Winning With L.A. Would Be Worth It to Fox

Rick Fox is the Laker exception, just about any way you want to figure it.

On a team of rampaging youth and emotional rises and plummets, the serene eighth-year small forward is a middle-sized, middle-aged (for the NBA), middle-class exception, someone who has now twice taken less money to stay with the Lakers and help them find a way to win a championship.

On a team of extremes, the Lakers simply don’t have anybody like him.

“I said, ‘Thank you,’ every time somebody called and offered me money,” said Fox, 29, who participated in his first training camp workout Friday morning after signing for the $1.75-million middle-class exception. “I appreciated it. But there are things that are more important.

“I’ll tell you, it’s really flattering. I had some people really push hard. And they are teams that I would’ve played for, if I didn’t have the affection for this team, if I hadn’t already plugged myself into the goals of this team.

“I couldn’t turn my back on that.”

The Atlanta Hawks--who also offered him more money before he signed for the $1-million Laker exception last season--made the hardest push, and for many weeks it was rumored that Fox would sign a big multiyear deal with the Hawks, an offer that could easily top anything the salary cap would allow the Lakers to tender.

But when the lockout was lifted and the salary cap was tighter than expected, Atlanta ended up offering the same $1.75 million the Lakers were limited to.

Another team Fox would not name offered more. Still, the choice was clear.

Earlier this week, Fox and Executive Vice President Jerry West had a long discussion about the Lakers and his role, ending with a general agreement that Fox should be a Laker again.

“I met with him the other night over the phone from about quarter to 11 till 1:15 in the morning,” West said. “He just wanted to tell me he wanted to stay. I said, ‘That’s OK, Rick, but we’ve got to get to bed.’ ”

Even though Fox publicly aired his disappointment with the Laker players’ attitude soon after the Utah Jazz swept them in the Western Conference finals last season, even though the Lakers were never going to be able to offer him as much as some other teams, Fox said he was determined to stick it out in L.A.

“I was disappointed first of all at the fact that I thought we had what it took to win last year,” Fox said. “I’ve always been taught from high school that attitude is the most important thing.

“I think our attitude let us down. It got us in trouble. [So] you speak your mind. At that point in time it was true. I think everybody knows that that’s predominantly one of the reasons why we lost. . . .

“Sometimes, when you have disappointing times here, you really, really think, ‘Is this the right place for me?’ But removed from that, one month later, looking back and watching film and calming down, and really seeing the good and the qualities of 90% of this team, there’s a lot of heart, there’s a lot of dedication.”

Fox, who acknowledges with a broad smile that he met and started dating actress-singer Vanessa Williams during the lockout, was the only Laker to start all 82 regular-season games last season, averaging 12 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

But more than any statistical production, the 6-foot-7 Fox was brought in to help calm down the volatile Lakers, and help bring stability to the locker room.

“Rick brings a good all-around game with a lot of toughness,” Coach Del Harris said. “He’s one of the best combinations of nice people who are tough of any of the athletes I’ve known.”

With Derek Harper having been brought in this season as another seasoned leader--and the tempestuous Nick Van Exel having been traded to Denver--Fox said he thinks his role can be even stronger.

“I know these guys,” Fox said. “It’s easier to talk to some of these guys now. I can see in some of their faces, when they’re down, when they need to be encouraged. I’ve played with them about a year now.

“I swear, it took me about 35 to 40 games last year just to get an understanding of everybody and where their rhythms were at and where my rhythms were with them.”

This season should be the last one in which Fox must take less than the league average (about $2.5 million) to stay with the Lakers. After this season, he will be eligible for “early-Bird” rights, meaning the Lakers can offer him a multiyear deal that starts at 108% of the league-wide average salary.

“I don’t want this to be the last year with the Lakers,” Fox said. “I don’t plan on that.”

Laker Notes

Though two-a-day workouts only started Friday and Coach Del Harris said he is at least a week away from settling on a starting lineup, he indicated that it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Derek Fisher--who started the last 33 games of the 1998 regular season--will be the team’s starting point guard when the season starts Feb. 5.

“We don’t want to guarantee anybody anything, but we have a lot of confidence in Derek Fisher, obviously,” said Harris, pointing out that Fisher was the starter for the Lakers’ 22-3 run to the end of the regular season.