THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : With Magic, We Return to a Better Place, Time

OK, so it doesn’t look like a very big mistake.

Here he is again, still larger than life and even larger than he used to be, high-stepping across half-court and suddenly it’s as if he never went away, never announced a comeback and then did a 180. He’s Magic. Everything’s going to be all right.

The passion, the game, the will, the smile--they’re all still there, even if Magic Johnson is 36 and looks more like Antoine Carr these days. He’s as incomparable as the day he left, when Jerry West said, “I think somewhere out there, there’s a young little kid who’ll be as great as Magic Johnson as a player but he won’t be as great as a leader.”

As usual, whenever Johnson returns as player or coach, the Lakers seems to rise from the mist like Brigadoon. It’s a windfall for the league too. Johnson’s return gave TNT its highest-rated late-night NBA telecast. And Friday’s game was expected to break the cable record for regular-season basketball.

The ‘80s, a golden period for the NBA and one much missed in the ‘90s, are back, if only for a moment, and who isn’t glad to see them?

“There still seems to be a hole between Magic, Larry [Bird] and Michael [Jordan] and this new group of stars,” Seattle Coach George Karl said.

“There was this magical period in the ‘80s, where the game grew up and got strong and everybody made a lot of money. Now there seems to be a lack of spirit and passion for the game. Magic has both of them. He’s a fantastic ambassador, maybe as good as there ever was, even more than Dr. J.”

Johnson, Jordan and Bird vanished suddenly between 1991 and 1993 and a league, proud of its marketing acumen, confidently set about creating new stars. Instead of Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson, it anointed young players, intent on maximizing its investment with people who would last longer.

That blew up when the so-called “Dream Team II” polished off small fry at the 1994 World Cup amid enough trash-talking and showboating to alienate the world. As a consequence, Larry Johnson and Derrick Coleman aren’t expected to represent the United States again this century in international competition and Shawn Kemp had to crawl back onto the list.

Promoting the very young remains a tricky business, hence the most recent miscalculation, putting the Big Pouty Dog, Glenn Robinson, on next summer’s Olympic team.

“A lot can be said about that,” Jordan said of Johnson’s return, “[about] what our game is and our love for the game and how we still compete in this game, even though a lot of others are marketed as great players. They can’t be made.”

Said Johnson: “You want to remind [young players], ‘You didn’t make yourself that $9 million that you’re making. Don’t kid yourself. The only reason you’re making $9 million is because of Michael, Larry and myself, the guys who built the TV revenue where it is.’

“They had no hand in making [NBA] Properties a billion-dollar business, believe me. They better understand they have something to give back.”

Yes, there is inter-generational strife in the NBA. There was some on the Lakers, when the young guys wanted the curtain dropped on Showtime and tuned out Johnson as coach or part-owner. There was a gnashing of teeth in the front office whenever Magic assayed another comeback.

Then he started practicing and they all fell in love with him, as everyone always had before.

The Lakers might not win the rest of their games or even crack the top four in the mild, mild West, but Johnson has already won. Reaction from players has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” said the New Jersey Nets’ Jayson Williams. “You’ve got a better chance of Ed McMahon knocking on your door than you have of catching AIDS in a basketball game.”

Even if what the Atlanta Hawks’ Steve Smith said is true--players are afraid to speak out against Johnson--it’s plain that three years later they aren’t as freaked out by an HIV-positive opponent. Magic’s return will always be a source of pride and hope for some people for whom those things are a matter of life and death.

