BIG MAN, BIG EXPECTIONS : O'NEAL, TEAMMATES ARE STILL TRYING TO HIT THEIR WINNING STRIDE.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Early on, the power forward appeared in a perpetual state of indecision, uncertain whether to crash in or clear out. The small forward was lost in space, finding his previous lanes of commerce clogged solid. And the guards, confused as to whether to pass into the post or shoot, seemed to get caught in between, and committed turnovers in flurries.

These are the elements the Lakers have struggled to overcome during the first two months of the NBA season while straining to gain a semblance of sync with their new force in the middle, Shaquille O'Neal.

But it also describes conditions at two other important junctures in the Lakers' Los Angeles history.

On the two previous occasions when they acquired one of the game's marquee big men - Wilt Chamberlain in 1968, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in '75 - the Lakers found it every bit as difficult to gain a measure of cohesion.

``I don't think there's any question that when you have new faces, it's going to take awhile,'' said Lakers executive vice president Jerry West, who was on the court during the Chamberlain transition and coached the Lakers a year after Abdul-Jabbar arrived.

In each case, expectations were soaring every bit as high as they have for today's Lakers. And in each case, rough edges developed early and caused the teams to fall short of anticipated heights.

In '68, Chamberlain arrived in a blockbuster trade with Philadelphia. He joined West and forward Elgin Baylor to form a triumvirate of future Hall of Famers. Yet, the Lakers started slowly, playing .500 ball over the first month, before steadying their stride.

They reached the NBA Finals - as they had the previous year without Wilt - but fell in seven games to Boston.

The Lakers had to wait three more seasons before claiming an NBA title in '71-72, and by then a fading Baylor was injured and not a factor.

Abdul-Jabbar's arrival from the Milwaukee Bucks in '75 coincided with an even more complete fizzle. Although he won the league's Most Valuable Player award that season, the Lakers finished 40-42 and failed to make the playoffs.

This time, the wait for a title was even longer - four seasons. It wasn't achieved until Magic Johnson arrived as a rookie in '79-80.

Today? There's little question that the Lakers exhibited signs of disarray while underachieving in the season's first few weeks. They've since worked out many of their kinks, but the problems of adjustment still crop up from time to time; erratic performance plagues them to a maddening degree.

It remains to be seen if they will be able to shed their inconsistency, realize their potential and join the league's elite, or if O'Neal will instead share the plight of his forerunners.

Enter the Big Dipper 

When the Lakers traded for Chamberlain in the summer of '68, they were already one of the league's glitziest franchises, having reached the NBA Finals in five of the previous seven seasons - falling each time to the Celtics. But the constitution of the team's lineup, and hence its style of play, had undergone great upheaval. The addition of the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain, a seven-time NBA scoring champ and four-time MVP, presented enormous challenges of adjustment.

``With those kinds of star centers, you have to be very conscious of roles,'' says Dodgers executive Tommy Hawkins, a Lakers forward before and after the arrival of Wilt. ``When we first got Wilt Chamberlain, it was very difficult for us to play together as a unit. We had a lot of talent and a lot of firepower, but we did not have that cohesiveness, because the style of the big man will determine what the other people can do. . . .

``On the previous team, where we played a wide-open game, we had a center (6-10 Darrall Imhoff) who would clear out and come out and pick for you and really integrate himself into the offense.''

With Chamberlain, Hawkins went on, ``Now you have a guy who is in there. That's his domain. You don't make the same cuts you used to. You don't go in there as much. You have to be conscious of his working to get his shot.

``Sometimes you're standing out there saying, `Where the hell do I go now?' ''

This team certainly didn't have a slouch season. It won 55 games and the Western Division title. But its chemistry was radically altered. The scoring averages of West and Baylor fell off slightly, while their assist totals climbed. Chamberlain, with a league-leading rebounding average of 21.1 per game, nearly matched the combined total of the previous season's top two board-clearers (Baylor and Imhoff).

And the Lakers couldn't get over the Boston hump.

``We didn't have very much depth on our team,'' West offered. ``We had a lot of young players and three older players.''

As for the challenges of adjustment, he shrugged and said, ``Along with aging, my game was changing. It was a little bit easier for me not to have to look to score as much. It's easier on your body.''

Hawkins reflected on the before and after and said, ``Everyone felt at that time that all the Lakers needed was a dominant big man. We were always knocking on the door. Everyone expected that with Wilt we would finally get a hold of that ring. And it didn't happen until the '70s.''

