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Uneasy Rider Lakers guard is up to his old tricks
Isaiah Rider, the oft-troubled guard now with his fourth team, the Lakers, reported nearly one hour late for Tuesday night's game with the Pacers. He was fined, benched for the entire first half and wound up playing a season-low four minutes. Afterward he told reporters he had been stuck in traffic. Surrounded by a throng of cameras and microphones, he shrugged off the incident by repeating the mantra "life goes on" a dozen times and "I'm not trippin'" several times before cutting off interviews. A short time later, Rider met with GM Mitch Kupchak in a locker room hallway for about 20 minutes. Reportedly, he was overheard telling Kupchak, "I don't give a s--- how many championships he's won," an apparent reference to coach Phil Jackson. The Lakers are downplaying the incident, but privately they are growing impatient with Rider. Two weeks ago, he showed up 15 minutes late for a game at San Antonio, claiming the hotel had failed to provide a wake-up call. He even got a hand-written note from the hotel manager, which he presented to Jackson in the locker room. Jackson accepted the excuse but fined him anyway. Meanwhile, on the court, Rider continues to struggle with the triangle offense. Though L.A. coaches and players still believe he could be a major weapon, Rider seems to be losing interest. "He'll be fine if he continues to work at it," Lakers assistant Tex Winter told me. "But he's got to be willing to try." So far Jackson has been willing to forgive Rider's transgressions. Perhaps the Zen Master wants a little controversy now and then to break up the monotony of a long regular season. Or maybe he just wants to keep Rider out of Pat Riley's clutches. But don't expect Jackson to tolerate much more from his insouciant swingman. Since his $1 million contract is not fully guaranteed, the Lakers can cut Rider free at any time for low cost. And while both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal insist his shenanigans won't disrupt the team's pursuit of a repeat title, Shaq perhaps provided a glimmer of his true feelings about Rider's tardiness Wednesday when he admitted, "I live in the mountains. If I can get here for practice by 10, everybody else should be here by 10." Dunkin' Dutchman considers comebackRik Smits, the former Pacers center who retired after last season's NBA Finals, has been playing in his native Holland for the Dutch national team and recently told an Israeli newspaper that he'd consider a postseason comeback. "If there's something that will bring me back, it's the desire to get that [ring]," Smits told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv. "I'll have to see which of the teams that'll want me has the best chance to win it all." In his first real game action since the Finals, the 7-foot-4 Smits had 16 points and 13 rebounds in 29 minutes to help the Netherlands to a 71-53 victory over Israel in a European Championship qualifier. According to Smits, the Pacers and Blazers have both called to discuss a comeback. Pacers coach Isiah Thomas confirmed Indiana's interest before last Tuesday's Lakers game, and said he would welcome the Dunkin' Dutchman back to plug the gaping leak in the Pacers front line. "The door is open," Thomas said. "We're going to keep in touch with him, let him know that we love him, and we'll see what happens." And that was before Shaq overpowered Austin Croshere and Jermaine O'Neal for 27 points and 14 rebounds in a 124-107 rout. No room in Suns' doghouse for Sixth Man RogersSuns coach Scott Skiles denies that reserve forward Rodney Rogers is in his doghouse, even though the reigning Sixth Man Award winner was benched recently. "He showed up for camp in very poor shape," said Skiles, who played Rogers just six minutes last week in a game against the Warriors. "We haven't seen the overall day-to-day explosiveness we've seen from Rodney in the past. It's early ... [but] he's got a responsibility to be in better condition." Rogers has had conditioning problems in the past. The Clippers fined him $914,000 over the course of the 1997-98 season because he failed to meet certain contractual weight limits. Although Rogers got $716,464 of it back earlier this year after an arbitrator ruled that the Clippers had unfairly fined him during the lockout, Rogers has admitted he did report out of shape that season. Nesby's giveaways no laughing matterForward Tyrone Nesby visited the Lakers locker room after the Clippers' loss last week, handing out free leather jackets from his "Nes" clothing line to several players and posing for pictures. Dressed in a white, untucked shirt and slacks, he looked like an ordinary fan as he snapped a picture of Shaq donning his purple-and-gold leather "Nes" coat. Perhaps to keep the photo out of any future ads, a smiling Shaq playfully extended his middle finger to the camera. Clippers coach Alvin Gentry, whose franchise has lost 15 straight games to its crosstown rivals, wasn't amused. "Can you imagine Kevin McHale telling James Worthy, 'I got a jacket for you'?" Gentry asked a reporter from the Los Angeles Times. "It would be something if they spoke to each other." Incidentally, Nesby was traded the next day to the Wizards. Marty Burns covers pro basketball for CNNSI.com. To send a question to
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