While the Knicks traded away the number 7 pick in the draft, the other big-city team in the NBA traded up to the 20th position.

This was the highest the Lakers have drafted since 1996.

Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Daily News notes that the Lakers? draft picks since then have been DeJuan Wheat, Paul Rogers, Sam Jacobson, Ruben Patterson, Toby Bailey, Tyronn Lue, Devean George, John Celestand and Madsen.  Aside from Patterson, none of these players has had any impact in the NBA.

But with the 20th pick, the Lakers took Kareem Rush.  

Rush is a legitimate prospect.  He?s a big guard who can shoot, slash to the basket and defend. Coach Phil Jackson seldom takes an immediate liking to rookies, but the Lakers now have a talented young player with whom they can be patient, one who one day may be capable of starting.

Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Times reports that Lindsey Hunter will not test the free agent market. He notified the Lakers on Friday afternoon that he would return to the team next season, a decision that could cost the club as much as $8.1 million in the next two years. Samaki Walker exercised his $1.54 million player option last week meaning that most of the Championship winning team will be back for next season.

The Lakers' remaining free agents are Devean George, Brian Shaw, Mitch Richmond, Slava Medvedenko and Jelani McCoy. According to NBA regulations, the Lakers can negotiate with free agents beginning July 1 and can sign them on July 16.

As expected, Samaki Walker is staying with the Lakers.  The Associated Press reported on Thursday that Walker is exercising his option to play next season with the Lakers.

Walker is one of only 13 players in the NBA having a player option for the coming season.  We?re only expecting a couple to opt out of their contracts.  The Lakers? Lindsey Hunter also has an option, and probably will also opt to stay.

Yet another columnist calls for the NBA to get a grip on the officiating. Bill Livingston of the Plain Dealer writes that, ?Game 6 (of the Western Conference Finals) was the worst-officiated big game I ever saw.?

Livingston continues, ?I'm not a conspiracy theory guy. Conspiracy buffs are probably drawing lines from the bent envelope corner in the Patrick Ewing lottery to Michael Jordan's push-off of Byron Russell to the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the Kings-Lakers series to devil worship by Proctor and Gamble to John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind," going quietly nuts.?

In Game 6, the Lakers made 34 field goals and four 3-pointers to the Kings' 38 and eight 3s. The Lakers shot 27 free throws in the last quarter to the Kings' nine. The sixth foul on Scot Pollard and the fifth on Vlade Divac were mythical. There was no contact at all. They helped disqualify the Kings' two best low-post defenders against Shaquille O'Neal. All of this lead to the Lakers winning 106-102 and extending the series to seven games.

The NBA doesn?t allow criticism of their referees. If a coach or player questions the officiating, he is fined. The NBA is judge and jury for its own officials, and bad performances are simply covered up. I don't know how you fix it, either.

Livingston also questions the NBA?s fine and suspension of Cavaliers coach John Lucas for two games for inviting high school superstar LeBron James to a workout. This punishment seems a bit excessive when Michael Jordan, who was part owner and GM of the Wizards did the same thing last year. NBA vice president Russ Granik haughtily refused to discuss the Jordan case, increasing the perception of favoritism. In the LeBron James case, the NBA could say it was trying to discourage high school players from skipping college. It's a worthy cause.

Livingston concludes that the ?3 blind mice? who officiated Game 6 should also be fined and suspended because "nothing less is at stake than public belief that the league is on the level."

Dave Kreiger of the Rocky Mountain News writes that today?s Lakers can?t be considered one of the best teams of all time because of the weakness of the competition. This year the Los Angeles Lakers became the fourth team to win three championships in a row.

Along with the Minneapolis Lakers of the 50?s, the Celtics of the 60?s and the Bulls of the 90?s, this Lakers team can be added to that ?three-peat? list. But none of those teams should be considered the best ever.

The 50?s Lakers were good for their day, but there can be no comparison between the NBA of then and today?s NBA. The Celtics of the '60s are another relic, though more recognizable as a modern basketball team than the oldest Lakers. They don't match up with modern teams in size or athleticism but they dominated the sport longer than any team before or since.

The Bulls of the 90?s and today?s Lakers may be dominant, but they have no real competition.

