For The Lakers, The Best Is Yet To Come
A teen describes his love for the Lakers.
“The new Showtime era is under way. The Lakers are like Superman—fast, explosive and a team you can look up to.
Yeah, I know they’re not connected together yet. Like when they played the Toronto Raptors, and Eddie Jones passed the ball to Shaq, but he was too far for the lob, so Shaq missed the shot and they lost by one point. Give them a break, they got a great package, they just need a little time to get the wrapping on it just right.
They’re still THE LAKERS. When I got a chance to go the Forum to meet some of them, I was stoked. I was going down the tunnel, past the trophies, championship banners, retired jersies, then down the gold steps onto the court—whoa. The Lakers court. It was awe-inspiring.
I saw all the media people crowded around the stars, especially Shaq. In the far corner of the court I saw a young kid in a Laker uniform, off by himself. I walked up to Kobe Bryant, who’s 18, and asked him all kinds of questions about the Lakers outlook and his role on the team.
All of a sudden we were talking about football and which team is better, Green Bay or Dallas. His opinion: “Dallas is hard. Look at Emmit Smith.” I said: “What about Brett Favre and the rest of his team?” We started laughing. He seemed like a regular kid like me, except he plays pro basketball and there’s a lot more zeroes in his annual salary than there is in my income.
What is it like for a teenager to play with grown men who have been in the league for years? “It’s no big deal. You just have to hold your own out here. Sure, I came out of high school, but I feel I have the necessary talent to be here. It’s always been my dream. If I didn’t think I could play in this league, I would have went on to college and developed my skills some more.”
Then I had a chat with Elden Campbell. The man is solid as a rock. He kept calling me “little dude” throughout the interview. Hey, I’m 6’2″, I’m not “little.” On the other hand, he is a bit taller than me (like almost a foot taller). In fact, we had to sit down for part of the interview because my neck was hurting from looking up at him so long. He has a great outlook on the team. “By having Shaq on our team, he opens up a lot of things for our offense and closes things for our defense.” He said he doesn’t mind that he’s not going to have as many rebounds as he had last year. “Somebody’s gotta get them when I’m sitting down,” he said.
He also welcomed Kobe to the team. “He’s the baby on the team and we have to look after him, but the boy has some skills,” he said.
Then I talked to Byron Scott and Cedric Ceballos. They were like two kids in a sandbox, telling jokes and talking about what they did in Hawaii. But I could tell they are dead serious about the team, saying that this season they will make Los Angeles proud. “Once we gel as a team completely, we will be unstoppable,” said Cedric.
I couldn’t break through the buzzing beehive of reporters around Shaq, but I did see him shoot a three pointer in practice that day and miss it. He eventually started shooting free throws and he soon began to miss them also. I yelled out that he should take a step back, and he did, but he still missed. Then I told him to take a step to the left, and that time he made the shot. (See, Shaq needs someone like me. Maybe the Lakers should hire me… or maybe not.)”