Fox No Longer Plays Heavy

By MARK HEISLER

June 1, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Remember Glen Rice?

A year ago, he was the Lakers’ small forward, although his days seemed to be numbered and his wife was just about to advertise her/their dissatisfaction with Phil Jackson and the situation in general.

Remember Rick Fox?

A year ago, he was backing up Rice, although at 6 feet 7 and 255 pounds, or 15 pounds over Wes Unseld’s listed weight, Fox was the ranking sumo wrestler of the small forwards.

Of course, no matter how much he grew to resemble a tree trunk, his teammates never wavered in their respect for him.

“We used to tell him he had too much junk in his truck to elevate,” Kobe Bryant says.

Then in the playoffs last season, Fox became more of a “Wrestlemania”-type wrestler. He was ejected after tangling with the Phoenix Suns’ Cliff Robinson, exchanged shoves with the Trail Blazers’ Scottie Pippen and unpleasantries with Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy, whose lips were so easy to read, parents watching on TV scrambled to cover children’s eyes.

But a ninth or 10th man’s gotta do what a ninth or 10th’s man gotta do. As Fox notes, humbly, “I was expendable. . . .

“We were a team in previous years, I wouldn’t say we lay down but we were pushed down pretty easily and didn’t get up rather quickly. If we were boxers, we’d have needed a 15-count, instead of an eight-count. And that’s something of a character flaw and we knew that about ourselves.

“Phil knew it also and in addressing our team, he made it very clear, to go through a Portland, to go through a Phoenix, based on our history in the past, we were going to have to be a little nasty, we were going to have to be confrontational and demand what we wanted.”

So they demanded, Fox got into faces and the Lakers won a title.

Then over the summer, Rice disappeared from the scene and Fox got his job . . . and lost it . . . and got it back and held onto it. Now he’s anything but expendable as a 230-pound starter with a team on a 19-game winning streak. The press crowds around each day, because he’s the most quotable Laker. The TV crews treasure him the more for his movie star looks.

Of course, it took a rally to get to this point after two seasons on the bench and a slow start in this one.

Before they broke up last season, Jackson had suggested Fox drop a few pounds. Like 25.

Fox talked to assistant coach Frank Hamblen, who told him they were counting on seeing the old Rick Fox from his Boston days again.

Fox decided he’d better lose the weight.

The Lakers started their title defense 3-3 with Fox averaging 4.8 points. It turned out that they had dire chemistry problems that would require all season to be resolved, but around the league, the word was: They miss Glen Rice.

From New York, Rice’s new home, the word was: No kidding.

“I’ve been forgotten and that’s all right with me,” Rice said. “In due time, it will be a rude awakening for everyone.”

Fox’s awakening was rude enough. Seven games into the season, he found himself back on the bench with Bryant in his spot and Brian Shaw at guard.

Jackson looked at that lineup for four games, decided he didn’t like it and restored Fox to the lineup.

That must have been it because you couldn’t really say Fox played his way back in. In his last game as a reserve, he logged six minutes as the 10th Laker into the game and didn’t take a shot.

After that, however, things picked up. After the All-Star game, Fox averaged 11 points as the much-sought No. 3 option. For the season, he made 39% of his three-pointers.

“We miss Glen still,” says Fox, who isn’t sensitive. “I knew the guillotine was going to come down on the small forward position. . . .

“I prepared myself. Actually, I kind of thought about the different scenarios that could happen. That was one of them, the chance that we got off to a slow start and if I wasn’t playing up to the level of what people were used to seeing with Glen in the system last year, there would be some criticism and I’d have to be prepared to deal with it. . . .

“This year, it was getting into a new body almost, coming in 25 pounds lighter and trying to find my way again, with obviously a lot of different issues being dealt with, with our team. I knew those things had to be taken care of before any of us could find our way, let alone me personally.”

All the issues seem to have been dealt with. Fox might have done an octopus number on Sacramento’s Peja Stojakovic, but he hasn’t been thrown over the boards to rough up a single Trail Blazer, King or Spur.

And if they need to muss the hair of some 76er or Buck, they’ll send out Mark Madsen. These days, Rick Fox has better things to do with his time.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NBA Finals

All times PDT. TV: Channel 4

Wednesday at Lakers, 6 p.m.

June 8 at Lakers, 6 p.m.

June 10 at Eastern champion, 4:30 p.m.

June 13 at Eastern champion, 6 p.m.

June 15 at Eastern champion, 6 p.m.*

June 18 at Lakers, 6 p.m.*

June 20 at Lakers, 6 p.m.*

* If necessary