MAGIC, LAKERS ENJOY GOOD HEALTH.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

It was secondary, of course. Life again putting sports in perspective.

When Magic Johnson stunned the sports world - stunned the world - with his announcement 10 years ago today that he was HIV positive, our thoughts turned to this marvelous personality, this incredible athlete who had almost grown up before us.

Yet in addition to the shock of Magic's sudden retirement, to the overwhelming concern for his health, there was the secondary fallout to the team itself.

For 12 years, Magic had been the Lakers. He was their presence, their inspiration, their unselfish leader and supreme showman. He was a winner who led the Lakers to five world championships. When he left, it brought havoc to the team. A sudden, unforeseen blow to the abdomen that took a proud franchise to its knees.

``It was devastating,'' said Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak. ``We could look at it from a selfish point of view and say it was devastating to our organization, but the fact is, it was devastating to sport.''

Magic and Boston's Larry Bird were credited with revitalizing the NBA, taking an almost second-tier professional sport to heights it had only dreamed of reaching. Bird, his back pain growing more severe, had only that one partial season left when Magic retired.

The NBA would learn to recover nicely behind Michael Jordan, whose Bulls had just defeated the Lakers in the NBA Finals for the first of their six titles.

The Lakers, though, would go from a Magic-led team playing in its ninth Finals, to a team we couldn't recognize, one that struggled just to make the playoffs, not to dominate them.

In Magic's last full season in 1990-91, playing without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers went 58-24 and were Western Conference champions. The next season they won 43 games, the next only 39, and finally in 1993-94, the Lakers sunk to 33-49 and missed the playoffs completely.

With Magic, a dynasty, a showtime, a contending team. Without him, a team desperately trying to find itself.

``There's no way to explain how much he meant to the franchise,'' said Chick Hearn, the Lakers veteran broadcaster. ``It was the kind of blow only a knockout fighter could deliver.

``He was one man with the talent to change the complexion of the whole team. He was one of the few players in any sport who could make everyone on the team better, and he enjoyed doing it.

``Those were the things that tore the heart out of Jerry Buss, Jerry West, and the rest of us. That's the sort of man he was.''

West was the team president and man responsible for orchestrating the Lakers' roster. West was so respected, many believed he would quickly make the necessary moves to reshape the Lakers into a contender.

There was still talent on the roster (James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, A.C. Green), but it was aging. Worthy was in the twilight of his career and would play only three more seasons.

And West all but signaled what had once seemed impossible with the Lakers - that they were rebuilding - when he traded Perkins on Feb. 22, 1993.

``I don't think at the time we identified (Magic's retirement) as the beginning of the rebuilding,'' Kupchak said. ``With Jerry, his mind was always racing, always looking at ways to replenish the team, while at the same time being competitive.

``I don't recall any conversation where he said, 'This is the end. Let's break it down and rebuild.' Our goal every year was to be in the playoffs.

``But looking back on it, clearly it was a point where we probably took a couple of chances. One with the Perkins deal.''

West drafted Anthony Peeler, George Lynch, Nick Van Exel, and after that dismal 33-49 season, picked Eddie Jones with a lottery pick in 1994. Talented players, just not franchise players.

Other players came and went - James Edwards, Benoit Benjamin, Doug Christie, Sam Bowie, Dan Schayes, Pig Miller, and even Magic in a brief comeback in 1996.

And the Lakers went out of the playoffs just like any ordinary NBA team, in the first round in '92, '93, '96, the second round in '95, and missing them completely in '94.

It was another world for the Lakers. In the four seasons after Magic retired, the Lakers played less than .500 ball (163-165).

``When Magic retired, our record dropped dramatically and our competitiveness diminished as well,'' Kupchak said. ``Our window to get to the Finals wasn't the same as it had been. You don't get the window very often. When Magic retired, we felt our window had shrunk, if not disappeared.''

West cemented his front-office legacy in 1996 when he signed Shaquille O'Neal and traded center Vlade Divac for a little-known high school player named Kobe Bryant.

There would still come the ugly 1998-99 season - Del Harris fired, Kurt Rambis struggling to replace him, the Dennis Rodman experience - but nine years after Magic first retired, the Lakers returned as NBA champions.

Some teams losing a great player never make it back. The Celtics never have been the same since Bird retired, haven't even made the playoffs the past six seasons.

Ten years later, Magic appears full of health. And after those lost years in the '90s, the Lakers are the two-time defending champions and once again talking of a dynasty.

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Photo:

Magic Johnson's Lakers uniform hangs in his cubicle at the Forum on the day he announced his retirement.

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