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Inside the NBA
Posted: Tuesday July 04, 2000 01:58 PM Suns' Surprising Pick | Around the Rim The Clippers' surprise selection of Darius Miles may pay big dividends By Ian Thomsen
A Western Conference general manager was on the phone with a well-known agent a week before the June 28 draft. "Do you think the Clippers will pick Darius Miles?" the G.M. asked. "They should," the agent replied, "but they won't have the guts."
Contrary to reports, Falk says he was never planning to send Miles to Europe if the Clippers chose him -- as he did to free Danny Ferry from their grasp in 1989. Nor could Falk frighten L.A. with the threat that Miles would depart at the first opportunity: Under the latest collective bargaining agreement, teams sign first-round picks to three-year deals, hold an option for the fourth year and have the right of first refusal in the fifth. The best Falk could do was prevent the Clippers from working out Miles, and threaten to obstruct any sign-and-trade involving his client Maurice Taylor, a Clippers free-agent forward. "I knew a week before the draft that the Clippers were going to take Darius," says Falk, who believes team owner Donald Sterling was hooked after both Michael Jordan and Jerry West endorsed Miles as a future star. All was not yet lost. The Clippers agreed on draft day to select Miles and then ship him to the Magic for a package including the No. 10 pick and Iowa State power forward Marcus Fizer, provided Orlando selected Fizer with the fifth choice. That trade collapsed when the Bulls snatched Fizer at No. 4, even though he plays the same position as co-Rookie of the Year Elton Brand. "From what I'm hearing, picking Fizer was a block by Chicago," says an Eastern Conference G.M. "It's like Chicago was in a nuclear arms race with Orlando, and the Bulls decided they'd rather have Miles be in the Western Conference than be playing for their rival." Coach Tim Floyd, who before coming to the Bulls had recruited Fizer and coached him as a freshman at Iowa State, says the 6' 9" Fizer has the ability to play small forward when he isn't substituting for Brand in the low post. He may well fill that role; nonetheless, rival executives believe the Bulls will unload Fizer for an established player if they can't land their free agents of choice this summer. The same could be true of Michigan point guard Jamal Crawford, the No. 8 pick acquired from the Cavaliers for Chicago's seventh choice, Texas center Chris Mihm, as part of a prearranged deal. In the second round the Bulls stockpiled point guards A.J. Guyton and Khalid El-Amin, which may provide them with flexibility if they ship Crawford. Apparently the Bulls didn't want Miles badly enough to do what was necessary to move up. Their interview with Miles did not go well. He complained that Chicago questioned his intelligence. According to Falk, general manager Jerry Krause also told Miles that he would not be permitted to wear his hair in cornrows if he played for the Bulls. ("Are we going to pass a rule now that says NBA executives can't be overweight because they are an embarrassment to their team?" says Falk, taking a shot at Krause's girth.) Falk would not say how Miles felt about the rule, though he said that Miles's mother, Ethel, was "very offended." "It was an inappropriate thing to say in the year 2000," Falk says. "If you were to go to any summer basketball camp and see players who are 17 or 18 years old, a high percentage of them would be wearing cornrows or would have mousse in their hair. But I want to make it clear that I don't think Jerry Krause in any way, shape or form was attempting to be insulting." In the end, Falk didn't feel too bad about Miles's draft-day fate. With the No. 18 choice the Clippers wisely selected Miles's best friend, swingman Quentin Richardson of DePaul, also a Falk client. In between, the Clippers completed a backup trade with Orlando in which they gained forwards Corey Maggette and Derek Strong; No. 10 pick Keyon Dooling, a point guard from Missouri; and an undisclosed amount of cash for a future first-round pick. In forward Lamar Odom, center Michael Olowokandi and its new haul, Los Angeles has youth and athleticism. A lot can go wrong for a team so lacking in experience -- L.A. could put out a lineup of college-age players -- especially when that team is the Clippers. But for the first time in aeons they have players who are reasonably happy to be there. Miles, who was proud to displace his idol, Garnett, as the highest-drafted player out of high school, showed no signs of disappointment at being a Clipper. Also, Richardson has been friends with Dooling and Maggette for years. Falk has now agreed to cooperate on a sign-and-trade for Taylor, in part because what's good for the Clippers is now good for his clients. He is also recommending a coach. "They should hire John Lucas," Falk says of his former client. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Toronto's New
Direction: In other NBA cities the hiring of 6-year-old Lenny Wilkens as coach might be seen as a step backward. Why hire yesterday's news when recently retired players such as Doc Rivers, Byron Scott and Scott Skiles are in vogue? But that's not the case in Toronto, where Wilkens is being hailed as a savior. The league's alltime winningest coach has brought instant stability to an expansion team that has gone through three first-time coaches in five years. "I'm really happy about Lenny coming here," says Raptors power forward-center Antonio Davis. "It's hard to gain respect around the league, and it's so easy to lose it. With one mistake, all your credibility can be shot." Davis had good reason to worry about the Raptors. Their bright future seemed to be crumbling under Butch Carter even as he was coaching the team to its first playoff appearance last spring. Carter's ludicrous filing of a $5 million defamation suit against former Raptor Marcus Camby, which he quickly withdrew, was the least of his problems. More damaging was the mutiny he inspired among the Toronto veterans by citing their lack of leadership and cutting back some of their