View From The Other Side

Phil Jackson demurred Friday, and it almost constituted news. You hang around Jackson for very long and it becomes apparent that the man has this coaching dodge figured out to at least the ninth power, and that includes producing a ready answer for about any question that could be asked.

But on the subject of the comparative career trajectories of Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, “I wouldn’t make that analysis or assumption at all,� Jackson replied. “They’re such different players. They come from such different positions and backgrounds. I don’t think it’s comparable.�

Well, of course not.

But then, let’s go to the book.

O’Neal is 28 years old. Jordan didn’t win the first of his six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls until age . . . 28.

To this point in his career, O’Neal has been regarded as an immense presence and a formidable talent but not necessarily a player capable of taking a team to the top. Until his Bulls finally broke through in the early 1990s, Jordan was regarded as the game’s premier form of personal entertainment but not necessarily the biggest piece of a championship puzzle.

Jordan’s ascension finally occurred when he was matched with a superb second mate, Scottie Pippen, and placed in the triangle offense. O’Neal led the Lakers to 67 regular-season victories this season after being placed in the triangle offense alongside his superb second mate, Kobe Bryant.

Oh, and Jackson coached Jordan to all six of his rings. Are you sure there are no grounds for a little trajectory projection?

We can acknowledge the obvious without losing sight of the possible. O’Neal is a hulking center, not the lithe jump shooter Jordan first was before adding so many dimensions to his game. O’Neal, certainly, has no skins on the wall. There’s no question about who occupies a larger spot in NBA lore, or in the ledger of genuine achievement.

But O’Neal is 28 and Bryant is 21, and the Lakers look awfully primed for a solid run at their first title under Jackson. And is it such a stretch to imagine L.A. performing a classic Bulls-type in-fill project--a Ron Harper here, a Steve Kerr there--around those two players for several seasons to come?

“I do think that it takes time, and maturation is a big key,� Jackson said. “And individualization--and putting the team on your shoulders and trying to do it by yourself is impossible--and so then the accommodation of teammates. And those kinds of things are comparable.�

Translated: Jordan, despite the awe with which he is regarded today, didn’t arrive in the NBA as either a complete player or a complete teammate. He had to learn. So, too, with O’Neal, as both he and Bryant spent this season coming to grips with the Jackson way of doing things.