CHARLOTTE

The mere mention of Shaquille O'Neal can cause many coaches around the NBA to grimace.

But mention O'Neal to Brian Hill, the Charlotte Hornets' top assistant, and he smiles broadly.

Hill was an assistant with the Orlando Magic when O'Neal came into the league in 1992. Then Hill moved up to head coach the next season and was O'Neal's coach for the next three seasons.

O'Neal moved on to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996, but Hill has continued to keep a keen eye on O'Neal's development into the most dominant player in the game.

"He's my favorite," Hill said earlier this week. "He's the best. I just can't say enough about that guy."

The Lakers will make their only regular-season visit to Charlotte tonight when they take on the Hornets at the Charlotte Coliseum. The game has been sold out for months.

Hill, in his first season on Coach Paul Silas' staff, compiled a 167-79 record (.679) in three seasons with O'Neal in his lineup. The Magic won two Atlantic Division titles in those three years and went to the NBA Finals in 1995 before losing to Houston.

It was then that the foundation was laid for what has followed - back-to-back NBA championships the past two years, the MVP award in 2000, three all-NBA first-team selections and 10 trips to the All-Star Game.

Hill says this is pretty much what he expected O'Neal to develop into all along.

"I don't think there's any question he's improved over the years, but to me he's pretty much the same guy he's always been," Hill said. "I think what we're seeing now is there's a maturity level and an experience level that's there, and he's continued to get bigger. I'd say he's at least 50 pounds heavier than he was in Orlando, and that's made him an even more dominant force."

Before the Lakers' game at Cleveland last night, O'Neal was averaging 26.1 points, 11 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.32 blocked shots in 38 games this season, shooting 57.2 percent from the field. He leads the NBA in field-goal percentage, ranks third in scoring and is seventh in rebounding.

Hill says he doesn't think the average fan realizes how good of a basketball player O'Neal truly is. There's a notion sometimes that O'Neal is effective just because of his size and strength, but Hill says that O'Neal is better technically and fundamentally than any big man he's ever coached.

"The thing that shocked me when I first saw him was, he's always had phenomenal footwork and he's always had great hands," Hill said. "There's nothing you can throw at him that he can't catch. Whether it's low, high, wide, whatever, he's going to catch it. And I always felt more comfortable with him bringing the ball upcourt in a three-on-two situation than some of my guards. I always knew he was going to make the right pass and that he was never going to be out of control, and that he would throw the right type of pass - whether it's a bounce pass or whatever.

"He really has the skills of a smaller player as far as passing and ballhandling. Not the shooting skills, but he has always had the footwork, the ballhandling and the passing skills of players much smaller."

Hill also says there's a dedication and seriousness about O'Neal that the average fan wouldn't realize. O'Neal has dabbled with movies and a rap career and has been known to enjoy life in the spotlight in L.A., but he has never lost sight of his goals as a basketball player.

"I think the thing I always appreciated as much as anything from a coaching standpoint was the fact that he came every day and he worked," Hill said. "This is a guy that practiced hard every day. There were days I'd walk in after a back-to-back or maybe four games in five nights and say, 'Big fella, why don't you take the day off today?' And he'd look at you and say, 'Really?' And you'd say, 'Yeah, relax, take the day off.'

"And then he'd thank you and go out and practice. He just appreciated the fact that you thought enough of him to give him the day off, but he didn't want the day off."

The payoff is coming now, in the form of NBA titles.

"I've seen all the hard work he puts in," Hill said. "He might put on this persona with everyone else that he's all about having a good time, but I know who he is and what he's all about. He loves basketball and he loves to compete and he works very hard. And he is all about winning.

"We used to discuss it all the time - ultimately, the final evaluation of how great a player you are is how many rings you win. You can lead the league in scoring as many times as you want and make all the All-Star teams and MVPs, but it's going to be winning titles that people remember you by. That's what he's doing now."