’s wrong with the Lakers? Nothing that can’t be fixed. Complaints about the way O’Neal shoots free throws are really beginning to bore me. It’s like complaining that a Ferrari doesn’t have a big enough trunk.

How much do you want for your money? Does the man have to do everything? So he’s no Rick Barry at the line, big damn deal. He gets 33 of the Lakers’ 79 points in a game against Indiana, 10 of their 44 rebounds, six blocked shots . . . and somebody goes home whining about him missing a few free throws.

You don’t hang a Mona Lisa over a crack in your plaster, then complain that it clashes with the rest of your decor. The Lakers have a great center. I’m sorry Hakeem Olajuwon wasn’t available. They got the next best thing.

Chicago still has Jordan and Pippen. Houston now has Olajuwon, Drexler and Barkley. Utah still has Malone and Stockton. Seattle still has most of its team back from the 1996 NBA finals.

Compared to them, the Lakers are still babies.

Give them a couple months. They’re growing fast.