MARQUES JOHNSON IS ON THE REBOUND : After Big Trade Last Season, Clipper Forward Ecperienced a Nightmare; Now He’s Awake

Marques Johnson, cradling the ball casually in his left hand, was already in flight toward the basket for a seemingly unobstructed layup when two bulky Seattle SuperSonics crossed the lane and blocked his path.

Johnson, quickly shifting both the ball and his body to the right, reached around the defenders and deftly flipped the ball off the board and into the basket.

From takeoff to landing, the Clippers’ flying forward had traveled about six feet forward and three feet sideways.

Before those two bewildered SuperSonics knew what had hit them--or, rather, what had not hit them--Johnson was halfway down the court and had probably forgotten what an extraordinary move he had just completed.

Days later, though, Clipper Coach Don Chaney still had not forgotten. Chaney was struggling to describe Johnson’s move when another thought struck him.

“Last season, the ball probably would have dropped off Marques’ foot and gone out of bounds on that play,” Chaney said, smiling.

Last season. Marques Johnson would rather not hear about last season anymore.

Adversity hit Johnson early and often last season and didn’t let up until his scoring average had been reduced to a career-low 16.4 points and his self-confidence and reputation around the National Basketball Assn. had fallen even lower.

“There were times when I wished I could’ve just closed my eyes and the season would be over,” Johnson said. “But it seemed like it would never end.”

Three injuries, not serious but nagging enough that he never quite felt right, were Johnson’s major problems. But he also felt hurt and somewhat betrayed that the Clippers, learning in February that the Bucks had withheld information on Johnson’s previous drug problem, sought to rescind the six-player trade with Milwaukee that had brought him back to Los Angeles.

In short, Johnson’s return to his hometown after seven successful seasons in Milwaukee could have served as an updated version of “You Can Never Go Home Again.”

But now, there is a new twist to the story. Johnson, never one to walk away from challenges, is back for another season. This time, he has brought the best aspects of his game with him.

After Saturday night’s game against Utah, Johnson ranked eighth in the league in scoring with a 23.3 average and had scored more than 30 points six times. With Derek Smith still recovering from knee surgery, Johnson is about the Clippers’ only offensive threat.

At least once a game, Johnson scores on a twisting inside move through a maze of bodies that leaves opponents dazed, teammates admiring and fans gasping.

“I’ve had many people say to me, ‘Man, I didn’t know you could play like that,’ ” Johnson says. “I think, ‘You should have seen me in Milwaukee.’ ”

Once again, people are talking basketball--not drugs or lawsuits--with Johnson, which makes it a lot easier for him to focus on his game.

And when Johnson is on top of his game, there aren’t many small forwards who are comparable.

Many suspected that Johnson, who will be 30 in February, would be unable to regain his form after misplacing it last season, but his play so far suggests that he has made it all the way back.

“He’s playing at as high a level as he did in his last couple of All-Star years with us,” said Milwaukee Coach Don Nelson, after Johnson had scored 23 points and sunk the winning free throws against the Bucks recently. “He’s got his whole life together, and it shows.”

Said Laker Coach Pat Riley, after watching Johnson score 34 points: “There’s no question about Marques’ skills. He’s truly one of the finest front-line players in the league.”

Chaney added: “Marques is back--all the way.”

Taking a pass in the low post with his back to the basket, Johnson faked as if he were going to turn and shoot a layup. Both Joe Kleine, Sacramento’s 6-foot 11-inch rookie center, and forward Otis Thorpe left their feet.

Still with his back turned, Johnson flipped the ball over his right shoulder and drew a foul on Kleine. Johnson didn’t need to look to know if he had made the shot. The crowd reaction told him.

A basketball seems no larger than a grapefruit when it is in Marques Johnson’s grasp. Last season, though, the ball must have seemed considerably larger and more awkward, something he had to lug around.

“If I had taken the ball to the basket last season, I’d say 8 times out of 10 it would slip out of my hand and I’d have to grope for control,” Johnson said. “At the beginning of the year, I’d make my normal moves and I’d figure the ball was right where I had dribbled it, but it was actually three feet behind me.”

Johnson had never experienced such a phenomenon. But then, he also had never before experienced a broken bone in his shooting hand, which he had suffered during the exhibition season.

“It wasn’t until the last month of the season when I felt comfortable with it,” Johnson said. “People don’t realize how it affects you.”

Unfortunately for Johnson, the broken hand was only the start of a maddening string of injuries that limited his effectiveness and, more important, his confidence.

He missed six games with a hamstring injury in December, then four more with a sprained ankle in January. None of the injuries was particularly debilitating, but Johnson said he never felt fully healthy.

“To me, the broken hand was the biggest setback,” he said. “I couldn’t grip the ball correctly until the last month because at every practice and game I’d reinjure it just with normal contact. That started a chain of negatives that affected my game.”

For the first time since his rookie training camp in Milwaukee in 1978, Johnson began to doubt his ability. He thought that the critics might be right, that at 29 his best years were behind him and his body could no longer do the things he had asked of it in his early 20s.

“All the injuries and outside problems definitely affected my confidence,” Johnson said. “I felt like my body was falling apart. I thought, ‘Maybe I have lost it.’ I was a half-step slow last year, and I was over-thinking too much, trying not to make a turnover or miss a shot so much that it caused the exact opposite effect.”

Said Chaney: “I’d say about 75% of Marques’ problems last season were directly related to his injuries. I’ve seen a lot of guys have three injuries in a season like Marques had and not play nearly as well as he did.”

