Desperate Clippers Willing to Gamble on Dailey

Some National Basketball Assn. observers say that signing guard Quintin Dailey, the troubled former Chicago Bull, is a bad risk.

But the injury-riddled Clippers are in a bad way.

So, they sent Dailey an offer sheet Tuesday.

If all goes as expected, Dailey could be in uniform as early as Sunday, when the Clippers play the Lakers at the Forum. Dailey is expected to fill in for injured guard Marques Johnson.

“We’ve offered him a contract. His agent has received it and she is reviewing it,” said Elgin Baylor, Clipper general manager, in a prepared statement. “We will talk again tomorrow.”

No terms were disclosed, but Keith Fowler, general manager of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Jets, the Continental Basketball League team that has Dailey under contract, said the Clippers were offering Dailey a three-year contract, the first year guaranteed.

“He left today and was going to Chicago to pack some personal belongings and talk to his agent,” Fowler said. “He said he wants to be suited up for the Laker game Sunday.”

Dailey was still trying to get to Chicago Tuesday night to review the offer sheet with his agent, Eloise Saperstein, daughter of the late Abe Saperstein, founder of the Harlem Globetrotters.

“I expected him at 10 p.m., but he called from the airport in Atlanta and said they had terrible weather and they couldn’t get clearance to take off,” Saperstein said. “I’m expecting him by midnight.

“I haven’t received the offer sheet from the Clippers, but when it comes, I’ll go over it with Quintin and I can tell you (then) what we’re going to do.”

Saperstein said Dailey has received offers from several other NBA teams but would not specify which ones.

Since the Bulls retain NBA rights to Dailey, if and when he presents a signed offer sheet from the Clippers to Chicago, the Bulls will have 14 days to decide if they want to (a) match the offer sheet and re-sign him, (b) match it and trade him, or (c) not match it and lose him without compensation.

Asked whether the Bulls will match the offer sheet from the Clippers, Chicago General Manager Jerry Krause said: “No comment. You can speculate all you want.”

However, a source close to the team said the Bulls plan to allow Dailey to leave.

“They’ve previously indicated that they plan to let him go,” Clipper President Alan Rothenberg said. “If all goes right, we’d like to have him here as quickly as possible.”

Dailey, 25, who has a history of drug abuse, became a free agent last summer when the Bulls released him.

Dailey was suspended by the Bulls last February after voluntarily checking into a drug rehabilitation center in Van Nuys.

It was the second time during the season that he had undergone treatment for a drug problem. Dailey also missed 31 days and 13 games at the start of the 1985-86 season while undergoing treatment.

Dailey has one more chance left under the terms of the NBA’s drug agreement with the players’ association. He will be banned from the league for two years if he violates the drug policy again, NBA officials said.

Dailey signed an $8,000 contract with the Jacksonville team last Thursday and practiced Friday and Saturday. The CBA season has yet to open.

“He’s clean and serious about playing basketball,” Fowler said. “As far as I know, he hasn’t used any drugs. He said he’s gotten away from that, and I hope he has.

“He came in with a very good attitude. I’m sorry to see him go, but I’m happy for him. Anytime you have a player of Quintin Dailey’s ability, you have to expect that the NBA is going to look at him and pull him up.”

Saperstein said: “I think he has (the drug problem) well under control. I think he understands his problem and deals with it. He told me he takes it one day at a time.”

Baylor said: “He should be given another chance. (The drug problem) is history. I can’t guarantee that he’ll never take drugs, but he’s been going through therapy. All we can do is try to encourage him and give him support.”

Clipper Coach Don Chaney said: “He’s coming in here with a clean slate. His past history doesn’t mean anything.”

Dailey, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard, was drafted in the first round by Chicago in 1982, the same draft that produced James Worthy and Terry Cummings.

The seventh selection in the draft, Dailey was an All-American at the University of San Francisco, where he was the central figure in a scandal that led to the abolition of the USF basketball program. It has since been revived.

The scandal began when Dailey was charged with assaulting a student nurse. That led to an in-house investigation of the Dons’ program, which disclosed that Dailey had been paid by a USF booster for a job at which he did not work.

He averaged 20.5 points a game in college and 16.4 points in 3 1/2 seasons with the Bulls.

The Clippers plan to use him as a backup to starting off-guard Mike Woodson.