Comes The Captain

The current Lakers should feel fortunate in one respect. To acquire O'Neal from Orlando, owner Jerry Buss needed only to get out his checkbook, write ``$120 million'' on the amount line and fill in the words ``franchise cornerstone'' in the memo section.

Eleven years earlier, while going after Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers' only option was trade. To get the three-time league MVP and one-time champion away from the Bucks, they had to part with three promising youngsters - Brian Winters, David Meyers and Junior Bridgeman - plus big man Elmore Smith.

``All of them were our good players,'' says Bill Sharman, the Lakers' coach at the time and currently a special consultant for the team. ``I have to say we started right from the bottom. Through the years we got better and better, but that first year was very difficult.''

Abdul-Jabbar certainly did his part in an effort to make an immediate impact. He earned another MVP award in '75-76, ranking first in the league in rebounding (16.9) and blocked shots (4.12) and second to Buffalo's Bob McAdoo in scoring (27.7).

It was quite a show. And apparently a fair number of Lakers had a pretty good time standing around and watching it.

With a center of such high caliber, said forward Don Ford, a rookie that year, ``You're in awe of them as basketball players, what they can do. You have to get over that. I never did. But the better players have to get over the fact that the guy is such a dominant player and be able to play their games as well.''

Gail Goodrich, Lucius Allen and Cazzie Russell, who had been the top three scorers on the team the year before, experienced a dramatic drop in scoring output in their first season of sharing the court with Abdul-Jabbar. That was probably to be expected. What is much more puzzling is that the assist averages for the two guards also fell - significantly, in Allen's case.

``Obviously, initially, there is that effect where you stand around a little bit,'' said Stu Lantz, one of several players from the '74-75 team who had to adjust to the new man's presence. ``But I don't remember it being that big of a problem on that club. I just think that club didn't perform up to the level it should have. I know Kareem had a great year, but the rest of us didn't play as well as we should have played.''

Lantz, in fact, disputes the standing-around theory by suggesting that maybe that Lakers team didn't lean on the big guy enough.

``Maybe we should have thrown the ball into Kareem even more,'' he said. ``You run into that, too. In sports, especially, the egos are such that even though you may acquire the dominant player in the league, there are players on your team who feel they are just as good, if not better, so they want to go out and prove that they're better. So they try to do too much, instead of letting the ball go where it should go.''

Today: Shaq's turn

As was the case in the debut seasons of Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar, the current Lakers have labored to adjust to the powerful entity that now occupies their pivot.

Before tearing a tendon in his knee in the season's eighth game, forward Cedric Ceballos was flustered by the fact his favored cutting lanes to the basket had become jammed.

At power forward, Elden Campbell stumbled around in confusion in the early going, suffering a precipitous drop in his production numbers, before gaining a measure of comfort 15 games into the season.

Playmaker Nick Van Exel, who was expected to have an easy time of it lobbing the ball into the low post, had problems with turnovers early, to the extent that he thought he was hurting the team. Lately he has regained his form, but running mate Eddie Jones has experienced a reversal of that fortune - starting the season well but slumping of late.

``It takes awhile to get everyone assimilated,'' said West, who should know, having been through this twice before.

Hawkins knows firsthand of the public impatience that can be evident in the meantime.

``Fans don't care,'' he said. ``They think, `You've got the big man in there and you've got all these guys who can run and shoot, and now let's go cop a championship.'

``But it's a long season. And a lot of continuity has to be established.'' If Lakers history is any measure, it's not an objective that is readily achieved.

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 3 Photos, 3 Boxes

Drawing: (Cover--Color) CENTER STAGE

IN KEEPING WITH THE TRADITION OF LAKERS' CENTERS, SHAQUILLE O'NEAL ATTEMPTS TO TAKE THE LAKERS TO AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP - KAREEM - SHAQ - WILT

Cover design by Jorge Irribarren and Jon Gerung/Daily News

Photo: (1--Color) no caption (Shaq poster)

Myung J. Chun/Daily News

(2) How Shaquille O'Neal, left, measures up against the great Lakers centers.

(3) The Lakers won their first NBA title with Wilt Chamberlain in Chamberlain's fourth season. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, it took five years for the Lakers to win the NBA Championship.

Daily News File Photo

Box: (1) WILT CHAMBERLAIN

(2) KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

(3) SHAQUILLE O'NEAL