Laker Rookie Is Very Rough and Ready

Ruben Patterson, the Lakers’ rambunctious, reckless rookie forward, caught Kobe Bryant’s attention at his first informal workout with the team.

“You’ll have to guard me every day,” Bryant told him, as both warning and competitive challenge.

His second day of training camp, right before he slammed Rick Fox in the mouth, Patterson knocked an off-balance Shaquille O’Neal, all 335 pounds (or so) of him, to the floor.

“I’m a very strong guy, but Shaq is 10 times stronger than me,” Patterson said. “It’s just, I like to play physical. And I set that pick on him and everybody looked at me like whoa!”

By the third day of training camp, after hundreds of bumps, head-long body blocks and slide tackles--especially in grueling and not entirely by-the-book matchups with Bryant--Eddie Jones had given Patterson a nickname, “Wild Thing II,” a nod to former Laker bruising forward Jerome Kersey.

By last Sunday night, Bryant and Patterson halted practice with a brief screaming match, started when Bryant retaliated by sending an elbow to Patterson’s face, and the rest of the practice was as intense as a Dean Koontz novel.

O’Neal and Jones took a few minutes to calm down Patterson after the eruption, Bryant shrugged off the moment, and the rest of the Lakers, looking for a mental edge to head into the short season, ate it up.

For a team derided as being too soft once the playoffs start and veteran teams such as the Utah Jazz force a slow and grinding tempo, the Lakers crave slam-bang electricity.

“I haven’t seen an element like that in our practices before,” point guard Derek Fisher said. “I mean, last year or my first year, nobody ever got mad at each other, nobody ever pushed each other.

“We need that. We need some hard fouls and some bumps and some bruises. That way, when we get into the game, we aren’t looking at the referees wondering why there aren’t any fouls getting called, because we’re used to it.”

Patterson isn’t the only reason these have been the most ferocious Laker practices anyone can remember. Recently acquired veteran Derek Harper is a constant emotional force, and the sheer number of high-flying athletes competing for limited playing time is a major factor.

But the 6-foot-5 second-round pick from Cincinnati, still not a certainty to make the roster when the Lakers have to cut down to 12 two weeks into the season, has provided the most heated action and caught the attention of everybody who feels his elbow in his chest.

“I’d rather have it that way than everybody out there playing softball,” Coach Del Harris said. “We don’t want to play softball any more. We’ve spent five years trying to get guys to be a little tougher, so I’m not going to ask somebody to quit being tough.”

Said Patterson, the 31st pick overall [and the lowest draft choice on the Lakers, after first-round picks Tyronn Lue and Sam Jacobson]: “They do love to see me play hard and play aggressive.

“I like to bang. I like to play physical. You know, coming from Cincinnati, Bob Huggins, if you don’t play physical and play hard you’re not going to play for him.”

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In an intrasquad, five-quarter scrimmage before a festive crowd of about 5,000 at “The Thunderdome” on the UC Santa Barbara campus, the Lakers played frantic, frequently entertaining, but definitely not flawless basketball Monday night.

With multiple players switching from the gold team to the purple team at every quarter, O’Neal led all scorers with 43 points (11 for 16 from the free-throw line).

Jones scored 30 and Bryant 25.

It was the Lakers’ first public appearance since losing to Utah last May in the Western Conference finals.

“It was good to get out there in front of the crowd,” Jones said. “I miss those old days. How long’s it been--a year or so?”

Harris said he was disappointed with the lack of ball movement and conditioning from his players.

“I’ve got to sell our guys on better ball movement,” Harris said. “And obviously we still need further conditioning. I thought we wore down a little bit.”

Laker Notes

So how do Eddie Jones and Rick Fox feel about the possibility that Harris will play them in a three-man, two-starting-spots rotation along with Kobe Bryant at shooting guard and small forward?

“I don’t know, give me a day to think about it,” said Jones, last season’s starting guard who was informed of the idea by Harris earlier this week and would probably lose playing time in such a scenario.

Could Jones, already the subject of rampant trade rumors the last two weeks, be comfortable coming off the bench every third game?

“I’ve got to see how I feel first,” Jones said.

Said Fox, last season’s starting small forward: “If he feels that’s what’s best for us, then that’s something I’d work with. I think we’re all capable starters, therefore maybe that’s the best way to solve somewhat of a dilemma, I guess.”