Diaz makes sure to check the paperwork

The debate over “clerical-gate” pushed forward Saturday.

It stems from Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic when guard Guillermo Diaz, recently signed to a 10-day contract, was left off the active roster.

Instead, Richie Frahm, who had been waived, was listed in what was termed a clerical error.

Coach Mike Dunleavy argued vehemently before the game with referee Joe Forte that Diaz should be allowed to suit up because the team’s three listed inactive players (Paul Davis, Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston) were accurate.

“I said ‘Look, the three inactive list guys were correct, so therefore everybody else who was not on the inactive list should be on the active list,’ ” Dunleavy said.

The officiating staff wouldn’t bend, although a day earlier the New York Knicks listed Renaldo Balkman twice on their active list instead of Quentin Richardson in a game against the Chicago Bulls. After a debate, officials allowed Richardson to play.

Lost in the incident was the chance for Diaz, the team’s second-round draft selection last season, to suit up for his first NBA game.

He took it all in stride.

“They told me five minutes before the tipoff,” he said. “But things happen and I didn’t expect it, but it happens. I just stay positive.”

Although he did have one errand to run before Saturday’s game.

“I made sure today that I was on the list,” he said.

However, he didn’t play.

Sam Cassell of the Clippers frequently lets it be known that he hopes to coach once he retires as a player. Few point guards have made as seamless a transition in that department as the Dallas Mavericks’ Avery Johnson.

“It’s a different lifestyle,” Johnson said. “There’s no getting to the office at 10 o’clock for an 11 o’clock practice and then showering and going home and there is no real turning it off. I was on vacation in Italy this summer, drawing up plays on a napkin and my wife was asking me, ‘What the heck are you doing?’ and I said, ‘I am getting ready for training camp.’

“[Cassell’s] doing a good job of getting it out there and letting everybody know that it is something that he is interested in. He watches films. He’s really into the coaching craft of it.

“He’s one guy that I think has the potential to do it once he retires.”

Line of the evening:

A reporter from Germany asked Dunleavy during his pregame news conference whether the Clippers had any special defensive schemes in mind for Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks.

“We have all sorts of special strategies against him,” Dunleavy responded, before joking: “You are from Germany. We wouldn’t tell you.”

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com