He’ll Gladly State His Case : Lakers’ Van Exel Proves That He Is More Than Talk

When he went to Seattle early last summer for a pre-draft workout with the SuperSonics, point guard Nick Van Exel of the University of Cincinnati, a projected first-round pick, was told to start at the baseline and run to the far free-throw line six times.

He jogged the first one. George Karl, the SuperSonics’ coach, told Van Exel he could do better than that. Coach, Van Exel replied, my next one is a cool-down.

“And I did the exact same thing, the same way,” Van Exel said. “He came over, kind of chewed me out a little bit, and that was it.”

Van Exel figured there was no point in going all out because the SuperSonics were already loaded at point guard and wouldn’t draft him. He would try hard for somebody else. And so, when it came time for the 23rd pick, Seattle grabbed 6-foot-11 Ervin Johnson.

Came the second round and Van Exel, surprisingly, was still available. So who was frantically trying to move up for another quick selection, jostling for position with several other teams who had a similar move in mind, hoping for the same draft-day steal that the Lakers would eventually get at No. 37?

George Karl and the SuperSonics.

Few things better illustrate the case of Van Exel, who some think is a case, period. Here was a 22-year-old, who had shot all of 38.6% as a senior, telling an NBA coach where to get off--and that coach still wanted him.

“We saw an individualist,” said Karl, who already had more than his share with the SuperSonics. “But we also saw a winner. There’s that thin line.”

THE INDIVIDUALIST

Van Exel has two diagonal marks shaved in his eyebrows, something he started in ninth or 10th grade while growing up in Kenosha, Wis. Last spring, friends wanted him to go and watch the draft in person in Auburn Hills, Mich., where all the action was that day, but he chose to stay in Cincinnati and have 15 or so friends over for a party. By the time Laker General Manager Jerry West called to say they were going to take him, Van Exel was drunk.

And then there is his attitude, the one that earned him the nickname Nick Van Smack from Jim Rome of XTRA radio and ESPN2.

A taunting, erratic-shooting, flight-missing, take-that bravado.

“When I’m not talking, (and) just going through the motions, that’s when I’m not having fun,” Van Exel said. “But when I’m out there talking, to other teams and my players, that’s when I’m having fun.”

He was five games into his first exhibition season when he was taunting Gary Payton. He mouthed off to the Suns in the regular-season opener. And when a Laker threw down a slam in the face of some Trail Blazer a few games later, Van Exel shouted, “Way to dunk on his gluteus maximus”--or something to that effect. Portland’s Clifford Robinson fired back, “You gotta get some game or something before you come here talking.”

But the swagger never stops. When agent Tony Dutt said he could get a two- or three-year deal last summer, the ultra-confident Van Exel told Dutt to instead take one season at the league minimum of $150,000. Then he could become a restricted free agent next summer, when they could get a new contract from the Lakers at first-round money.

So when the ultra-competitive Van Exel starts to have his playing time cut, to the point that he is averaging 22.5 minutes the last six games and hasn’t exceeded 30 in three weeks, and he begins to get frustrated, it’s hard to hide that, too.

“Right now, I’m not having much fun out there playing,” he said. “ . . . I don’t know what I can put the blame on. I’m just going to have to go out there and get into my old ways, but right now it’s hard because we’re losing and my minutes kind of went down.”

One more thing about Van Exel--his image:

It’s only half true.

Off the court, he is quiet and unassuming, happy to stay home and watch television, preferably sports. Even before games, not long before transforming into the motor mouth looking for an on-ramp, he is nervous during chalk talks as the Laker coaches go over final scouting reports. He hates that time.

Could it be that he is really covering feelings of being nervous and insecure?

“Sometimes,” Van Exel said during a quiet moment, “I think it is.”

THE WINNER

He couldn’t even get noticed in Kenosha by the nearby big school, Marquette, and got only two letters from Wisconsin.

Instead of signing with Ball State or Kent or some other smaller school, Van Exel went to junior college, hoping to build his stock for one of the major schools. He chose Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, lured by the chance to play with another recruit, Shawn Kemp. A week later, Kemp declared for the NBA draft and Van Exel endured two years of what he called “the worst experience of my life.”

He got into fights, had some academic difficulties, a bad relationship with Coach Leon Spencer and almost got kicked out of school. But he did get the big schools to take notice. Arkansas and Tennessee, among others, came calling, before Van Exel chose Cincinnati, largely because the Bearcats had moved into the Great Midwest Conference, and that meant playing at Marquette and DePaul, both close to Kenosha.

His dream was to play on television, and he got his wish. Cincinnati went 18-2 after he took over at point guard as a junior and went to the Final Four, then reached the regional finals in 1993.

During that senior season, some said he could be drafted as high as the teens. Then came the well publicized botched workouts with the Charlotte Hornets, when he missed one flight because his girlfriend had been in a car wreck, and another when there was a miscommunication with Dutt’s secretary, and things went into a tailspin.

On draft day, the teens became the 20s and the 20s became the 30s and Van Exel was still available, by that time hanging out in the kitchen drinking beer and not even watching the proceedings. One guy was crying with disappointment.

The Lakers really wanted another point guard, Lindsey Hunter. When Detroit grabbed Hunter two picks ahead of them, the Lakers chose George Lynch of North Carolina.

Then they got Van Exel in the second round, No. 37, then watched him make the rest of the summer league sorry before the season had started.

A few months later, Van Exel is the only Laker to have started every game, is second only to Orlando’s Anfernee Hardaway among rookies in assists, is tied with teammate Sedale Threatt for second place among all players in assist-to-turnover ratio and is certain to be voted Thursday to the first rookie all-star game, to be played Feb. 12 in Minneapolis.

“For me to be playing basketball for a job, that’s the best thing in the world that could happen to me,” Van Exel said. “I live basketball. I dream basketball.”

He lives it, he dreams it, he walks it, he talks it. He does it for all to see . . . and hear.