Van Exel has fresh start Wednesday, July 22, 1998
BY Colorado Springs Gazette
DENVER -- If and when the NBA lockout ends and the league goes about its business for another season, the Denver Nuggets and newly acquired point guard Nick Van Exel will have each other to help.
Nick Van Exel
They're trying to pump life into a sickly franchise, and Van Exel, with one year left on his contract, is trying to resurrect a career.
After five sometimes-sensational seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Van Exel, 26, was traded for Denver's Tony Battie and Tyronn Lue.
Despite his reconciliation with coach Del Harris, the Lakers simply tired of Van Exel's reputation, if not his temper. And his sore knees.
Van Exel said the right things when he finally reported to the Nuggets.
Initially and understandably concerned about being traded to a club that won 50 fewer games than the Lakers, he now sees a "fresh, new start for me. I know Denver's been struggling, but they've shown in the past that they're capable of winning playoff games. I'm real excited about it. Being in a new place, I wanted this. I'm ready for the challenge."
Whether the Nuggets and Van Exel make the best of their startling union depends most on Van Exel. He's that gifted, that explosive. And not just temper.
"The report we got from the Lakers is that he has changed," Nuggets General Manager Dan Issel said.
McNichols Arena has seen the best and worst of Van Exel. A streak shooter who averaged 14.9 points and 7.3 assists, he's made 27 of his last 42 three-point tries in the Nuggets' home arena.
It's also where Van Exel's reputation as a hot head was cemented. After his ugly ejection from a game at Denver in April 1996, he angrily shoved referee Ronnie Garretson into the scorer's table and was suspended for seven games.
Shortly after that incident, Sports Illustrated published a lengthy story about Van Exel, alleging the former University of Cincinnati star once kicked an unconscious teammate during a fight and assaulted a girlfriend while attending Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas.
"Nobody's ever had a problem with Nick off the court," Van Exel said. "The only real problems with Nick happen on the court. "Growing up (in Kenosha, Wis.), it was just me and my mom. I never really had anyone to tell me, 'No, you can't do this. No, you can't do that.' My mentality has been that I'm not going to listen to anybody but me. And that's hurt me. When I finally looked at it and understood my problem, I was able to attack it."
Van Exel and Harris had a televised blowup during the 1997 playoffs that did more damage to Van Exel's reputation.
After the Garretson and Harris incidents, Van Exel said he began seeing a counselor in Houston, where he now lives.
"I also played a lot of golf. That helped me relax," Van Exel said. "But the sessions with the counselor really helped me control my anger."
Something else unplugged Van Exel, he said. A year after the Garretson incident, a boy in Van Exel's neighborhood approached him and said, "I like you, but you shouldn't have pushed that referee." "That stuck with me," Van Exel said. "The negative things I've put on myself, it's just not good because kids do look up to you, and kids are our future."
UC's NCAA hearing Aug. 7