Kreiger concludes that the Lakers and Celtics of the 80?s and even the Sixers of the 80?s were all better. Even though they didn?t dominate like the ?three-peat? teams did, their level of competition was head and shoulders above what those teams faced.

"I put the Lakers, Celtics and Sixers of basketball's golden age (the 80?s) one, two and three, respectively. At the moment, I have the '90s Bulls and current Lakers tied for fourth. Shaq would dominate inside, but Scottie Pippen would disrupt the triangle and Michael Jordan would be . . . well . . . Michael Jordan.

The current Lakers can win more championships and not affect this calculation measurably. I already have them tied with a team that won twice as many.

Four or five in a row would be something, but the subject still isn't arithmetic. The '60s Celtics aren't the best of all time by virtue of eight in a row. It's also about competition."

After being swept by the Lakers, Kenyon Martin said what he felt. He felt that some of his teammates didn?t give their all and didn?t play with heart. Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports that he wishes now he had zipped it.

"I said some things [after Game 4] that I probably shouldn't have said. I was a little disappointed so the emotions got over me a little bit," said Martin after the Nets break up meeting yesterday - the latest ever that a Net team met to go separate ways. "But we had a great year. We had a good run. It's been fun."

While Martin didn?t name names, it is assumed that one of the teammates he was talking about was Keith Van Horn. Asked if he felt the need to apologize, Martin said, "Yeah" and promised, "I will, I will."

Van Horn, who has suffered from at times dreadful inconsistency, tried to wave off the incident. "I'm not surprised [the comments were made]. You're upset after every loss. It's expected," said Van Horn, who undoubtedly will be the object of trade rumors again.

As for Martin apologizing, Van Horn said, "I don't care at this point." He stressed that the Nets should view the positives of the season.

"I don't think you can turn a couple of comments into a damper on such a great season," Van Horn said. "I don't look at it as a big deal. It was a frustrating loss, but you have to look at the whole picture. The whole picture is that we had a great season."

Even though the ratings for this years? NBA Finals were up in Los Angeles, they were down nationwide. Larry Stewart of the LA Times reports that the series produced good numbers in LA (Game 4 got a 34.0 rating with a 54 share) but nationally the Lakers' four-game sweep of the New Jersey Nets was a bust.

The four game series produced a national average rating of 10.2 which is the lowest rating for an NBA Finals since the league went to a live, prime-time format 20 years ago.

Not since the Celtic beat the Rockets in 1981 have the ratings been this low. For that series, CBS tape-delayed the weeknight broadcasts until 11:30pm and received a 6.7 rating for the six game series.

This year's 10.2--with a 19 share--is down 17% from the first four games of last year's five-game series with Philadelphia, which averaged a 12.3/23. The five-game average last year was a 12.1/22.

The four games averaged a 31.8/51 in Los Angeles, which is slightly lower than the 33.2/54 for last year's Finals against Philadelphia but higher than the 31.2/50 for the six-game series against Indiana two years ago.

If Pat Williams awoke Wednesday at 6 a.m., it probably wasn't to the sound of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" on a clock radio near his bed.

But like Bill Murray's character in "Groundhog Day," Williams and everyone else with an Orlando Magic connection must think they're reliving the same bad dream. For the past three years, the NBA playoffs have been a reminder of that day in Atlanta in July 1996, when Shaquille O'Neal displayed for the first time a No. 34 Los Angeles Lakers jersey with his name on it.

Since then, the Magic's name has largely been mud.

"There will always be pain," said Williams, who had been their general manager until John Gabriel replaced him that April. "But probably from the moment we drafted him in '92, the whole L.A. thing was always there."

The Lakers hadn't been to the NBA Finals since 1991 and had won but one playoff series during Shaq's four seasons with the Magic. They weren't about to be mistaken for the crosstown Clippers, but they weren't title contenders either.

THE RULES HAVE CHANGED

All that changed with the help of rules that no longer exist regarding the courting of another team's free agent.

Jerry West, who had gambled by trading Vlade Divac to Charlotte on draft night for the rights to an 18-year-old named Kobe Bryant, created further salary-cap room by sending Anthony Peeler and George Lynch to Vancouver for two future second-round picks. Those transactions sold Shaq and his agent, Leonard Armato, on how serious the Lakers' intentions were.

"It was not just something that happened," Williams said. "They planned it. They worked it. They took some bold, bold risks."