minutes. Then, in an attempt to quell dissent among the players, Carter shamelessly asked his bosses to grant him the title of general manager. That move was perceived as an attempt to undermine vice president and G.M. Glen Grunwald; it also gave free-agent swingman Tracy McGrady more reason to leave this summer for the Bulls or the Magic. As Davis sat courtside watching the Finals last month, he realized just how far he had moved from Indiana in the last year -- his former Pacers teammates had earned the respect of the league, while his current team was threatening to become a laughingstock. Though he admits he had serious issues with Carter, Davis says many in Toronto jumped to the inaccurate conclusion that he was calling for the coach's head. "I never said I wanted Butch to be fired, and I had two or three conversations with Butch when I told him that," Davis says. The June 21 hiring of Wilkens helped put the Raptors on the offensive. Grunwald drafted Michigan State swingman Morris Peterson partly as insurance against McGrady's departure, and next month Grunwald hopes to sign a much-needed free-agent point guard. (Anthony Carter and Mark Jackson are among the possibilities.) As for Davis, he is tentatively planning to sign a long-term deal with Toronto next summer. The next stage in the Raptors' growth will depend upon their ability to sign 23-year-old superstar Vince Carter to a long-term contract after the season. In the meantime Davis suggests that Carter must show more leadership. "Vince is going to have to be real vocal to keep this team strong," Davis says. "There was a lot of pressure on him to do so many things last season, and I guess he would show how he felt by his facial expressions and by staying after practice to work on things. But he has to be the one to say something when things aren't going right and to say, This is how things are going to be. You don't have to be 100 percent right in what you say -- the fact that you have an opinion shows leadership and that you care."
Suns' Surprising
Pick: The draft was two hours old, and Iakovos (Jake) Tsakalidis was the only player left in the greenroom. Naturally, tears were flowing -- but not from the eyes of the 7' 3", 283-pound Greek center, who had been expected to go as high as No. 8 to Cleveland until the Cavaliers and others were scared away by AEK of Athens, which faxed a legal warning to teams that Tsakalidis has four years left on his contract. "I admit, I was crying because the whole thing is so unfair," says Steve Costalas, one of Tsakalidis's Greek representatives. It might have been the first time in greenroom history that a snubbed player had to comfort his agent. For a player who had been virtually ignored by his Greek club -- he has taken fewer than five shots per game during his four-year career with AEK -- Tsakalidis, picked 25th by the Suns, is sure causing a lot of turmoil. His lead agent in Athens, Gus Polites, recently received death threats from Greek fans for trying to guide Tsakalidis to the NBA. Such threats are not to be taken lightly in Greece, where basketball fans can be soccer-style hooligans. "I was trying to tell my wife that there was nothing to worry about," Polites says. His comforting words were interrupted by a TV news report that one of the top free agents had left his Greek team for a rival club offering a better deal. "They're showing this basketball star being chased by the Greek fans in front of his own house," Polites says. "My wife is saying, 'Yeah, sure, we have nothing to worry about.'" Tsakalidis maintains that the contract is invalid because he never signed it -- that it is an illegal extension tacked on to the original deal he signed with the club in 1996, when he was 16. When Tsakalidis arrived in Phoenix last week, the Suns presented him with a T-shirt that read FREE JAKE. The hope is that he can develop to the point where he can someday contain Shaq. It helps that Phoenix coach Scott Skiles spent 1996-97 playing and coaching in Greece, where he was represented by Polites and became familiar with Tsakalidis. Not only does Skiles have insight into Tsakalidis's personality, but he also is unlikely to be intimidated by the Greek club's tactics. The Suns were considering two options. One would be to contest the contract with an arbitrator in London -- an all-or-nothing proposition that could result in the AEK deal's being upheld. The other would be to not dispute the contract's validity and to negotiate Tsakalidis's early release, meaning he might have to spend one more year at home in Greece, which is nothing to cry about. No. 1 pick Kenyon Martin of the Nets was unable to do a full workout with any teams because of his leg injury, but he did train privately for three weeks with Mavericks assistant Kiki Vandeweghe, who has been working independently with young players for five years. "He played one-on-one and did a little full-court stuff," says Vandeweghe. "He's got all the talent in the world, and he wants to be the best. If I were New Jersey, I'd be really excited." ... The Trail Blazers flew in 7' 3 1/2", 360-pound St. Mary's center Brad Millard shortly before the draft, put his size 23 EEEE feet through a CAT scan and discovered a stress fracture of the right navicular bone that was possibly two months old. After he has recovered from surgery to repair the fracture, which is expected to sideline him for four to six months, the undrafted Millard is weighing a comeback in the IBL. ... Expect Indiana to be an intriguing player in the free-agent market this summer. The Pacers not only will be looking to sign or replace six of their free agents but will also have a rare $4.5 million trade exception (a benefit of sending Antonio Davis to the Raptors last summer) that makes them one of the few teams capable of bringing in a sign-and-trade free agent after Aug. 1. ... Brian Grant opted out of the remaining four years and $42 million of his contract with the (unguaranteed) understanding that Portland will re-sign him if there are no free-agent takers or move him in a sign-and-trade.
Issue date: July 10, 2000
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