Horry Happily Stays a Laker

By MARK HEISLER

July 30, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

After an inauspicious season--try two trades, a knee injury and a towel thrown in his coach’s face--Robert Horry returned to the Lakers Tuesday by signing a multiyear contract.

It was “multi,” all right, seven years at $35 million, according to sources.

“First of all, I want to thank Mr. [Jerry] Buss, Mr. [Jerry] West, Coach [Del] Harris for even allowing me to come to L.A.,” said a delighted Horry at a Forum news conference, “because, like I said, I was in Phoenix. I was sitting in jail.

”. . . I’m just so grateful to these guys for getting me out of there.”

He owes them for more than that.

Never a player who ran up big numbers, he was traded by the Houston Rockets to the Suns last summer, played badly, had his misadventure with Coach Danny Ainge, was traded to the Lakers for Cedric Ceballos, struggled to fit in and then, just as he seemed to be picking things up, sprained his left knee in his 13th game with them.

He sat out a month and wound up averaging a modest 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds as a Laker.

“I really didn’t have time when I got here to learn the system like I wanted to,” Horry said.

”. . . I really wasn’t comfortable. I really didn’t get the best out of my ability so hopefully, coming to training camp, y’all will see a lot better player than you saw last year. . . .

“I felt like I was playing catch-up the whole season. I’d be running down the court and Nick [Van Exel] would call a play and I’d be like, ‘Think, think, think.’ ”

West, who had acquired Horry at midseason with the intention of re-signing him when his contract ran out, stepped up anyway.

“We know what kind of a player he is,” West said. “Sometimes people try to look at statistics and try to measure a player’s worth. To me, minutes played and versatility are two factors we’d like to think are very, very important here.

“This is a very, very good basketball player. At times, you’d like for him to be more selfish, but he’s not. At times he’s not selfish enough, and I think that’s a wonderful trait to have on your team because I think it shows the quality of the person involved.”

The 6-foot-10 Horry, lithe and athletic, will start at small forward but is also expected to back up Elden Campbell at power forward, as Campbell backs up Shaquille O’Neal. The plan is to run more and get Shaq more rest.

The Lakers hope to make one more move, signing Rick Fox, another small forward. He averaged a career-high 15.4 points for the Boston Celtics last season, opted out of his contract and is now a free agent.

The Lakers can offer only their $1-million exception, which would be no windfall for Fox, who played for $1.75 million last season and was to make $1.875 million.

But few teams have cap room this summer, and there is a surplus of free-agent small forwards, including the Portland Trail Blazers’ Cliff Robinson and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Chris Mills. The Lakers have been talking to Fox’s agent, Bill Strickland, and remain hopeful.

‘Rick Fox is a player we’d like to have,” West said. “We are very limited in what we can do and there are teams that have an interest in him but we are interested in him.”

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On the Money

A look how much Laker players will make in 1997-98:

Player: Salary

Shaquille O’Neal: $12,857,143

Elden Campbell: $7,000,000

Robery Horry: $3,200,000*

Eddie Jones: $2,000,000

Nick Van Exel: $1,900,000

Sean Rooks: $1,440,000

Corie Blount: $1,430,000

Kobe Bryant: $1,167,240