The Nba

All the Right Moves
The Clippers' surprise selection of Darius Miles may pay big dividends

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."

It was assumed that they wouldn't have the guts to oppose agent David Falk, who had discouraged the Clippers from spending their No. 3 pick on Miles, a senior from East St Louis (Ill.) High and the draft's most provocative prospect. At 6'9" and 202 pounds, with dazzling athletic talent, a playmaker's mentality and perhaps a few inches of growth left in his bones, Miles has been compared to Kevin Garnett. But Miles will need to be brought along in a nurturing environment, which is precisely why Falk did not want him to go to L.A.

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.