Undersized Fisher Luring Jackson Into His Corner

Derek Fisher, a 6-foot-1 guard playing for a coach who has concerns about anybody under 6-4, can’t suddenly grow three inches, as he has wryly noted, but he has impressed Phil Jackson in training camp.

“He’s playing great,” Jackson said when asked about Fisher. “I really like his focus. And right now, he’s a leader also on the team.

“So, you know, we’ll see what happens, see how well we perform with him out there. If we do [perform well], we’re going to be very happy with it.”

Jackson has openly pondered teaming Rick Fox in the backcourt with Kobe Bryant, and Jackson’s most recent Chicago Bull teams featured 6-6 Ron Harper and Michael Jordan at guard.

Fisher, who signed a long-term deal over the summer, said all he and 6-0 second-year man Tyronn Lue can do is try to pick up the triangle offense as quickly as possible and give maximum effort.

“He’s probably liked bigger guards because that’s what he’s had,” Fisher said. “But when you think about all the Bulls players over the years on their championship teams, you look at guys like Craig Hodges . . . B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, smaller guys that had big roles and contributed a lot. . . .

“I think when you’re winning, you don’t worry about those things as much. Hopefully we can just go out there and win some games, and nobody will really be focusing on where they’re fitting in individually.”

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General Manager Mitch Kupchak said the team remains interested in signing Harper before Monday’s close of training camp, but said there was nothing new to report.

“I don’t think he’s weighing other offers,” Kupchak said. “I think retirement would be his only other option. I think he wants to play.”

Jackson said since Harper underwent arthroscopic knee surgery recently and since he played the triangle in Chicago, he didn’t necessarily need to arrive immediately to help the team.

“There’s nothing that Ron is missing out on right now except conditioning,” Jackson said. “If he would hurt himself by being here because of his therapy is still not complete, then we don’t want to do that, either.”

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Asked which Laker has adjusted best to the new system, assistant coach Tex Winter, the expert on the triangle offense, immediately pointed to Fox.

“Rick Fox is fundamentally very sound and he seems to have a sense for what we’re doing out there,” Winter said. “I think he’ll give us a lot of leadership in that regard. Right now, for [Robert] Horry and even [Glen] Rice . . . it’s a little bit more difficult for them. They’re having a little bit of a struggle.”

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At his request, the Lakers released rookie guard Melvin Levett, whom they acquired from Detroit for Derek Harper.