Lakers await Kobe storm

After an eventful summer, the Los Angeles Lakers opened training camp and await the media storm.

Shaquille O'Neal worked himself into good physical shape, coach Phil Jackson recovered from heart surgery and Karl Malone and Gary Payton became Lakers during the offseason.

However, sexual assault charges against Kobe Bryant overshadowed everything else.

The entire team will have to deal with the felony sexual assault case against Bryant in Eagle, Colo. As training camp opened Tuesday in Honolulu, there was already talk about the day it closes -- Oct. 9 -- when Bryant is due in court for a preliminary hearing.

Only the Lakers' younger players reported to training camp, with Bryant and the rest of the regulars due in for a meeting Thursday night and the first full-squad practice on Friday.

Jackson hopes to prepare the players for the spotlight that's going to be cast on the team because of Bryant.

Asked what instructions he was going to give the players, Jackson told reporters in Honolulu, "Just how to dodge questions that you guys are going to present. How to play down issues that make for headlines. How not to put blood in the water, so to speak, and create the frenzy."

He added, "So we do a little media training in real quick order."

Jackson said he didn't know how the focus on Bryant might affect the team.

"We don't have any idea. We just can't even project it. Until it becomes a reality, you can't do anything," he said.

"You just have to malleable, ready, prepared, adjustable. All these things that aren't fixed rules in our head as to how things are going to work out. We don't know."

Jackson, feeling good after an angioplasty in May to unblock an artery to his heart, said he's ready for what he called "one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced."

One of the challenges will be trying to blend the superstar egos of four future Hall of Fame players into a cohesive unit.

"We're going to have to have a big sacrifice from players, from stars, to make this work," Jackson said recently.

Bryant faces a sexual assault charge involving a 19-year-old Colorado woman in a case that has drawn heavy media attention. The Lakers' guard contends he and the woman had consensual sex.

If convicted, Bryant faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation, and a fine of up to $750,000. He is free on $25,000 bail.

O'Neal recently said that he hopes the case against Bryant doesn't drag on.

"It's an unfortunate situation. Kobe's a teammate of mine and a friend of mine," O'Neal said. "I'm very confident in the judicial system, so hopefully this will be resolved quickly. And hopefully it will be pain-free on both sides."

The Lakers' string of three consecutive NBA titles ended with a loss in the Western Conference semifinals to eventual champion San Antonio.

The addition of Malone and Payton in July was tempered by the charges looming over Bryant, but O'Neal was enthusiastic about their signing.

"I'm very happy, because for the first time in my career, I finally have the dream team I've always wanted, the dream team that I've always been after. A hard-nosed point guard, a legendary power forward. That's all I ever wanted," he said.