For Garden Grove’s Archer, the Fancier It Is, the Better : Basketball: Simplicity on the court is not the strong suit of Argonaut standout senior forward.

Dewey Van Cleave, Garden Grove High’s basketball coach, took time out from practice last week to do his Cornel Archer imitation.

He took the ball near the basket, faked left, then right and threw in a couple more shakes and shimmies before turning and shooting. Archer and his teammates laughed, but Van Cleave’s message was clear.

“We’re always talking about keeping things simple with Cornel,” Van Cleave said.

But simplicity and Archer, a senior forward, have never been the best of friends. If there’s a behind-the-back-pass to make or a one-handed bounce pass off the dribble to thread through the lane, Archer will usually try it.

If a move has been performed on ESPN or TNT, Van Cleave can usually count on seeing it in Archer’s repertoire.

“You see these pro players doing all that, and you want to try it, too,” Van Cleave said. “Watching all the college and pro games on cable TV, Cornel picks up some of those habits.”

And Archer admits there isn’t much he doesn’t watch.

“All I do is play ball and watch it,” Archer said.

His favorite player to watch?

“I like Charles Barkley,” Archer said. “I like what he’s done with a new team. He’s changed his game to fit his new team.”

Archer doesn’t see himself as a young Sir Charles, but there are a few similarities between the two.

--Both have been gifted with loads of athletic ability.

“Archer is a great athlete,” La Quinta Coach Jim Perry said. “He’s just so much more athletic than the people that we have. He creates a lot of problems offensively and defensively for us. He’s a talented young man. I don’t think he’s even scratched the surface.”

--Barkley, who is listed at 6-5, and the 6-foot Archer love to rebound, even though they constantly mix it up with players six to 10 inches taller.

As a junior, Archer led Orange County big school players in rebounding average at 11.7. He is averaging 9.4 this season.

“It’s pretty tough to give up size, but rebounding depends on how much heart you have,” Archer said.

--Both players have been accused of being too unselfish with the ball. Van Cleave said he’s constantly harping on Archer to shoot more.

“I get the feeling he’s trying to keep his teammates happy,” Van Cleave said. “He’s a senior and he’s the team captain, so I think he feels the need to get everybody involved.”

Archer, whose scoring average is down from 20.3 to 15.4 this season, said he’s simply trying to help his team win.

“Coach is always telling me to shoot, but I feel if the person’s open, he deserves the ball,” Archer said. “Coach feels for us to be competitive, I have to shoot. But we have better athletes this year and they can all shoot the ball. So I don’t feel like I need to score for us to win.”

Archer’s theory was proved Friday, when Garden Grove defeated Los Amigos, 57-38. Even though Archer scored only five points, he had 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“They played a 1-2-2 zone that took away Cornel, but that opened it up for other people,” Van Cleave said.

Archer and his teammates have combined to win three consecutive games. Garden Grove (7-8, 3-2) has moved into a four-way tie for second place in the Garden Grove League.

For Archer, the game is fun again--something he couldn’t have said three years ago, when he suffered through the worst season of his career.

“I hated basketball my freshman year,” Archer said. “We didn’t do anything in practice but run. We didn’t learn anything. We played off our own knowledge.”

Archer said his lost season was devastating for a young player trying to learn the fundamentals.

“I fell behind in that aspect and I’ve been catching up since then,” he said. “It was so bad I was considering quitting the game.”

But even if he had, Van Cleave said there would always be room for Archer in another sport--track.

“He can really go,” said Van Cleave, who is also the girls’ track coach at Garden Grove. “If he spent more time with it, it might be his best sport.”

Though barely training last year, Archer advanced to the Division II Southern Section meet in the 200 meters and the 400 and 1,600 relays.

“I don’t know about track,” Archer said. “I like to run the races, but I hate practicing.”

For now, Van Cleave would prefer Archer work on becoming less imaginative on the basketball court.

“It takes time to change,” Van Cleave said. “He’s formed habits. The potential is there. We just have to bottle up his talent and get it all going in the right direction.”