HEALING PRESENCE AFTER ABANDONING A LUCRATIVE CONTRACT WITH UTAH TO MOVE HIS AILING DAUGHTER TO L.A., DEREK FISHER FINDS HIMSELF IN A NEW ROLE: HELPING THE LAKERS RECOVER FROM A FRACTIOUS OFFSEASON AND THREE YEARS OF FRUSTATION.

Byline: ELLIOTT TEAFORD

Staff Writer

HONOLULU - Even in the dim light of a high school gym on an island 2,500 miles from home, you can tell Derek Fisher is the same player he was all those years ago.

Same high arc on his left-handed jump shot. Same thumping dribble. Same swift hands. Same stocky build. Same unwillingness to yield to opponents.

But Fisher is not the same man he was when he peeled off his Lakers uniform after the 2004 NBA Finals and sought his fortune elsewhere, however.

How could he be?

Life has changed him; events far from the basketball court have altered his outlook, made him a different person than he was during his first stint with the Lakers.

So far in training camp, he's been a better friend, a stronger teammate and a more determined leader.

He is more in tune with the feelings of others.

Fisher has Tatum to thank for that.

Of course, her ordeal is not something Fisher would wish on anyone, but that's the thing about life's unexpected twists and turns. You don't get to pick and choose what happens to you or your loved ones. Good times often go hand in hand with bad ones.

When Tatum, his infant daughter, was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer earlier this year, Fisher's life was turned upside down. He wanted what was best for her, so he made sacrifices. He accompanied her to New York for a medical procedure and then traveled halfway across the country to rejoin his Utah Jazz teammates for a playoff game 24hours later.

When he sought the best long-term care for Tatum, Fisher made a difficult decision. He asked the Jazz to release him from his contract, turning his back on a deal that guaranteed him more than $20 million so that he could move his family to a city with specialists who could better care for Tatum.

New York and Los Angeles were atop his list of cities to relocate. He retained the services of a specialist for Tatum in NewYork while doctors at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles would monitor her condition if trouble arose.

So far, so good for Tatum.

"She's doing really well," Fisher said. "She's walking and trying to talk. It's unbelievable. I don't even think she realizes what she's been through or how much she's had to endure at such a young age, but it's inspiring. It's just a perfect example of how you should just wake up every day and try to get the best out of that day because you have no earthly idea what tomorrow holds."

Over the summer, Fisher wasn't thinking much about basketball but decided to sign a three-season, $14-million contract to return to the Lakers.

It felt like he was home again. Emotions and memories flooded over him during his welcome-back news conference.

Matters had changed greatly since Fisher's first stint with the team, when the Lakers reached the NBA Finals four times in fiveseasons. The Lakers fell from among the league's elite while Fisher spent two seasons with Golden State and one with Utah.

The Lakers became a fractured team. Nerves had frayed even before Kobe Bryant's radio rants after their first-round playoff exit, and it would take a good deal of healing to bring them together again.

Fisher believed he was the man to help get it done. After all, he and Bryant entered the league together in 1996. They shared a bond that was forged by common experiences as rookies and later as veterans who won three straight NBA titles.

"There's something that's unbreakable," Bryant said. "We're inseparable. We came into the league together. We practiced together when everybody else had a day off. We go way back. So three titles later, we're inseparable.

"When we first came in the league, the rule was that if you played less than 20 minutes a game you had to go in the gym the next day after playing on back-to-back nights. So he and I were always in there. Always. We were competing, shooting and playing one-on-one. We'd challenge each other. So that's where that bond really started."

Bryant and the Lakers need the 33-year-old Fisher to be the same player he was before he signed as a free agent with the Warriors in the summer of 2004. But they need him to be a trusted teammate, too.

"He makes shots," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He's a guy who gets the ball back for you on defense by taking charges. He gets steals. There's atough aspect to his defense. He's somebody Kobe identifies as a person who can put down a shot at a critical time when people are double- teaming (Bryant). I think that he gives Kobe another option. It gives him a real comfort zone."

The Lakers also need Fisher's maturity and leadership. They need him to take some of the scoring burden from Bryant, but they also need him to mentor their young point guards, including rookie Javaris Crittenton and second-year player Jordan Farmar.

One of them might inherit Fisher's job some day.

"He's been nothing but great," Farmar said of Fisher, a player he watched intently while at Taft High of Woodland Hills and later at UCLA. "You want to surround yourself with winners. Whether it's to play good defense or make an extra pass or have enough in you to knock down the big shots, it's just the professionalism he brings."

Team Turmoil has been transformed. After only a few days in camp, Fisher believes he has helped to heal old wounds and create togetherness.

"I wasn't around the team the last three seasons, but I overheard a couple of guys talking about how this team is closer now than they have been, so that says a lot," Fisher said. "These guys have grown and they have matured. They have learned. It's not fun. Nobody enjoys it when you're not winning or when you're not playing together."

To be sure, winning solves all manner of woes, but Fisher said there should be a consistent level of respect and trust among the players through good times and bad.

"We don't have to be best friends or hang out all the time socially," he said. "But the guy next to me needs to know that I care about him and his well-being, so there's a certain level of connectedness and unity that carries over all the time."

Making the big shots, handling the playmaking duties and playing sound defense are vitally important, but there's more to Fisher's game. The role of selfless leader is not an easy one, but he believes he's the right man for the job.

"I can take the pressure off Kobe and still do the mentoring off the court," he said. "He needs the freedom to be Kobe, and I can shoulder the load as far as leadership and morale and keeping the guys together. I want Kobe to focus on dominating games and leading our team."

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (Derek Fisher)

(2 -- color) no caption (Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher)

Main photo: Ronen Ziberman/Associated Press

Inset: Lee Celano/Getty Images

Box:

DEREK FISHER'S CAREER AVERAGES