LA’s ‘Dog’ star

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2000 | 10:14 a.m.

Highlights from Lakers rookie Mark Madsen's college career:

During the NBA off-season, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers gave up a Beanie Baby-toting A.C. Green and picked up Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen -- which has been very good news for MVP center Shaquille O'Neal .

"Last year we had one big guy -- me," O'Neal said. "Now we got a lot of big guys, which will take some of the pounding off me.

"Yeah, actually I am happy (to have some help). It makes it easier for me. The easier it is for me, the better I play. It's going to be a fun year."

The Lakers were about as soft and squishy at the four spot as the kelly green Beanie Baby that Green used to wear on his head for good luck while he sat on the bench. To shore up the frontcourt, LA acquired veterans Horace Grant and Greg Foster and rookies Slava Medvedenko and Madsen.

Grant sat out of the Lakers' 118-111 loss to the Sacramento Kings Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center before a near-capacity crowd of 17,561 with an injured thumb. Former UNLV standout Isaiah Rider scored 14 points for the Lakers in 30 minutes off the bench in the exhibition game.

Predrag Stojakovic led Sacramento with 20 points while point guard Bobby Jackson poured in 19. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 29 points and O'Neal had 15 and 10 rebounds.

Grant will most likely be the Lakers' starting power forward, but Madsen has impressed everyone in the Lakers' organization from head coach Phil Jackson to longtime Lakers announcer Chick Hearn.

O'Neal has gone out of his way to welcome the 6-foot, 9-inch Madsen into the NBA. The savvy veteran took the time to explain to Madsen why it is important he trade in his khakis for dress slacks, told him why he needed to trade in his minivan for a more sporty vehicle and told him where the all-important cool places to hang out are.

"I like Mad Dog," O'Neal said. "Great player. Great guy. Hard worker.

"He's next in line to be the general manager of the Lakers. He's just that type of guy."

Madsen chuckled at the idea of being one cool white boy, down enough to hang out with O'Neal.

"More than anything, I'm just appreciative to Shaquille for how much he is helping me to acclimate to the NBA," Madsen grinned. "He is extremely generous with his time, with his comments and what he says to me and with his energy."

The Lakers took Madsen with the 29th pick, the last in the first round, in this year's NBA draft.

Madsen played four years at Stanford, where he lived up to his nickname given to him by his fifth grade P.E. teacher by diving on the floor for loose balls and being equally aggressive on both ends of the court.

"When I play I try to emulate Dennis Rodman on the court," Madsen said. "I think I just realized that in order for me to be successful, I have to do a little bit extra.

"You know, I don't have a 40-inch vertical and I'm not a great shooter so I have to do something extra in order to experience success."

It has worked.

As a senior, Madsen averaged 12.2 points per game and led the Pac-10 in rebounding with 9.4 per game, earning a spot on the John Wooden All-America team and the Associated Press All-America third team.

He was Stanford's sixth-leading rebounder in school history with 857 and was twice named to the All-Pac-10 team.

Madsen is not afraid of bulldozing his way past opponents, prompting O'Neal to call him, "Tornado, because he be knocking (expletives) out the way." Later, O'Neal decided Mad Dog had a better ring to it.

And Madsen has plenty of scars that illustrate his tenacity. There is a dark bruise under his right eye and many more covered up by his uniform. Madsen has had his teeth knocked out and incurred a broken nose or two.

"He ain't no punk," O'Neal said. "He's just a big, strong (expletive) white boy.

"He ain't scared of nothing."

On this night, Madsen wasn't afraid of anything, including the whistle. While spending some time guarding Kings forward Scot Pollard, who made 9 of 12 free throws en route to 15 points, Madsen committed two fouls in four minutes before being benched.

Madsen finished with two points on two free throws, no rebounds and four fouls in 14 minutes. The previous night against the Golden State Warriors Madsen scored five points and grabbed two rebounds in 16 minutes.

Though Jackson is pleased with Madsen, he cautioned that a rookie can do only so much his first year.

"(He's a) very dogged player, persistent," Jackson said. "He has good skills as far as what we consider presence of mind. Stature as far as defensive alertness. Good recognition on offense. Willing to do the hard jobs. Physical player. Doesn't back down.

"It should help us out (having Madsen and Grant). You can't count on a rookie. Whatever we get from Mark is an added blessing to us, but we have hopes that he can play some minutes and help the team."

And when Madsen is on the bench, he won't have a Beanie Baby on top of his head.