The NBA : Micheal Ray Richardson Has Coach Wohl Climbing the Wall

In his rookie year as an NBA coach, Dave Wohl probably appreciates more than ever the three tranquil seasons he spent as Pat Riley’s assistant with the Lakers, very much unlike the Nets, who have been a team in turmoil since around Christmas.

Wohl, a boyish-looking 37, has seen a whole bunch of gray hair sprouting from his head lately. Some have been caused by injuries to key players, but most of Wohl’s gray hair has been provided courtesy of Micheal Ray Richardson.

A talented but extremely troubled player, Richardson’s career has been marked by four separate stays in drug rehabilitation clinics. This is Wohl’s first chance to coach Richardson, and Wohl said it hasn’t been very easy reaching him.

“I criticize him and I praise him,” Wohl said. “Whatever it seems he needs. His personal problems, I try to stay out of as long as they don’t affect him on the court. When they inflict problems on the rest of the team, then it’s time to deal with him.”

Since just after Christmas, Richardson’s personal life has been in shambles.

He disappeared for a couple of days, then turned himself in to league drug counselors and entered a rehabilitation clinic in Van Nuys, where he stayed for three weeks. He was reinstated Jan. 20.

Two weeks ago, Richardson was ordered to undergo a drug urinalysis by the league after failing to keep a doctor’s appointment.

Richardson, a two-time loser under the NBA’s three-strikes-and-you’re-out drug policy, passed the urinalysis.

Richardson served a one-game team suspension, but two days later, his wife received a court order restraining Richardson from going to their home in New Jersey after they had an argument. The couple had been separated.

Last Thursday, apparently unaware of the restraining order, Richardson was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife when he returned to their home in Mahwah, N.J., after a game. Police said Richardson did not actually strike his wife, and he was quickly released from custody.

Wohl isn’t so sure there is going to be any quick resolution to Richardson’s situation.

“A big dark cloud has been following us around, hanging over our head,” Wohl said.

And in the meantime, Wohl has even managed to start a feud with the New York area press. Very outspoken in the press about Richardson, Wohl said he didn’t really intend to be.

“About 90% of what I said was taken out of context,” he said. “The only thing I said that was quoted accurately was that he was chronologically 30, but acted about 15. Everything else was exaggerated or inaccurate.”

Wohl denied that Net General Manager Lewis Schaffel had muzzled him.

“Nobody can do that,” Wohl said. “This is a free country. I’m entitled to say what I want, within reason. After all, this problem is not going to just go away.”

Richardson declined to be interviewed.

Are you ready for the latest from Edgar Jones? You remember Edgar. He is the Cleveland Cavalier player who recently talked at great lengths about why he will no longer do interviews.

Edgar spoke about his development as a player and why he will no longer talk about it:

“I didn’t develop as a player, I evolved. First, I was a defensive specialist. Then, I incorporated the shot block and then I added dunking and jump-shooting into the mix.

“I came up with a dominating, exterminating, germinating, pulsating machine. One bad dude. But now I’m de-evolving back into a defensive player. This teams needs defense and I’m what you call a stalwart, an anchor.

“That’s why you’ll never see me quoted again. Defensive players don’t talk.”

Things are not good in Portland, where the Trail Blazers are losing games as quickly as they play them. And that’s not all.

Center Sam Bowie said he is out for the season, even if the team refuses to announce it publicly, and Coach Jack Ramsay’s job may be in jeopardy.

Bowie played in only 38 games this season and is apparently going to have bone graft surgery on his shin just as soon as the Trail Blazers admit there’s no way he can play again until it’s done.

Ramsay has a different problem that cannot be corrected by surgery, only victories.

Team owner Larry Weinberg, who strongly wishes to avoid making a coaching change, has nonetheless given Ramsay only the thinnest vote of confidence.

Ramsay, who has one year left on his contract, is one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches. He is also one of the most respected, except perhaps in Philadelphia, for when the Trail Blazers arrived at their hotel there last week, there was no reservation for him.

If the playoffs began today, only 11 of the 16 teams who would qualify have winning records.

The Lakers are the only team in the Pacific Division that has won more games than it has lost. They would play Sacramento in the first round.

The Celtics’ Bill Walton is getting more press than Larry Bird this season. Long after reporters are through talking with Bird, Walton is often still surrounded by the media.

“That’s because Bill talks a lot slower,” Bird explained.

Walton, whose access to the press while at UCLA was limited by Coach John Wooden, said he’s finally getting used to all the attention.

“There has been a tremendous amount of publicity on me,” he said. “That is the one part of the game I was totally unprepared for at the beginning of my career. Unfortunately, I did a remarkably bad job of it.”