HE TALKS A GOOD GAME FOX LOSES HIS PLAYING TIME, HAS TO SETTLE FOR ROLE OF SPOKESMAN.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

As Rick Fox nears the end of his NBA career, it seems more appropriate to borrow terms from Hollywood instead of the sports world to discuss his role with the Lakers this season.

In Hollywood, where Fox will most likely make a seamless transition after he retires from basketball, a career is finished not when the audience hates you, but when they forget about you.

Irrelevancy, they say, is a fate worse than failure.

And Fox, a cornerstone of three Lakers championships, could beheading down that path.

His best moments nowadays come off the court in what has become his featured role as team spokesman. After a year of untimely injuries and bad luck, Fox has found himself near the end of the Lakers bench during this postseason.

He's averaging 8.8 minutes and 0.7 points a game in the playoffsoff the bench after being a 20-to-30 minute starter during the regular season and for most of his career with the Lakers.

With his minutes diminished to below even role-player status,Fox's most important contributions to the Lakers' 2004 playoff runhave come off the court.

After the Lakers' disappointing 98-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, it was Fox who explained the Lakers' failure to close out the series while his teammates left without speaking.

Never mind that Fox had only played five minutes and scored two points in that game - which actually wasn't bad considering he hasn't played in four of the Lakers' 17 playoff games.

But to those who have followed the Lakers during their run of four NBA Finals appearances in five seasons, it hardly seemed out of the ordinary to see Fox playing the role of team spokesman.

When the questions got too hard, or maybe just annoying, Fox was always there to shield superstar teammates Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O'Neal.

Gentlemanly, articulate and respected by his teammates, Fox has been the calm center of the team, on and off the court.

With the Lakers, Fox regularly drew the defensive assignment against the opponent's top scorer and scored just enough to where opponents couldn't forget about him. He also ran coach Phil Jackson's complicated triangle offense better than almost anyone on the team.

``There's some players that get special attention in this league,'' Jackson said, ``And he's one of the few people we have on this team that really can zero in on an individual and take him out of an offensive game.''

But Fox missed the first three months of the season while recovering from a torn tendon in his foot. He started 34 games, averaging 22 minutes and 4.8 points, until suffering a dislocated right thumb late in the regular season.

After missing so many games with the foot injury, Fox was eager to return, but it was quickly evident he came back too soon.

The thumb bothered him when he shot, and Fox was not aggressive on offense - and was soon replaced in the starting lineup by Devean George. Since then, he has fallen out of Jackson's rotation, even though his thumb is mostly healed.

At times during the playoffs, the Lakers scrapped the triangle offense and the minutes usually reserved for Fox went to younger, more athletic players like George and Kareem Rush.

In the NBA Finals, Fox figures to see more playing time in what has the makings of a defensive-minded series.

But no matter what happens over the next few weeks, Fox and the Lakers will have some decisions to make in the offseason.

Though he is under contract for next year at around $4.9 million, Fox had openly talked about retirement if the Lakers' core group of Bryant, O'Neal and Jackson is broken up.

``Yeah, I want to be back,'' Fox said.

``I'm under contract, so unless they were to trade me, or I'm left unprotected (in the upcoming expansion draft) and I'm taken by the Charlotte Bobcats or something, or I retire, other than that, I don't plan on playing anywhere else.

``I plan on playing here and doing whatever role is needed with the Lakers. I spent half the season rehabbing, so I didn't really have a full opportunity to get myself prepared for the season to help this team the way I'd hoped.''

But as soon as he does retire, Fox has plenty of options.

In 2003, Fox played the role of Clyde ``Sweetfeet'' Livingston in the movie ``Holes.'' In 2002, he became a spokesman for Ford. His most critically acclaimed acting role was from 1997-98 and 2001 when he played Jackson Vayhue, an accused murderer, on HBO's prison drama ``Oz.''

According to Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Institute at the University of Oregon, much of Fox's commercial and acting appeal are tied to his basketball career, good looks and high-profile marriage to singer/actress Vanessa Williams.

But Swangard said he wouldn't be surprised if Fox went on to have a successful career in entertainment similar to other charismatic former athletes like ex-UCLA quarterback Mark Harmon.

``He's got somewhat of a storybook life that a lot of people aspire to,'' Swangard said. ``He's a good-looking guy with a wonderful wife ... who's living this pretty star-studded life.

``In the endorsement game, when you have somebody like (Fox) who can generate that crossover appeal, that's golden. I would expect to see a halo effect with him in the first few years after he's done with basketball, but after that, he's got to find a way to stay relevant.''

Which, in an odd way, is the same task Fox will have to perform with the Lakers over the next two weeks.

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Rick Fox (arms raised) has spent more time than usual on the sideline this season because of injuries, which contributed to the loss of his starting job.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

NBA FINALS: LAKERS vs. PISTONS: Best-of-seven series