Jordan's return eagerly awaited in new season

The NBA celebrates the change of seasons with a different look this year -- new faces stirring the hopes of contenders, new rules to foster team play and the return of the most cherished star ever to grace the hardcourts.

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant will try to carry the Los Angeles Lakers to a third successive National Basketball Association title but the dynamic duo will have to share the warmth of the spotlight with Michael Jordan.

"Air" Jordan leaves the stuffy, boardroom atmosphere of the Washington Wizards' front office to take direct charge of the team's fortunes on court as he ends a three-year retirement and at age 38 tests his talent against the new wave of superstars.

The Lakers will hand out rings and hang a banner to mark their 2000/2001 triumph at Tuesday's season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers.

But the Broadway opening of Jordan and the Wizards against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden is the show most fans will be curious to see.

Amid all the hoopla, opening games will feature ceremonies remembering the victims of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Red, white and blue basketballs will be used in ceremonial tip-offs before each opener. The balls, signed by players and coaches from both teams, will later be auctioned online to raise money for families of the victims of the attacks.

Jordan has looked impressive during preseason preparations, running up a 40-point outburst one night as the five-times league MVP shook off the rust.

But the young Wizards will undoubtedly continue to suffer from growing pains as their 2-6 preseason mark and 19-63 record of last season would suggest.

Jordan, the on-court leader of six NBA championship teams while with the Chicago Bulls, can consider his mission accomplished should he somehow lift the Wizards into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

ZEN MASTER

Title aspirations are best left to the likes of Jordan's old coach - "Zen Master" Phil Jackson, who has already been exercising some psychological ploys to keep his all-conquering Lakers on edge for another campaign.

Jackson, aiming this season to tie Celtics' Red Auerbach's record of nine NBA titles for coaches, has added veteran guard Mitch Richmond to his potent mix but still took an early opportunity to tweak both O'Neal and Bryant.

"It's a scary situation right now, the way he's shooting his free throws," Jackson told the Orange County Register about powerful centre O'Neal during the final week of preseason. O'Neal was 7-of-24 from the line at one point.

O'Neal, whose free throw woes have inspired late game "Hack a Shaq" defenses designed to send him to the charity stripe, flared up in response.

"If people would shut up, I won't have to change anything," O'Neal, recovering from toe surgery, told the newspaper. "People always talk too much. They're never satisfied with two championships, two (NBA Finals) MVPs -- that's not enough."

O'Neal, who has averaged an enviable 27.7 points and 12.4 rebounds for his regular season career, shot just 51.3 percent last season and 53.1 for his career from the free throw line.

Jackson says the Lakers will be all right provided Bryant can maintain his focus for the whole season.

The free-wheeling Bryant, who got upset last season over having to assume a secondary role to O'Neal, said Jackson's famed triangle offense was boring to run during the long campaign though it was a proven success at playoff time.

The league thought the trend toward isolation plays, where a team clears out one half of the court to let a gifted one-on-one player -- such as Bryant -- work his defender for an easy shot was ultimately boring and detracted from team play.

So the NBA has lifted a 40-year ban on zone defenses. Since 1961 the league had mandated man-to-man defense but now expect to see more passing and a greater premium placed on outside shooting.

The leading Western Conference threats to the Lakers figure to be the San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings.

San Antonio, swept in four games by the Lakers in the conference finals, added shooting guard Steve Smith and traded away Derek Anderson in hope of enlivening an offense dependent on big men Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

Sacramento, swept by Los Angeles in the conference semifinals, made a positive move at the point guard spot in swapping flashy Jason Williams for the impeccable Mike Bibby.

EAST WIDE OPEN

The East, by contrast, appears to be wide open with a bunch of teams hopeful of snatching the conference crown from the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost the NBA Finals in five to LA.

The Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors should battle it out with injury-plagued Philadelphia.

League MVP Allen Iverson and Sixth Man of the Year Aaron McKie had surgery just before training camp and missed much of the preseason. Point guard Eric Snow fractured his thumb in a preseason game and will miss months of action.

"This training camp has been a total waste," says Sixers coach Larry Brown.

The Magic dream of a healthy Grant Hill filling the fast break lane alongside the 22-year-old Tracy McGrady, who last season blossomed into one of the league's biggest stars in winning the NBA Most Improved Player award.

The Magic, who lost in the first round of the playoffs, have also added a pair of big men with big-game experience in center Patrick Ewing, after a season in Seattle, and forward Horace Grant, who won another ring last season with the Lakers.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who led the East last season with 100.7 points per game and have the outside shooting to disarm zone defenses, may have added a critical piece to their championship puzzle by adding free agent forward Anthony Mason.

Mason should supply some rebounding muscle and a low post-scoring threat to augment the jump shooting by All Stars Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson and point guard Sam Cassell, who carried the Bucks into the conference finals last season.

Toronto, who got past the Knicks in last season's playoffs, also added size, experience and talent by signing Hakeem Olajuwon. The 38-year-old former league MVP, who won two championship rings with Houston, appeared in only 58 games last season for the Rockets due to injury and health problems.

The Raptors are led by high-flying Vince Carter, who along with Bryant, McGrady, Iverson and others striving to replace Jordan as the game's most exciting player, can this season test their mettle against the genuine article himself.