Roberts Returns From Suspension

By CHRIS BAKER

Oct. 19, 1996 12 AM PT

Clipper center Stanley Roberts, suspended and fined for insubordination on Oct. 8, was reinstated Friday.

Roberts was suspended after shouting profanities at Coach Bill Fitch after a practice Oct. 7. Roberts apologized in a meeting with General Manager Elgin Baylor and Fitch on Thursday night.

“He’s got a short leash on him because I just plain-out told him that his whole agenda has got to be basketball,” Fitch said. “You can only suspend a guy so long. It doesn’t mean that you can’t bring him back and suspend him if he does the same thing again. He’s well aware of how I feel. I expect him to do his job, and he says he’s going to do it, so we’ll see.”

Said Roberts: “Coach Fitch said what he had to say, and I said what I had to say. I regret what happened. It’s just something that happened, and now it’s time to put it to bed and move on.”

Roberts, who reported to training camp out of shape and overweight, said he was in fair condition after practicing for the first time in 10 days Friday at UC Irvine.

“He’s not in as good a shape as he was when he left,” Fitch said. “He’s going to run, run, run. It may be like he’s out for the track team.”

Fitch said Roberts probably won’t play in the Clippers’ four remaining exhibition games, including tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings at the Sports Arena, because he doesn’t want Roberts, who hasn’t played a full season since 1992-93, to get hurt.

Oscar Shoenfelt, Roberts’ agent, has said he’ll file a grievance with the players’ association to dispute the fines, $4,500 for each exhibition game missed, and $1,000 to $2,500 for each practice missed.

Fitch on Wednesday’s 95-60 exhibition loss to the Atlanta Hawks: “I’ll tell you something, it’s got to be as bad as this group or maybe any group I’ve ever had play, and yet we didn’t have the worst quarter [the Hawks scored seven points in the second quarter].

“I looked up in the middle of the third quarter and we’re down seven. I said, ‘This doesn’t look like an NBA basketball game.’ ”