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Clippers hope to continue upward swing
Updated: Thursday October 11, 2001 10:19 PM
By Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated PALM DESERT, Calif. -- A freelance documentary crew has been filming the Clippers during the team's training camp at College of the Desert outside Palm Springs, Calif. The running joke is that if and when the project ever comes to fruition, it will have to be rated PG in order for the principals to be able to watch it. Giving a new dimension to the term youth brigade, the Clips' starting five could well be younger than the lineup of next spring's NCAA champions. Six of the team's top players -- Darius Miles, Lamar Odom, Elton Brand, Keyon Dooling, Quentin Richardson and Corey Maggette -- are between 20 and 22. And none of them are rookies. "Sometimes you start to reference something and then catch yourself," says assistant coach Dennis Johnson. "'Wait, they were born in the '80s, they won't know that.'" Aside from the one-liners about age, the Clippers are no longer the butt of many jokes. Deemed the worst franchise in sports history by a certain sports magazine as recently as last season, the Clippers are suddenly a team to be taken seriously. Though L.A. finished modestly at 31-51 last season, the club won more than twice as many games as they did the year before; had a winning record at the Staples Center; and played exceptionally well at the end of the campaign, beating playoff teams like Sacramento, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. "We took that with us going into the summer," says Odom, the versatile swingman who averaged a team-high 17.2 points and 7.8 rebounds and was second in assists. "We're thinking playoffs for sure." Odom's pronouncement is particularly reasonable after a draft-day larceny whereby the Clips heisted star forward Brand from the Bulls in exchange for unproven 18-year-old Tyson Chandler, the second pick in the draft. "That was obviously a big move for us," says coach Alvin Gentry. "Getting a 20/10 guy, a former [co-]Rookie of the Year, is just another step." How big a step depends in part on how well Gentry can continue to coax consistency out of his kiddie corps. The exciting nucleus of young players may have redeemed owner Donald Sterling and vice president Elgin Baylor for a decade worth of futility, penurious management and lousy personnel moves. But as Gentry puts it, "We're not the Lakers just quite yet." The Clips lost 10 overtime games last season and a number of others after surrendering fourth-quarter leads. It is crucial that the young guns continue to learn how to win and keep their confidence in the waning stretches of games. So, too, will the "veterans" play a vital role in the success of the team. Can 26-year-old Jeff McInnis, a former CBA castoff who won the starting point guard job last season, continue his strong play and satiate a gaggle of scorers? Can 26-year-old center Michael Olowakandi, heretofore known as a first-round bust, continue his slow but steady improvement? Can Eric Piatkowski, a doddering reserve at age 31, build on last season, in which he shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range and spread the floor for slashers like Odom and Miles? "We've been stressing this all summer," says Johnson. "To build on last season is going to take a total team effort." Regardless of whether the Clips meet Odom's expectations and make the postseason for the first time in a decade, this will be among the league's most exciting teams. The Staples Center will sell out for games involving teams other than the Lakers; NBC will broadcast three Clips games this season; and fans in the know are buying tickets to watch Miles, Odom and Brand. As Piatkowski puts it: "This isn't the old Clippers. You guys are going to have to find someone else to pick on." Memo to the New Jersey Nets: It's on. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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