Perhaps the NBA should institute a new system for evaluating greatness, one that takes into account degree of difficulty. Certainly, that could help end the debate whether the Lakers are better than Michael Jordan's Bulls.

Last year, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant feuded while coach Phil Jackson and Kobe knocked heads. But by April, everyone had kissed and made up -- just in time for the Lakers to go 15-1 through the playoffs and win their second consecutive NBA title.

This season the Lakers are 13-1, prompting speculation about whether they will have the Bulls' record of 72 victories in their sights by spring.

"This will be the team that one year will match that record Phil had (with Jordan and the Bulls) in Chicago. They will break that record," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said yesterday as he prepared his team for a showdown with the Lakers tonight.

As for the degree-of-difficulty factor, here it is: The Lakers are so bored by the lack of competition this season, Shaq has resorted to shameless headline-grabbing.

The latest Shaq bulletin came out yesterday. It was reported in Los Angeles that he is attending classes offered by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department for harbor-patrol duty. Unlike Jordan -- who didn't find baseball or golf satisfying enough -- Shaq is making serious strides toward carving out his life after basketball.

When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: KeyArena

Radio: KJR (950 AM)

TV: KING.

Records: Sonics 8-9, Lakers 13-1

Notes: Tonight's game is Seattle's first sellout of the season at KeyArena, which holds 17,072 fans. No more tickets are available. Although playoff hero Derek Fisher has returned to the active roster, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson has the guard coming off the bench. Lindsey Hunter, who was acquired in a trade shipping Greg Foster to Milwaukee, starts at point guard. ... Former Sonics center Jelani McCoy signed with the Lakers during the offseason, and is on the inactive list. After not being re-signed by the Sonics this summer, the former UCLA Bruin gets to play back home.

Injuries: Sonics ? C Antonio Harvey (tendinitis) and C Jerome James (sprained right foot) are on the injured list. Lakers ? C Jelani McCoy (bruised right foot) is on the injured list.

There are strange occurrences in life that are difficult to comprehend. Bright sunlight on a rainy day. The school nerd dating the prom queen.

And the Sonics sweeping the Lakers.

Last season, the world-championship Lakers won almost 70 percent of their games before completing the best playoff record in NBA history. But the Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, couldn't figure out Seattle's unspectacular team. Will the Sonics have some kind of quirky advantage when they host the Lakers at 7 tonight at KeyArena?

"You definitely have to throw that out," said Coach Nate McMillan, whose Sonics defeated the Lakers by an average of 16 points last season. "We don't have a lot of the guys we had last year."

With seven new players, the 8-9 Sonics aren't the same team. And the 13-1 Lakers ? with their mainstays ? are playing in the dominating fashion of the postseason.

"It's a lot different," said Sonics guard Gary Payton. "They're coming in with a lot of confidence."

If there is an explanation for Seattle's perfect record against the Lakers last season, it's in the matchups. The Lakers' guards had even more trouble than usual keeping up with Payton, who averaged 27.5 points and 8.3 assists. Despite his worst season in the NBA, Vin Baker often resembled an All-Star against the Lakers. Patrick Ewing used his size and savvy against O'Neal. And the Sonics possessed athletic defenders such as Payton, Ruben Patterson and Desmond Mason to throw at Bryant.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports: He's known as Shaq Diesel, Shaq Daddy and The Big Aristotle.

Perhaps coming to a town near you someday: Sheriff Shaq.

Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal says he wants to become a sheriff in either Florida or Louisiana after he retires.

O'Neal is participating in training sessions with the Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles to become a harbor patrol reserve officer and says his aim is to run for sheriff either in Louisiana or Florida.

He has a home in Isleworth and played college basketball at LSU.

"In the role of sheriff, you really don't need police experience because it's like a political position," said O'Neal, 29. "However, if I'm going to do it and be with the troops and get respect from the troops, I want to do what the troops have done."

O'Neal started weekly training classes in September. He already has a custom-made police uniform and size 22EEE officer's boots.

Maybe Shaq's new nickname will be The Big Badge.

According to the LA Daily News, With a healthy Mark Madsen back in the fold, the Lakers have several options at power forward, but Phil Jackson is sticking with the one he refers to as "an experiment."

Samaki Walker is showing steady, if not dramatic, progress. It's enough to convince Jackson to stick with Walker as his starter, even as some of his coaches lobby to make a change. As recently as last week, Jackson suggested he might try Madsen or Slava Medvedenko in the lineup, but he's no longer entertaining that thought.

