The NBA / Gordon Edes : Celtics Giving Ex-Bruin Daye Chance to Play

He didn’t do anything against the Lakers on Sunday--five minutes, zeros across the board--but be assured that former UCLA player Darren Daye is delighted to be with the Boston Celtics.

Daye, a 6-8, 220-pound swingman who played three seasons with the Washington Bullets after being drafted on the third round in 1983, appeared to be in basketball limbo after being cut by the Bullets, then signing with the Chicago Bulls, only to be buried on the bench before being cut again.

He returned home to Mission Hills and was out shopping when the Celtics called. He signed with Boston on Dec. 11, and has been averaging just less than 11 minutes a game, 3.3 points and a couple of rebounds coming off the bench.

He has been subbing for Larry Bird, among others, and has earned Bird’s praise.

“He’s been playing really well, especially with the first group,” Bird said.

Daye, on playing with the Celtics: “I knew what Larry could do, but night in and night out, this team goes after everybody. They take no prisoners. They don’t even like being ahead by 20 points. They don’t let up a bit.”

That wasn’t the case Sunday, when the Lakers rallied from 17 points back to beat Boston, 106-103.

Asked whether he could foresee a more expanded role with the Celtics, Daye said: “If you’re asking me if I’m going to start in Larry Bird’s spot, no. But hey, sixth man would be a great role.”

And you thought you had it bad Friday the 13th: Pete Verhoeven is a former Fresno State player who was an National Basketball Assn. hanger-on the last five seasons and is now playing with the Charleston (W. Va.) Gunners of the Continental Basketball Assn.

Last Friday morning, Verhoeven received a call from the Atlanta Hawks, who said they wanted him to come to Atlanta on Saturday. Hawk forward Scott Hastings was injured, and the Hawks were thinking of signing Verhoeven as a replacement.

But later Friday, the Hawks called back and told Verhoeven not to come, that they were awaiting word on whether Hastings would need knee surgery.

That night, Verhoeven played for the Gunners against the Cincinnati Slammers. Midway through the third quarter, as Bill Martin of the Slammers was driving through the lane, Verhoeven set a pick that knocked Martin to the floor.

This is what happened next, according to Gunner General Manager Rich McArdle.

While Verhoeven was looking toward the basket, Martin--who played on Georgetown’s NCAA champions--got up and “from right field took a swing that decked him.” Verhoeven, McArdle said Monday, didn’t move for about 10 minutes before finally regaining consciousness.

Verhoeven, who took some stitches in his left ear, hasn’t played since, although he’s apparently OK. But Monday, a Hawk spokesman said Hastings won’t need surgery, which means the Hawks are no longer interested in Verhoeven.

Not my fault: Coach George Karl has taken the rap at Golden State for making Chris Washburn the Warriors’ No. 1 draft choice--Washburn is in a drug rehabilitation program. But Karl says that team owner Jim Fitzgerald was the only member of the front office opposed to the idea, and he, too, came around after watching films of Washburn at 4 a.m. on the morning of the draft.

“The guy (Washburn) kicked (Brad) Daugherty’s butt so bad it was embarrassing,” Karl said.

Daugherty was the No. 1 pick overall, by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

All-Star zinger: Seattle’s Tom Chambers may have been the MVP of the All-Star game, but don’t expect New York Knick guard Gerald Henderson to be impressed.

Henderson and Chambers were teammates with the SuperSonics, but after Henderson was sent to New York, Chambers accused him of shooting too much.

Said Henderson of Chambers: “He’s the kind of guy who likes to scream: ‘Hey, I’m open, I’m open.’ I really had to straighten him out because it’s embarrassing when he does that. Tom’s the most selfish guy I’ve ever played with. I hated to play with Tom.”

Chambers, by the way, signed a contract with Nike the day after the All-Star game.

Boston guard Danny Ainge on Mychal Thompson coming to the Lakers: “If he can’t have fun playing with Magic Johnson, then he doesn’t deserve to be playing basketball.”

Mychal and Magic, incidentally, are buddies, and have been ever since Thompson tried to recruit Johnson for the University of Minnesota. Johnson, of course, went to Michigan State.

“When we got to the pros, we’d go out to dinner together,” Johnson said. “I’d go to his house before a game, shoot pool. And in the summer, I’d go over to where he lives (the Bahamas) and go fishing.”

Michael Jordan statistic of the week: The NBA’s leading scorer has missed more shots than all but 24 players have taken. Five teams--Houston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Sacramento and the Clippers--don’t have a player who has taken as many shots as Jordan has missed.

They may still be holding their breath in Milwaukee, but guard John Lucas--a four-time loser to drugs--has made an astonishing comeback.

In 15 games since signing with the Bucks, Lucas has started 12 times, is averaging 18.2 points, 7.9 assists, 2 steals and 3.1 rebounds. Saturday night, against his former team, the Houston Rockets, Lucas scored 29 points, making 13 of 15 shots in a 116-101 Milwaukee victory.

Don’t be surprised, come playoff time, if Lucas is part of a starting lineup that includes Sidney Moncrief--who made his first start Saturday after missing 23 games with patellar tendinitis--Paul Pressey, Jack Sikma and Terry Cummings.

Clipper critique: Among the ex-players in the NBA Legends game during All-Star week was Paul Silas, who was fired as coach of the Clippers after the 1982-83 season, when the Clippers were in San Diego.

Silas, who is out of basketball, claims owner Donald Sterling had no intentions of making the team a winner in San Diego.

“He knew what he wanted to do all along, and that was to move the team to L.A.,” Silas told Barry Bloom of the San Diego Tribune. “He knew if we won (in San Diego), he’d never be able to move. You win, and the fans come out. You can’t move. So he sat there and blamed me.”

Silas said he never would have traded Tom Chambers for James Donaldson, or Byron Scott to the Lakers for Norm Nixon. At one time, Silas had Craig Hodges, Terry Cummings, and Chambers, and had drafted Scott. Cummings and Hodges eventually were traded to Milwaukee for Marques Johnson.

“If you stick with that group, you’ve got a pretty good young team,” Silas said. “I was looking ahead about three or four years down the road.”

NBA Notes

The Detroit Pistons set an NBA record for attendance with a crowd of 52,745 for Saturday’s game against Philadelphia, but nearly half of those seats were $2 seats furnished by an oil company. Normally, the seats--which are located in the third deck of the 80,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome--go for $4. The Pistons are averaging a league-leading 19,800 in attendance but plan to move to a 20,000-seat facility in another Detroit suburb, Auburn Hills, at the end of the 1987-88 season.

When the Pistons defeated the 76ers last Tuesday to complete a three-game season sweep at the Spectrum, it marked the first time since the 1972-73 season, when the 76ers were 9-73, that Philadelphia was swept in a season series at home. . . . Mike Evans became the 11th Nugget to start at least one game this season when he played in Denver’s 129-113 win over Indiana last Saturday. Maurice Martin and Otis Smith are the only Nuggets who have failed to crack the starting lineup.

The Atlanta Hawks are discussing the possibility of playing their first two regular-season games next season in England, but a team spokesman said that those plans are on hold during the current collective bargaining talks. . . . Ron Harper scored 28 points against the Seattle SuperSonics Monday to break the Cleveland Cavaliers’ record for most points by a rookie (1,113). John Johnson set the record when he scored 1,110 points in 1970-71, the team’s first NBA season.