Rookie game

By Lyle Crouse
ESPNET SportsZone

That appears to be the attitude of the Los Angeles Lakers, who haven't been afraid to play three rookies on a team that's in contention for an NBA title.

The Lakers' courage has paid off. They have the Western Conference's best record and their first-year players -� Kobe Bryant, Travis Knight and Derek Fisher -� were all named to play in the Rookie Game on All-Star Saturday.

"What they bring is aggressiveness," Lakers All-Star guard Eddie Jones said of his young teammates. "They want to make something happen, and they want to make it happen right now."

But how did the Lakers know they could put so much faith in a teenager (Bryant), a player who was cut right after he was drafted (Knight) and a 6-foot-1 product of Arkansas-Little Rock (Fisher)?

Fisher says it's just another case of Lakers exec Jerry West being on a different plane than the competition.

"Jerry West is an extraordinary person," Fisher said. "As an executive VP, he might make some decisions that some people really don't understand, but for so many years, he played at a level that people couldn't reach, too.

"It's really an honor that he trusts me, Kobe and Travis as much as he does. It really feels good that he and the organization have the confidence to put us out on the court in some crucial situations," says Fisher, who drew a fourth-quarter charge that preserved a 101-97 victory over Charlotte on Jan. 8.

Knight says Lakers coach Del Harris has the confidence to play the kids because of Jones and All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal. Their defensive presence can erase a multitude of rookie sins, and O'Neal and Jones also draw the most attention from opposing defenses.

"If we didn't have Shaq and Eddie," Knight said, "coach couldn't put us in the game and let us go through growing pains."

Knight, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds against the Warriors on Jan. 24, was the last pick in the first round. But the Chicago Bulls renounced his rights soon after the draft.

"Everyone thinks of it as a bitter thing, but they did a favor for me," Knight said of the Bulls. "They didn't want to play me, so I'm glad they released me."

Bryant, 18, also was drafted by another team, but West traded center Vlade Divac to Charlotte for the rights to Bryant. Initially, the Lakers took some heat for going after a young, unknown commodity.

"The fact that he wanted me and people at times questioned that -- that makes you want to work that much harder," said Bryant, who has had some big games already, including a 21-point effort against Detroit on Jan. 18.

The kids say they're also flourishing because of their environment. Specifically, their teammates don't do anything to add to the trials that go with being a rookie.

"We've been fortunate because guys haven't gotten into rookie-bashing," Bryant said. "There hasn't been much of that."

"We're fortunate because a lot of our guys are still young," Fisher added. "They were rookies two or three years ago themselves, so they really don't treat us bad. I think some of the teams that are more veteran-laden -- Detroit, New York, those guys -- the rookies probably have to deal with a lot more than we do."

Indeed, Jones is only 25 and O'Neal is 24.

"We're young ourselves," Jones said. "We've only been in the league for, what, 24 hours?"

Jones says the youngsters did have to uphold a Lakers tradition: Singing in front of their teammates. Bryant, for example, had to sing a tune by actress and pop singer Brandy, who was Bryant's date at his senior prom. And Knight had to do the tune from the television show "Knight Rider," which must've been something to behold because that theme song was an instrumental.

But that hardly qualifies as rookie-bashing. And not only do the Lakers veterans abstain from hazing, some of them go out of their way to help the rookies. When Fisher became worried about his grandmother's health, O'Neal sent her what Fisher estimated to be 20 dozen roses.

"That really speaks a lot about his character and the kind of person he is," Fisher said of Shaq. "I don't think people really understand. For him to be at the level of stardom that he is, he is probably the most humble person you'll ever meet."