For the Lakers and their fans, it’s fun. Appreciate him while ye may: magical yesterday, magical today, magical forever.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

Another season bites the dust: Washington’s Chris Webber finally gave up and had surgery on his left shoulder, which will put him out until June. In three seasons, he has helped tear apart one franchise, signed a $9.5-million-a-year contract and played in three playoff games, all losses. . . . And next season isn’t looking so hot either for Webber’s Washington Bullets. Juwan Howard and his agent, David Falk, have been vowing revenge since the Bullets gave their $2-million slot to used-up Scott Skiles, refused to make any deals to create more salary cap room and made Howard play for $1.3 million as a rookie. Falk says he wants Webber money, and Howard sounds as if he wants to leave in any case. “Those little things I remember,” Howard says. “And I will never forget. They had my livelihood in their hands. During the negotiating process last time, the Bullets and [General Manager] John Nash kept talking about how much leverage they had. But now Juwan Howard has the leverage.”

The teams most interested in Howard are believed to be the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks and, if no big centers come onto the market, the Lakers. . . . Also, Mark Price, who broke a bone in his oft-injured left foot, is out for six more weeks. His brother, Brent, says Mark is considering retiring. . . . For the record, Falk says he really doesn’t have imperial designs. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t try to control the league,” he said. “I’m just out for the best deal for my clients. That’s what they hire me for.” . . . Meanwhile, some player representatives suspect that Charles Bennett, a candidate to succeed Simon Gourdine as the union’s executive director, is Falk’s point man.

Dispatches from the Chicago Bulls’ front: If they could win in Houston with Jordan going seven for 26 and Scottie Pippen recording a triple-double--28 points, 12 rebounds, 12 turnovers--no record is safe. Said Coach Phil Jackson: “We were kidding Michael about the fact he was getting the ball closer to the basket so we could get more offensive rebounds and have better shots.” . . . If you were wondering about Dennis Rodman’s charges that the league is out to get him because it hates what he stands for, it’s true. Rodman, who probably will lead the league in rebounding for the fourth time in five seasons, hasn’t played in an All-Star game since 1992. This year, he ran third in the voting among East forwards, played on the team that got off to the fastest start in league history and was kept off by the coaches. . . . Also jobbed as usual: Rod Strickland, who has averaged 18 points and nine assists in three seasons in Portland and has never been an all-star. But Dikembe Mutombo got on, for no compelling reason.

The walls appear to be closing in on the Denver Nuggets’ Bernie Bickerstaff, who was asked by ownership last season to come downstairs and become coach as well as general manager. Now the team is stumbling and ownership is getting restless. “Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do,” said Bickerstaff, volunteering to go back upstairs. “I’m doing this because they asked me to do it.” Not so fast: The Nuggets just hired a new general manager, Todd Eley. In other words, the situation seems to be falling apart--making it that much more likely that Mutombo will put himself on the free-agent market next summer.

After their usual slow start (11-10), the Indiana Pacers have gone 19-5. “I think Larry [Brown] may finally be feeling good about the team but that’s subject to change,” said team President Donnie Walsh. “Last year we beat New York in the seventh game [of the Eastern Conference semifinals] and we’re flying home and Larry says to me, ‘We’re just not that good.’ Here we are, one of four teams left in the playoffs but we’re not that good.” Shortly after Walsh said that, the Pacers scored 70 points at Detroit and lost by 17 to a Piston team without Grant Hill. Imagine what Brown said on that flight home. . . . Pat Riley’s second visit to New York, the day after the Super Bowl, was quieter than the first. Fans booed but Riley ignored them. “There weren’t 36 stories detailing my return,” Riley said later. “There weren’t a lot of banners painted up by Knick management. I just hope one day it could be normal again here.”

Riley has bigger worries, anyway: The Heat lost that game, lost at home to the Knicks, even lost at home to the Phoenix Suns. After that game, several players were messing around at practice and Riley, who spent half of January in orbit, went ballistic again. “I’m not going to tolerate this much longer,” he said. “I’m not here to make them happy. They better understand that. They are here to see if they can make me, [owner] Micky Arison and Miami Heat management happy with them. I am very, very upset at the notion the Miami Heat is not playing hard, not showing any pride. That’s one of the things we are going to guarantee our fans. I don’t want anybody rolling over, and I’ve sensed that three times in the last two weeks.”