THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Shaq’s Future May Jolt Team of the Future

Fast Times at Orlando High (cont.): It was another tough week for the team of the future. After the Magic was swept by Chicago in the Eastern Conference finals and teammates shook hands with Bulls’ players, Shaquille O’Neal stormed off the floor, stomped to the dressing room and hurled a chair against a wall.

His agent suggested on national TV that they would prefer another coach. The Magic owner replied he was sticking with the one he has.

There are suggestions of a Shaq-Penny Hardaway rivalry and a split roster. O’Neal reportedly thinks Coach Brian Hill lets Hardaway get away with anything, that Hardaway should be a shooting guard rather than a point man.

Hardaway came out in defense of Hill. O’Neal and Horace Grant reportedly want Chuck Daly.

O’Neal, of course, is a free agent, now in the process of deciding how much longer he wants to stay in Orlando: the rest of his career or long enough to pack.

OK, now what?

“The general approach is to explore with the Orlando Magic the possibility of entering into a long-term relationship,” says Leonard Armato, O’Neal’s agent.

“The important facts are the fact he’s been there a long time. Loyalty because he’s a loyal person. And what is the best place he can win a championship.

“We have the greatest respect for Rich DeVos [Magic owner]. We think they’re good people. They and Shaq have a history together already. But I will advise Shaq to take a look at his options before he makes a decision.”

You can bet on that last part. Armato is based in Century City. He’s the man who rebuilt Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s fortune from nothing and he’s friendly with Laker owner Jerry Buss.

Armato has dreamed of bringing O’Neal here since the big guy turned pro in 1992. Before the lottery, in which Minnesota had the most ping pong balls, Armato hinted that O’Neal might refuse to sign and force a trade to the Lakers.

That spring, O’Neal was running around the Westside, playing pickup games with Magic Johnson, watching Laker games in Buss’ box and falling in love with the area. He has garaged a Mercedes-Benz 560SEL here ever since to use when he’s in town. You know those lines at the rental counter.

However, he and Armato never pulled their power play. The Magic drew with the pick instead of the Timberwolves and it was a natural--the world’s biggest kid in the land of theme parks. O’Neal got off the plane wearing Mickey Mouse ears and never looked back.

Until recently, anyway.

Amid reports that O’Neal wanted Daly, Armato went on NBC during Game 4 last week, said it was a “difficult” call, noted Daly “was one of the greatest coaches of all-time” and conceded that Hill was doing a good job--”this quarter.”

A day later, O’Neal, looking uncomfortable with the situation, tried to wriggle out of it. “I don’t know where that report came from but I was raised to respect my elders,” he told NBC’s Jim Gray.

Of Hill, O’Neal said, “He’s the coach and I’m the player.”

This still didn’t sound like a ringing endorsement. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck, so we’ve now got a pretty good idea where O’Neal is on the issue.

The same day, however, DeVos came out solidly behind his coach. “We don’t fire people on a knee-jerk basis,” DeVos said. “Brian Hill is a good coach and he’s doing a good job.”

Hill may be doing a good job but with Michael Jordan back, as recent events demonstrated, it wasn’t good enough. The Magic has to play better defense, tighten up its game and, in general, grow up. Daly made a career out of his ability to deal with coddled superstars--Isiah Thomas, Mark Aguirre, Derrick Coleman--and this situation looks made to order for him.

Of course, someone has to hire him first.

DeVos, the Amway magnate who built an empire on positive thinking, takes pride in his principles. On every sheet of Magic stationery is an embossed pledge to build a great team and an organization that will be a shining light in the community. In sports, ethics are understood to be whatever is convenient at the moment but, who knows, this guy might be serious.

Or it might just be face. Hill recently got a three-year extension, worth more than $2 million. More and more, it’s looking like DeVos’ idea.

Key question: Is this coach thing a deal-breaker?

O’Neal hinted all season that he would stay. His mother, brother, two sisters and best friend have all moved to Orlando. He recently renovated his $2.9-million lakefront home, enlarging the garage to hold eight cars, building a circular staircase to his weight room, adding an enclosed basketball court.

Who is this Shaq guy and what does he really want? Time will tell and relatively soon.

FROM SECAUCUS 7 TO 8 AND BACK TO 7 AGAIN

Elusive little devil, isn’t he?

Having all but announced he would take the New Jersey Nets’ coaching job, general managership and a percentage of the franchise, Rick Pitino did one of his 180s and turned them down.

This was a bitter pill for the Nets, who went from wretches to hopefuls to wretches again. If $30 million seemed pricey, Pitino would have brought credibility, which is worth a lot. With him, they probably would have retained free agents Chris Childs, P.J. Brown and Armon Gilliam, and been able to recruit outsiders as well. Without him, they’re the Nets again.

For the beleaguered college game, it was a relief. Dick Vitale said he smiled for the first time since the end of the NCAA tournament when he heard that Pitino and Shareef Abdur-Rahim were turning around. However, neither may be long-termers. Ever since Pitino went to Kentucky, friends have predicted his return to the pros. Of course, soon after getting the Knicks’ job, he was talking about going back to college ball. Not for nothing was he once labeled “Larry Brown on training wheels.”

Pitino seems to spend his career fighting his instinct to leave. He converses regularly with NBA teams, lets them know his asking price--part ownership--allows them to court him, then prances home. “I could not face Ron Mercer, Wayne Turner or any of the guys [his Kentucky players] that fulfilled all my dreams and say, ‘Hey, I’m leaving,’ ” Pitino said. “It’s different for players. Antoine Walker, it’s great for him to leave because his pockets are empty. My pockets are not empty so I can make decisions based on other reasons.”

Try this for one of his other reasons: Maybe the time was right but the team wasn’t?

The Orlando job may be open in a year. The Knicks, who won’t give up a percentage of the franchise now, might if next season is grisly enough. In another year, the Boston Celtics, who pray to a bust of Pitino, might give him 100%.

Maybe it wasn’t his heart he followed. “Maybe,” wrote the New York Times’ Dave Anderson, “he simply listened to his accountant.”

NAMES AND NUMBERS

I love you, man: Dennis Rodman averaged 12 points and 16 rebounds against the Magic, moving Coach Phil Jackson to announce that he will recommend offering Rodman a two-year deal, tacitly confirming reports that owner Jerry Reinsdorf wanted to offer one. Said Jackson, “I know there are some lukewarm feelings after the little suspension in the middle of the season. But anybody who has followed the playoffs has to realize what a settling factor he is out there.”

Rodman, who came up the hard way and wonders why no one else has to, on the youngest, richest guys of all: “The Orlando Magic are real young and immature. They don’t understand the meaning of intensity, desire and the will to win in the battle of the trenches. We’ve been there. We know what it takes. It’s not all about who’s the best as far as athletics. It’s all about the mind.” Talk about scary thoughts, he’s right.

Jackson, also a free agent, lost his Knick scenario when the New York team rehired Jeff Van Gundy but greeted the news that Pitino had turned the Nets down, recalling he was once a New Jersey assistant, noting “a lot of people” would want the job.

Bryon Russell, the former Long Beach State player, is happening in a hurry for the Jazz, who almost put him on waivers before the season. He has averaged 11 points and five rebounds off the bench in the Western Conference finals, has made 38% of his three-point shots and even turned in an impressive stint guarding Seattle’s Gary Payton in Game 3, no small trick for a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward. “Gary got defensive player of the year but one day I’ll get it,” Russell said. Said teammate Karl Malone, “Well, Bryon’s a ‘90s kind of guy. He likes to talk. He’s probably getting his personalized plates that say ‘Stopper’ on it.”