Mark Heisler is a sports writer who covers everything NBA for the Los Angeles Times. As a writer for the 4th largest paper in the United States, with well over a million readers, his words carry a lot of weight in the basketball world; and as such, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to pick his brain regarding the NBA, himself, and the Los Angeles Lakers (Simon's favorite team!).

Q: Famed author William Zinsser once said, "If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do." During your many years of successful writing, what have you discovered to be the key to vanquishing writer's block?

MH: Writer's block isn't really a newspaperman's problem. We don't have a deadline a year away but one that's in an hour and if we don't file the best story we have in us at the moment, we'll lose the assignment or the job. We may struggle but at a certain point, whatever you're capable of, for better or worse, is what it has to be.

Q: One of parents' main responsibilities is teaching their children the important rules of life. Perhaps even more enlightening, is what they teach us in return. What is one of the best lessons your daughter has taught you?

MH: My daughter basically has taught me what life is and should be, which is something that's based on the love I feel for her. I find grownups are never more generous, or giving or anything positive as they are when they're around their kids.

Q: You reside with your wife and daughter in Northridge, California. What is more daunting - the ominous possibility of the next big earthquake or the challenge of engaging the pampered stars of the N.B.A?

MH: Pampered stars may be a pain but they can't hurt you. People who live in areas where there's a certain danger (like tornados in the Midwest where I grew up) just learn not to think about it (hopefully).

Q: Most hoops fans would agree that Michael Jordan was the best player of all time. Would you place MJ at the top of your list? Who would you then list as the second greatest player of all time?

MH: MJ would be no. 1, for sure. I think I'd make Magic and Bird co-no. 2s.

Q: When it comes to the hallowed halls of the Basketball Hall of Fame, it appears rather obvious that certain players have been voted in based more on their character (e.g. Joe Dumars) rather than being among the elite at their position. If you were in charge of the Hall, name three players you would immediately elect in and three you would yank out?

MH: I don't agree that Dumars got in for his character, although he did have a lot. He was a really good player.

I can easily come up with some really good players who were even better guys (I'll give you five: say the late Jack McMahon, the late Dennis Johnson, Indy assistant Johnny Davis, TNT announcer Steve Kerr, and the one and only Bill Walton).

I don't really want to say so-and-so was a bad guy. Hoops don't really have a counterpart to Barry Bonds.

Q: With the losses mounting and the players suffering injuries and added fatigue, is it time for Team U.S.A Basketball to turn away from the pro stars and revert to college players?

MH: It's true that it doesn't fit very well with the NBA schedule, but pros will always want to do it and I think it has to be that way. U.S. fans wouldn't sit still for losing (which we surely would) with collegians. It's bad enough losing with U.S. pros, but at least we know we're sending our best.

Q: If you were N.B.A commissioner David Stern, what rule changes would you implement to help revitalize the pro game?

MH: 1. Tighten up offensive foul rules so the defender actually has to have his position for a count, rather than diving in front of the offensive players, falling backward and getting the call.

2. Use the conical free throw lane as they do in international ball to make the game more fluid.

3. Throw out all zone defense rules.

Q: Given his phenomenal strength and size-defying speed, many claim Shaquille O'Neal should have been the best player of all time. Known for his slothful off-season routine and adverseness to playing consistently at his best, it appears that Shaq never had the killer instinct of a Jordan, Bird, or Bryant. Do you feel that Shaq would have been the all-time best if he had the "cut throat mentality" of the previously mentioned players?

MH: People are who they are, and Shaq's not the only who had issues.

Wilt was always on his own agenda. Russell was a great competitor and defender who was in the right place at the right time but, as Bob Cousy who used to say as a shooter, "Russ couldn't hit a bull in the ass." Kareem paced himself more than Shaq did although he kept in much better shape. Whatever his conditioning issues, Shaquille was one of the greatest of the greats. He was also a lot of fun and a huge plus for the game.

Q: It's an awful sign when the All-Star weekend's most buzz-worthy event was Charles Barkley racing Dick Bavetta. How can the N.B.A restore the past appeal of this once enjoyable event?

MH: I think all-star games in all sports are getting passé. When I was a kid, I took the baseball all-star game seriously, rooting like crazy for the National League. I don't think a lot of kids do that anymore.

Q: Laker's G.M. Mitch Kupchek has made several trades and free agent acquisitions that have hampered the Laker's push back toward regaining their status as a championship-caliber team. Recent examples include:
* Not pushing hard enough for Dwayne Wade in the trade for Shaq.

* Accepting Brian Grant in the same trade when Eddie Jones would have also fit cap wise and delivered substantially more to the team.

* Trading a future All Star, Caron Butler, for the consistently underwhelming Kwame Brown.

* Signing Vladimir "Half-pipe" Radmanovic to a large, multi-year deal when Brian Cook essentially provided the exact skill set.

Let's cast you in the role of the Lakers G.M. and turn the clock back to 2004 before Shaquille was traded. How would you have fixed the mess that Mitch delivered?

MH: Mitch has done some things I wouldn't have, like signing Vlade, but in general, I think he gets way too much blame for what happened--which is what had to happen once Jerry Buss made the decision not to re-sign Shaq. Not that I thought Buss was wrong--if he hadn't let Shaq go, I think Kobe would have left. However, once they made the decision to let Shaq go, they should have understood that they weren't likely to keep challenging for titles--and they didn't understand that the only way to get Wade was to stall until Pat Riley got anxious enough to put him in the deal. The Lakers didn't think they could wait because Kobe's free-agent decision was coming.

I think Mitch has also done one tremendous thing for them, and that's getting Andrew Bynum with a no. 10 pick. With the move Andrew made this season, that has a chance of going down as one that can turn their fortunes around. If I had been in the Lakers' situation in 2004, I'd have done pretty much what they did-- I just wouldn't have deluded myself about how glorious the future was going to be.

There was one thing they could have done different-- and that was at least try to talk Kobe and Shaq into going on together. When Jerry Buss invited Pat Riley out, Riles asked for both players' phone numbers, so he could try to talk them into staying (in which case he'd have been interested in the coaching job Buss was thinking about offering). Buss said no. He had already decided he didn't want to pay Shaq all that money (By the way, if Riles had made the calls, my bet is Kobe would have said he was going to have to do what he had to do, and Shaq wouldn't have been any more cooperative.).

Q: In 1992, Abdul-Jabbar and Julius "Dr. J" Erving battled in a one-on-one, pay-per-view match up at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The match up failed to deliver much excitement as both players were retired and far from their peak performance levels.

If you could create "The Mark Heisler One-on-One Tournament" and were able to select any players from any era, who would you choose? When the final buzzer sounded, who would be crowned champ?

MH: One-on-one basketball may be fun to play, but as a spectator sport, or a measure of anything interesting, you'd be surprised how little it means. About 30 years ago the NBA actually had a one-on-one tournament which they used to show at halftime of their game of the week. The guy who won, over a lot of big stars, was a journeyman named Barry Clemens.