West is no longer with the Lakers. Armato no longer represents Shaq. Franchises no longer exist in Charlotte and Vancouver.

But were it not for Shaq and Kobe being on the same team -- if not always on the same wavelength -- Phil Jackson wouldn't have taken his triangle offense and Zen mastery to the Lakers when they came calling in 1999. It was only then that Shaq shed his reputation as being more interested in making rap CDs and bad movies than winning championships.

HORRY TO THE RESCUE

In the Magic's defense, Shaq seldom handled adversity well with them. When they were swept by Jackson's Chicago Bulls in the '96 Eastern Conference finals, he scored a total of 10 points in fourth quarters. Brooks Thompson, who would be out of the league two years later, had 11 points in the final period of Game 4 alone.

And when Robert Horry nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, he did more than save the Lakers from falling behind 3-1 to the Sacramento Kings in their classic best-of-seven series. Horry also saved Shaq from a torrent of criticism about why he short-armed a putback of a missed shot by Bryant in the closing seconds.

But Shaq's dominance against the New Jersey Nets has been something to behold, if the Magic can somehow bear to watch without wincing. Williams hasn't found the time to pay rapt attention to the latest Lakers coronation. He's applying the finishing touches to a book scheduled for a mid-August release, entitled "Winning With One-Liners."

Maybe Jackson ought to take a cue and put out a book of his own. How about "Winning With One Center"?

Last night the Lakers became only the fifth team in N.B.A. history to win three consecutive championships and only the seventh team to sweep the finals four games to none. "That was a sweet victory for us," said Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who tied Red Auerbach's record for the most titles as a head coach, nine. "These are men of action, that's what's wonderful."

Liz Robbins of the New York Times reports that the Nets could not stop Shaquille O'Neal, who had 34 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. O'Neal, the Lakers' center, was named the most valuable player of the finals for the third consecutive time. Only Michael Jordan had accomplished that ? on two separate occasions. O'Neal also set three records for a four-game finals ? scoring 145 points and hitting 45 free throws in 68 attempts.

After the game, Nets forward Kenyon Martin, who scored 35 points in the final game, suggested that some of his teammates did not show up and Jason Kidd agreed. "Some guys don't have it in them," Martin said.

The Nets held a 3-point lead in the fourth quarter until Bryant and O'Neal and Derek Fisher wrested it from them, taking an 8-0 run all the way to the title. With 44.2 seconds left and the Lakers holding a 109-103 lead with Bryant on the line, Nets coach Byron Scott conceded defeat. He put in his reserves and waited for the celebration on his home court.

The Nets did not have the answer for the Lakers? inside-outside game. "You can pick your poison," Kidd said. "You're going to watch Shaq dunk the ball all night or you're going to hope that their outside shooters don't make them." The Lakers did, hitting 11 of 19 3-pointers.

O'Neal inside. Bryant outside. The Nets had no answers. The Lakers were crowned.

Justin Rice of the Palm Beach Post reports: Miami Heat coach Pat Riley may not coach the Lakers anymore, but he'll have reason to celebrate if they win their third consecutive NBA title.

Riley, whose licensing group Riles & Co. registered "three-peat" as a trademark in 1989, could make up to $150,000 if the Lakers win.

The Lakers have a 3-0 lead against New Jersey heading into Game 4 at 9 tonight.

Riley's investment paid off during the 1990s when the Chicago Bulls three-peated twice.

The former Lakers coach makes 5 percent of all net proceeds from the trademark. Riley has said all proceeds have and will be donated to charity, but he never has named charities or disclosed the amounts of past donations. A Heat spokesman said Riley wasn't commenting.

If the Lakers win, Industry sources estimate that $3 million in "three-peat" merchandise will be manufactured, including hats, pennants, backboards, towels and posters.

During the week to 10-day period after the Bulls' third championship in 1993, 15 companies were licensed to print "three-peat" on merchandise.

Riley may not benefit from sports teams that "three-peat" in the future. Once a patented term becomes part of the public domain of sports clich?s, patent holders stop earning money from its use.

Sports terms that were patented and no longer earn money include hat trick, shutout and triple-double. But Riley planned ahead by putting a trademark on "four-ward." "In case we won four in a row, we also had the next year covered too," he said at the time.