In his five years as a pro, Walker rarely has had the opportunity to start on a consistent basis. Jackson believes a consistent role will help Walker realize his potential. He also prefers giving Walker an early shift, then bringing him back as the center when it's time for Shaquille O'Neal to take a breather.

"(Assistant coach) Tex Winter has been asking me to start other people, but I'm stubborn enough not to follow his calls a lot of times," Jackson said. "Because I think Samaki's a player that can block shots and rebound and do some things that we need to have done as a basketball club, not now particularly, but develop during the course of the year so we go in the playoffs with it."

LOS ANGELES -- They can stomp teams when their best player can't score. They can spend the better part of every season tangled in petty tiffs. They can, pretty much, do as they please.
The result never changes.

The Los Angeles Lakers closed Chapter 2 of their four-part series with the Denver Nuggets with another victory Sunday, this one 105-98 at the Staples Center.

They beat Denver by 21 Wednesday at the Pepsi Center despite a 10-point scoring effort from Shaquille O'Neal.

They beat the Nuggets this time because they are the Lakers, and they are supposed to win.

According to the LA Times, Laker Coach Phil Jackson always preferred Lindsey Hunter as a starter, and believed Hunter's game suffered last season in Milwaukee because he came off the bench behind guards Sam Cassell and Ray Allen.

Therefore, Jackson said, he would continue to start Hunter and gradually feed minutes to Derek Fisher, who, with forward Mark Madsen, came off the injured list Sunday.

The Lakers activated Fisher and Madsen, waived Joe Crispin and relegated Jelani McCoy to the injured list. Luxury-tax responsible, the Lakers have 13 players on the roster, two fewer than allowed, and 12 active.

Just when you believed the heated, "I can't stand to look at your face" rivalries were dead in the NBA, check again.

The rift between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings continues to hit the fan among the players. Postseason games against the Kings during the past two years have been only a pit stop to the Lakers' consecutive NBA titles.

History hasn't stopped the Kings from letting the Lakers know how they feel.

"They all talk too much," said Lakers forward Rick Fox to reporters about the Kings, after the Lakers' victory over the Kings last week. "Yap, yap, yap. What have they done to talk about?"

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said: "If they want to beat the defending champions, going to Las Vegas two nights before the game isn't the [answer]."

That was a crack referring to Vlade Divac, Scot Pollard and injured Chris Webber attending the grand opening of the $265 million Palms Casino Resort, owned by the Maloof family that also owns the Kings.

Kings guard Doug Christie took a calmer approach to the rivalry.

J.R. Rider seems to be a tough fellow to forget.  Steve Aschburner of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reminisces about J.R.'s days with the Wolves and several other teams.

A Denver basketball writer thought he had been inducted into an exclusive club last week when Isaiah Rider, freshly cut by the Nuggets, gave him the Mike Tyson stare and ominously hinted that their paths would cross again.

Back in his Timberwolves days, the tempestuous one told a St. Paul scribe that he knew "people who can take you out." By that, he didn't mean dinner and a movie.

This time, Rider hissed at the reporter on the way out of the Pepsi Center on Tuesday, after being dumped by his fifth NBA team. Glancing back while walking away from the questioner, Rider stumbled on some steps, nearly turned an ankle, got mad and began cursing the fellow.

He ended with: "It's a small world. I'll see you around." But before rolling away in his SUV, Rider stopped and glared at the reporter for about 15 seconds. The guy felt special, until the Lakers press corps came to town a day later and shared their tales of various threats and stare downs.

The Nuggets' bosses covered for Rider during his 10-game stay, claiming he was mostly on time, always professional and so on. But insiders say Rider constantly was late, needed to be in better shape, lashed out at assistant coach Louie Dampier one night -- after a victory -- and would vent over his playing time even after the team had won.

The LA Daily News reports that Isaiah Rider left Denver with one of his signature moves -- the veiled threat. Rider, waived Tuesday by the Nuggets, cursed a local reporter as he left Pepsi Center, denied he'd been cut, then said, with a hard stare, "It's a small world. I'll see you around."

The troubled Rider has now worn out welcomes in five NBA cities, but Jackson doubts his career is over.

"He's talented enough, and players that have great talent are always intriguing to a team, especially one that's looking for a skill player, a player that can do some things," he said. "But Isaiah's own personality keeps him out of being in a team situation almost."