Even after Shaquille O'Neal returns from an injury, the champs will rely on the leadership of the increasingly Michael-like Kobe Bryant

By Jack McCallum

Bryant let his teammates know that he wants a fourth title by coming to camp packing 15 more pounds.  John W. McDonough

Could this be the year that Kobe Bryant equals -- it seems premature to suggest surpasses -- Michael Jordan as a player? The similarities between the two continue to grow, as has the 24-year-old Bryant, who added 15 pounds of muscle in the off-season. Bryant has Jordan's gait (pigeon-toed but graceful), his temperament (seemingly implacable, then suddenly incendiary) and his versatile game (the fluid moves to the basket, the fallaway jumper, the relentless darting around screens on defense). And now, thanks to a Jordanesque compulsion for working out that includes frequent game-day weightlifting, Bryant has Jordan's body, too. "I went from big to bigger, from thick to thicker, from swoll to swollen," says the 6'7", 225-pound Bryant, sounding a bit like You Know Who. Kobe's wife, Vanessa, also put on a few pounds of late; she is pregnant with their first child, a girl, due in February.

If it seems too early to conjure up the Kobe-channels-Michael theme, well, there isn't much new to say about the three-time defending champions, who are dedicating the season to Chick Hearn, their Hall of Fame play-by-play man who died in August. Shaquille O'Neal, Butch to Kobe's Sundance, begins the season as a footnote -- he may miss part of November after off-season surgery on his right big toe -- and coach Phil Jackson has not yet begun in earnest the mind games certain to accompany his quest for a four-peat. The Lakers' supporting cast, which took heat for failing to supply adequate succor to the two superstars before the sweep of the Nets in the Finals, is more or less the same, though there is less of backup guard Brian Shaw, who shed 15 pounds.

But clear it away, and there stands Bryant, the easygoing assassin who has toughened up by sparring with one of his bodyguards from time to time. "I can hit him on the shoulders and chest," says Bryant with a smile, "but he's not allowed to hit me." To a degree Kobe is still the junior member of the triumvirate that rules the Lakers. He will listen to Jackson -- having been chastened last season after rebelling against Big Chief Triangle -- and defer to O'Neal, whose public proclamations tend to be more lapidary, or at least nuttier. But look for the junior member to become the true leader of this team. It was Bryant who persuaded Shaw & Co. to get in peak physical condition, and it was Bryant whose strong hints about playing in the Olympics have O'Neal and Jackson considering a 2004 trip to Greece.

"When I get back, there's going to be trouble, I can tell you that," said O'Neal, "but until then the lieutenant general [Bryant] can hold down the fort." The best all-around player in the game will do a whole lot more than that.

Enemy Lines An opposing team's scout sizes up the Lakers "It's about time Phil Jackson got credit for being one of the alltime great coaches. Defensively, the Lakers last season held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage and three-point percentage in the league. They were second in defensive rebounds, second in fewest turnovers committed and ninth in assists. They're a well-coached, well-disciplined team. Jackson has sustained excellence in two places with different kinds of players. Sure, he had the best players, but he's keeping them hungry. I would have thought complacency might have set in with Shaquille O'Neal, but it hasn't. ... Making Kobe Bryant work defensively has to be part of your game plan; you can't let him rest and then take it out on you at the offensive end. Kobe isn't Michael Jordan on defense, but he gives a good effort. ... The Lakers are developing replacements for their key role players. Devean George would be a starter on a lot of other teams, and he'll eventually take over for Rick Fox. In the next year or two Kareem Rush will probably replace Brian Shaw. The knock on Rush was that he's a little soft, but they used to say the same thing about Fox before he found his niche with the Lakers. ... The one player who might be affected by age is Robert Horry, their third threat in the big games. The starter at power forward, Samaki Walker, has yet to show signs of consistency. ... Derek Fisher isn't a pure point guard, and on most teams he would be a solid backup, but he fills the Lakers' needs by playing good on-the-ball defense, keeping them organized in the triangle, knowing when to push the tempo and hitting open shots. ... If you took Kobe off that team I bet they'd still win the championship, because Shaq's presence does so much to make all the other guys better. It's a joke that Shaq doesn't win the MVP award every year, no matter how many games he misses."

Issue date: October 28, 2002