Off-Season Moves Net Clippers a Fresh Start

When Mike Dunleavy signed on in July to coach the Clippers, some questioned his sanity. The former Laker coach knew he faced a monumental challenge in taking over a team that had one winning record in 24 seasons.

Then he lost his top center.

And his starting point guard.

And his No. 1 small forward.

And his best shooter.

Before summer’s end, he had also learned that the club’s top draft pick, a potential starter, had been sidelined because of a back injury.

Michael Olowokandi, Andre Miller, Lamar Odom and Eric Piatkowski, all having departed via free agency, will be elsewhere this morning when the Clippers open training camp at L.A. Southwest College.

Rookie Chris Kaman, taken sixth in the June draft, will be there. But the 7-foot center from Central Michigan will be limited to light duty as the Clippers, or at least those with three years or fewer of NBA experience, begin preparations for the club’s 20th season in Los Angeles. Full camp opens Tuesday in Palm Desert.

The Clippers, who finished 17 games out last season, have failed to reach the playoffs in all but three of their seasons since moving from San Diego, where they missed the playoffs in all six seasons after moving from Buffalo, N.Y. And there’s no reason to believe they are ready to buck the trend.

Still, there are whispers of a new day dawning in Clipperdom.

Owner Donald Sterling, whose previous high-water Clipper contract was a five-year, $15-million deal for Piatkowski, ponied up $124 million over six years to retain designated franchise cornerstones Elton Brand and Corey Maggette, matching offer sheets from the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz.

He committed $10 million over four years to bring in Dunleavy, who took the Lakers to the NBA finals in 1991, took the Portland Trail Blazers twice to the Western Conference finals and was the NBA’s coach of the year in 1999.

“We’re starting to do something right,� said Maggette, whose six-year, $42-million deal was finalized July 29, 10 days after Brand’s six-year, $82-million deal was put in place. “I think just signing Mike Dunleavy is a new direction, because he’s a person who did well in his career as a player as well as a coach.

“Having him here only shows that the Clippers want high standards.�

Wanting and achieving, of course, often are mutually exclusive.

Dunleavy talked this week of “gaping holes� and other “question marks� in the roster. While Olowokandi, et al., departed, as did backup center Sean Rooks, only free agents Eddie House, a 6-foot-1 guard, and Olden Polynice, a 38-year-old center who did not play in the NBA the last two seasons, were added.

The biggest hole in the lineup was left by the 7-0, 270-pound Olowokandi, a former No. 1 draft pick who took a lesser offer to sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves after five seasons as the Clippers’ starting center.

Besides Polynice, who spent time last season with the Harlem Globetrotters, Dunleavy’s options at center include undersized Melvin Ely, a probable starter in his second NBA season, the unproven Wang Zhizhi and, eventually, Kaman.

“That’s a tough position to not have figured out yet, particularly in the West,� Dunleavy said this week.

Before opening the season Oct. 30 against the Seattle SuperSonics in Tokyo, the Clippers would like to add another center and a swingman who could alternate between shooting guard and small forward, spelling the probable starters at those positions, Quentin Richardson and Maggette.

The Clippers, about $8 million under the salary cap after declining last month to match the Heat’s offer sheet to Odom, could plug the “gaping holes� Dunleavy spoke of by shoring up those positions.

As for the question marks, they start at point guard, where Keyon Dooling and Marko Jaric will vie for the starting spot vacated by Miller, who signed with the Denver Nuggets. The Clippers fell short in a bid to sign Gilbert Arenas, who wound up with the Washington Wizards.

“We need to find out what they can do,� Dunleavy said of his still-developing point guards, neither of them yet 25. “So, instead of going out and doing a Band-Aid deal and bringing in a veteran, I’d prefer to throw these guys into the fire, teach them how to play the position and see if we can create something here.�

He views the season similarly. Let’s see what we can make of this. With his young and undersized roster, he’d like to play an up-tempo style, emphasizing defensive pressure.

His ideal scenario would be to use a nine-man rotation, but only Brand, Maggette, Ely, Dooling, Jaric, Richardson and Chris Wilcox, a second-year forward who played 46 games last season, appear locked into place.

“The other two spots are really up for grabs,� Dunleavy said.

With the Clippers, of course, rarely are all the pieces in place.