Because Johnson’s ball handling was shaky, opponents sagged to the middle and forced Johnson to take jump shots. When they wouldn’t fall, Johnson’s game basically was reduced to filling the lanes on fast breaks and posting low on opponents his size.

Once the regular season ended in mid-April, Johnson sat and considered what he would need to do to save his career. Certainly, he knew he would have to be in better physical condition in hopes of avoiding stress-related injuries. But Johnson also decided that he needed go back to basics.

With the help of Malek Abdul-Mansour, UCLA’s basketball strength coach, Johnson, Kiki Vandeweghe and occasionally Jamaal Wilkes worked out at least four hours a day during the summer. Johnson did extensive weight training, shooting drills and rudimentary ball handling drills he probably hadn’t worked on since his UCLA days.

It was quite a departure from Johnson’s usual summer routine of tennis, interval work on the track and occasional pickup games. Never before had his time off been so structured.

“Under normal conditions, it would’ve been tough,” Johnson said. “But last season wasn’t normal for me. If I had averaged my normal 20 points and 7 rebounds, then I wouldn’t have had the impetus to do that all summer. I just felt it was time to get back to the basics and try to get back to where I was before last season.”

So far, Johnson has done just that. One reason he is scoring again is the absence of Smith, normally the Clippers’ scoring leader. But Johnson’s overall game was strong even before Smith left the lineup and Chaney switched Johnson to big guard.

The game Johnson credits as an offensive turning point was his 33-point effort against Chicago Oct. 31. From the start of the season, Johnson has guarded the opponent’s toughest forward and also contributed in rebounding.

“It all came together in the Chicago game, not only scoring but court awareness,” Johnson said. “It’s like when I get in a predicament with the ball down low; it’s being aware of where you are and discerning what’s happening elsewhere on the court.”

There is more to Johnson’s game than scoring. Chaney often talks about Johnson’s knowledge of the game and anticipation of what might happen.

For example, with the Clippers leading Milwaukee, 114-112, with six seconds left, Buck guard Jeff Lamp intentionally missed a free throw and tried to grab the rebound. Johnson saw it coming, though, and exploded back toward Lamp and up for the rebound. He picked off the ball, was fouled and sank two free throws to ensure the Clipper victory.

“What I really like about Marques is that he’s a winner and he has a lot of pride in his game,” Chaney said. “When he missed that shot against Houston (which would have sent the game to overtime), he was very upset, even though (Kurt) Nimphius got the rebound and scored.

“Marques is very sensitive about his game. He cares about what people say about him and his game. I think you’re seeing a guy who has a lot to prove. He wants to prove it to the Clippers that it was a good trade--the Bucks, the fans and to himself.”

Four arms and two bodies belonging to the Chicago Bulls stood in Johnson’s way underneath the basket, but it didn’t figure to matter since Cedric Maxwell’s lob pass was sailing out of bounds, anyway.

In a fluid motion, Johnson jumped and gathered the ball in his left hand. Seemingly suspended in midair, he guided the ball into the basket, turning what had looked like a certain turnover into two points.

A wry smile spread across Johnson’s normally stoic face when it was suggested that he seems infinitely happier this season.

“When you think back on it, I never had any reason to smile,” Johnson said.

It was tough enough that Johnson had to cope with the residual effects of injuries last season. The previous drug problem, which he had sought to keep private but which was made public in a story last February in The Times, made things tougher.

In that story, Clipper President Alan Rothenberg said that the club would have “thought twice” about completing the trade had he known of Johnson’s stay at St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Center in Minneapolis in July, 1982.

A few months later, Rothenberg followed up those comments with legal proceedings. The Clippers filed suit in a Los Angeles federal court, seeking to rescind the trade or, as an alternative, receive compensation from the Bucks.

The Clippers grudgingly agreed to settle the matter in arbitration. Two weeks ago, NBA Commissioner David Stern denied the Clippers’ motion.

Like any employee scorned by his boss, Johnson said he felt unwanted and uncomfortable. But it wasn’t until the Clippers’ media day in September that Johnson first commented on the suit.

“I feel like my name’s been dragged through the mud over this,” he said. “It’s hurt myself and my family.”

Yet, Johnson says he has accepted the Clippers’ action and, remarkably, says he can understand their reasoning.

“They gave up a great player in Terry Cummings and felt they were shortchanged,” Johnson said. “But that whole move to rescind the trade, I didn’t feel they took into account the human factor, my feelings. At the same time, this sport is a business and I accept that.

“It’s tough, but if you can separate the personal and business standpoints in your mind, it won’t bother your game.”

The fact is, though, that it profoundly affected Johnson last season.

Clipper forward Junior Bridgeman, who played with Johnson in Milwaukee, said: “When you go through an ordeal as he did, I’m sure it creeps into your mind all the time. But Marques is strong enough that none of us ever outwardly saw it bothering him.”

Chaney said: “I can’t think of any other person I know who could’ve handled all that under such control. Marques never complained and a lot of guys would have.”

Instead, Johnson has used that bitter experience to fuel his motivation. He married over the summer, and his wife credits a renewed family life for part of his stability. Still, he said, self-pride is what made him work so hard.

“Yeah, I wanted to show people I can still play,” Johnson said. “But mostly, I wanted to get back to where I thought I should be. Last season was difficult, frustrating and tough. But going through that makes you appreciate the good times even more.”

The good times, to be sure, are back. Johnson doesn’t know how long they will last, but he definitely appears better prepared to face the bad times, should they return.

“Last season was a test we all are put through, a lesson learned,” Johnson said. “I made it through.”