Fisher Handles Breaks of Game

They all walked to Derek Fisher on Wednesday afternoon. They couldn’t stop themselves. Teammates dragged their hands across his shoulders, then sat in the chair to his left. Fisher’s right foot, in a cast, was propped on the other.

Coaches put their hands on his neck, shook his hand, consoled him with their questions and expressions. Opponents extended their hands, touched his.

Out of the house, really for the first time since surgery eight days before, Fisher watched the Lakers’ summer-league team play at Long Beach State.

The pain is pretty much gone now, the foot healing since the surgery that repaired his second stress fracture in a year, so he arrived on crutches, his mother and brother beside him, all of them probably looking forward to thinking about something else.

Twelve days after he sat in a pool of champagne in a tiny locker room in Philadelphia, silently celebrating an NBA championship driven partly by his dynamic return from a stress fracture, Fisher was told the injury had recurred. No one would have blamed him had he put his face in his hands and sobbed.

“I probably wanted to, but I couldn’t. I won’t allow myself to do it,” he said in his first public comments since surgery. “If I allow it to seep in and defeat me in any way, I won’t be able to come back. I won’t be able to be as strong as I was when I left. That’s the goal. If this happens again, I don’t know. But the goal, when you have an injury, you can’t allow the injury to get into your head, to get you down too much. Otherwise, you can’t get back to the place you want to be. I’ve definitely wanted to just break down and cry. But I can’t.”

In nine months, Fisher had used the trauma of surgery and its rehabilitation to turn his game into something special. He became a leader. In 16 playoff games, he made more than half of his three-point attempts. The Lakers were 30-6 after he returned. And they all won again.

On June 27, draft day, General Manager Mitch Kupchak called. Fisher feared he had been traded. The next day, a doctor showed him fresh X-rays. His navicular bone was broken again, in the same spot.

“It’s not the same feeling,” he said. “But it reminds me of how quickly success can come and go. How easy good things can happen, and how easy bad things can happen. It’s really important to enjoy the moment and to be happy where I am today. The future, tomorrow, success, championships, all that stuff can be gone in an instant.”

Team medical personnel figure Fisher could return in four to six months, so he’ll miss training camp at least. He was healthy, able to run and jump and defend, for three months. That was what he got out of the last surgery, three months of basketball, though it was incredible basketball.

“Even when I saw the doctor and saw the pictures, I don’t know what my feelings were,” he said. “I don’t know what they are now, really. You know, disappointed. Disappointed that it took away my summer. This summer I found out in the beginning, which is better. But it just takes away the enjoyment of what we accomplished. I still feel very good and proud of what we did, but I can’t focus on it as much as I would like to, because my focus is getting better so we can do it again next year.”

Doctors performed a bone graft and, this time, inserted a screw. Fisher said they would consider leaving the screw in for a long time, perhaps for his career. He won’t ignore the likelihood that he is prone to further breaks.

“Once you’ve injured [the navicular] the first time, you’re susceptible to injury in the future,” he said. “I knew that after the first break. But there are some medical things that will make this situation better than the first one. This time, I’ll be starting from a better point.

“The procedure was better. It was cleaner. Last summer I didn’t know, and I worked out all summer and made the fracture worse. There was a lot of stuff going on in there that [Dr. Philip Kwong] had to clean up and correct. I feel better about this because I’ve been through it one time.

“If anything this time I know not to challenge doctors or trainers, the people who are getting paid to tell me what to do.”

The Lakers have contacted the agent for shooting guard Fred Hoiberg, a free agent who averaged 9.1 points last season for the Chicago Bulls. Hoiberg, 28, is familiar with the triangle offense and made 41.2% of his three-point attempts. . . . Free-agent forward Samaki Walker is expected to visit the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo today. The Lakers are considering Walker as a replacement for Horace Grant. Grant remains an option, though Antonio Davis’ deal with Toronto could open a place for Grant in Orlando, which he appears to prefer. . . . Guard Mitch Richmond is expected to work out for the Lakers next week, probably Wednesday, the first day of the free-agent signing period. . . . Mike Penberthy, who has a slightly sprained ankle, did not play in the Lakers’ summer-league game Wednesday.