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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Madsen Drafted by Lakers
(Green Is Out, Madsen's In)
Los Angeles Times 29Jun00 S2
By Tim Kawakami: Times Staff Writer
Lakers: Popular veteran is waived, hours before team drafts Stanford
forward and trades for Hightower.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Stanford Basketball star Mark Madsen, an
LDS returned missionary known as "Mad Dog" for his unrelenting
competitiveness on-court, was chosen by the Los Angeles Lakers in
the1st round of yesterday's NBA draft. The Lakers picked Madsen as an
eventual replacement for long-time Lakers star A.C. Green.
The Lakers surprised many when they waived Green just hours before
using their first round pick to choose Madsen, in what is clearly
more than a symbolic gesture. Madsen was as surprised as anyone, "How
could anyone fill A.C. Green's shoes?" he said. "He's meant so much
to the Lakers over the course of his career, you know? All I can say
is I'm going to go in there and do what I can do and not try to do
things I cannot do. The Lakers have got everything intact and I'm
just going to go in there and do what they ask me to do."
Madsen will have to earn a place on the team, fighting hard for
minutes on the court like any rookie. And Green could also be back on
the Lakers, but probably at less than the $1.9 million for 2000-2001
the Lakers would have to pay if he hadn't been waived. In contrast,
Madsen will probably get about $2 million over three years, given his
draft slot.
The Laker's Executive Vice President, Jerry West, said that the team
was impressed with Madsen for the intensity of his play, "The one
thing that I will impress upon you, this might be the toughest guy in
the whole draft," West said. "He knows how to defend, likes to throw
his body around, so we probably needed a player like that. . . .
There were some other people we liked a lot. But I think this more
fits our need--it kind of addresses the A.C. Green situation." West
also said the Lakers got maturity when they picked Madsen, at 24,
Madsen is two years older than most seniors in the draft, because he
served an LDS mission.
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