Call it denial by telephone game. That’s probably the best way to explain the way Shaquille O’Neal tried to explain his way out of some of the comments attributed to him regarding a potential return to Los Angeles after his current contract is up in 2010.

Here’s what Shaq told the Arizona Republic on Wednesday:

With public perception already settled, O’Neal was questioned Wednesday even though the original interview never asked him specifically about free agency in 2010. (He was asked about the idea of playing for the Lakers and declined to respond out of respect to the Suns.)

O’Neal reiterated as much Wednesday, saying, “I have a great relationship with Steve Kerr. When I’m done here, we’ll see what happens. Going back that way, no, it never came out of my mouth.”

Part of the problem it seems, is that the Bee reporter, Scott Howard Cooper, interviewed Shaq during the preseason and but didn’t publish the comments until last week, causing Shaq some confusion about where they came from.

He continued denying comments, not realizing the source until the end, saying, “Oh, that’s who said that (expletive)? Scott (Howard-Cooper)? I didn’t know it was Scott.”

“It would be idiotic for me to say something bad about him.”

Steve Dilbeck thinks so:

The Big Whatever’s cheap shots just keep coming. It’s old, it’s tiring, it’s juvenile.

Thanks for the titles, but the bridges are burned.

It’s an intriguing question, and one you can answer several different ways. But statistically speaking, it’s clear Bynum’s impact has been felt mostly at the defensive end.

One of the best sites around for statistical analysis is over at 82games.com

In their crunching of individual numbers on Bynum, the Lakers are allowing 13.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Bynum on the court, compared to when he’s not on the court.

But offensively, it’s a different story. The Lakers are scoring 11.4 more points per 100 possessions when Bynum is out of the game, compared to when he’s in the game.

Phil Jackson said today that he expected everyone to play tommorrow, but conceded that several players were nursing some bumps and bruises. Derek Fisher’s ribs are still sore, Andrew Bynum’s knee got “banged” last night and needed some ice after practice, Sasha Vujacic’s ankle and thumb still cause some discomfort, and Vlad Radmanovic’s thigh is still bruised.

These are all minor issues that shouldn’t cause anyone to miss time, but still need to be monitored.

There will be no name-calling this year. As funny as it was to watch Phil Jackson take digs at small forward Vladimir Radmanovic in the past, this year at least, Jackson has been nothing but complementary of the player he once called “a space cadet.”

Tuesday, Jackson refused to answer a question about how solid Radmanovic’s place was in the starting lineup because he didn’t want Vlade to read it and become worried about his spot.

Wednesday, Jackson praised Radmanovic’s shooting ability and laid some of the blame for his somewhat tepid shooting percentage (34 percent) this season on his teammates.

“I think his teammates have to find Vlade in certain positions where he can be effective,” Jackson said Wednesday after the Lakers practiced. “That’s all team work. he’s a great shooter, we all know it. How we set him up is important. He got one real good set up last night and that was about the only (one).”

Here’s my read:

Jackson wants and needs this to work because philosophically, Vlade should be the starting small forward who cant stretch a defense and keep opponents from packing it in on Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. His ability to knock down the 3 also keeps defenders honest, thus creating lanes for Kobe Bryant to penetrate and score.

Right now, it’s not a matter of Vlade playing better or harder. He just needs to find a really good rhythm and start flowing. Hence, there’s no reason to take pot-shots at him through the media and risk undercutting his confidence.

The Lakers (8-1) did all they could after Tuesday’s win over Chicago to avoid talking about an on-court confrontation between teammates Sasha Vujacic and Trevor Ariza. The players declined to address the matter in any depth except to say it was over and forgotten. But here’s what happened, based on interviews and a brief video clip:

Vujacic missed a 3-pointer and then committed a frustration foul against Chicago’s Aaron Gray with 8:37 left in the half. Ariza confronted Vujacic about his shot selection as they walked from the floor during an ensuing timeout. Ariza got up in Vujacic’s face and his anger was obvious. Vujacic barked back. Finally, Pau Gasol had to get between them as the three walked to the bench.

After the timeout, with Vujacic and Ariza now out of the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson had to leave his seat to walk toward the end of the bench to ask Ariza to knock it off. It’s a rare moment when Jackson leaves his seat for any reason while play is going on, so you knew it had to be serious.

Jackson later said he wished Ariza hadn’t made such a public display of his anger, adding that the situation would best be handled internally.

This isn’t the first time in Lakers’ history that teammates have sniped at each other, and it probably won’t be the last, but it appears there is some serious creative tension in play despite the team’s excelent start to the season. It’s a situation that bears monitoring.

Tuesday was Pau Gasol’s day as the 7-foot Spaniard scored a season high 34 points in the Lakers’ 116-109 win over the Bulls. A lot of those points came in transition, the flashiest on a fast-break dunk off a behind-the-back pass from Kobe Bryant.

Asked after the game whether Gasol gets enough credit for his ability to run the floor, Bryant said: “I don’t know. He’s obviously a great athletic big man that can run and get up and down. He might be the best in the league at doing that. We play pretty well together, ever since he got here it’s been like second nature.”

Andrew Bynum collected his 1,000th career rebound in Tuesday’s win over the Bulls. At 21 years and 22 days old, Bynum is the eight youngest player in NBA history to reach that mark. He had 18 points and nine rebounds in the game.

No, the damage wasn’t permanent. The dent the Detroit Pistons left in the Lakers theretofore perfect record last Friday night was merely superficial.

Another Eastern Conference foe, this time the young Chicago Bulls, came to Staples Center Tuesday night hoping its rugged brand of basketball would be enough to knock the Lakers out of their early-season flow.

Not this time.

Pau Gasol scored a season-high 34 points and Kobe Bryant had 21 as the Lakers cruised to a 116-109 victory.

Gasol’s career high is 44 points, which he recorded in March of 2006 against the Seattle Super Sonics.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Lakers went on a 19-2 run midway through the second quarter that turned a 38-38 game into a 57-40 Lakers lead with 3:57 remaining in the first half.

The Bulls cut into the lead at various points throughout the game, but never seriously threatened, though their newest star, point guard Derrick Rose, more than impressed with 25 points and nine assists.

Rose, the No. 1 pick in last season’s NBA Draft, seemed to find his way to the basket easily and often with an explosive first step, then flashed impressive body control while finishing several acrobatic drives.

Outside of Rose and shooting guard Ben Gordon –who needed 22 shots to get his 23 points– the rest of the Bulls roster had trouble finding room to operate amongst the Lakers bevy of long, tall forwards.

Things cleared out for the Bulls a little bit when Lamar Odom fouled out with 8:30 to go in the fourth quarter.

With four games on the schedule this week –Thursday in Phoenix, Friday against Denver and Sunday against Sacramento — Lakers coach Phil Jackson had hoped to get his starters some rest down the stretch, but was forced to put Kobe Bryant back into the game late in the fourth quarter after Chicago made a run.

The Lakers led 99-84 when Odom went out, but Chicago trimmed the lead down to 105-95 on Rose’s 17-footer with 4:09 remaining. Jackson sent Bryant back into the game and he promptly hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back out to 110-97.

The Lakers lead the Bulls 61-56 at the half thanks to a monster half from Pau Gasol, who has hit 10 of his 14 shots in the first half and scored 24 points.