Shue Seeking Another Turnaround

Gene Shue began his second stint as coach of the Clippers Friday by welcoming 17 players to Cal Poly Pomona for training camp.

Shue has his work cut out for him, since the Clippers will be trying to rebound from last season’s 12-70 record, third worst in National Basketball Assn. history.

Shue, however, has experience turning around losing teams.

Shue took over the Philadelphia 76ers, who had the all-time worst NBA record, 9-73, in 1972-73, and led them to the NBA final series four years later.

Shue has also worked in Baltimore, Washington and San Diego, where he coached the Clippers to a 43-39 record in 1978-79. That was the last season the Clippers finished above the .500 mark.

“This camp will be different than any camp I’ve ever been at, and I’ve been coaching for a long time,” Shue said. “We only have four days to get ready for our first (exhibition) game, so we’ll get right into the plays. Normally, we don’t do that until the fourth day of camp.”

The Clippers will open their exhibition season Wednesday against the Utah Jazz at Cedar City, Utah, then will play three more games in four days.

“The intention is to see what the players can do when we play the four exhibition games, and then we’ll come back here and correct everything,” Shue said. “I know it’s backward.”

After a two-hour morning practice, the players went to a nearby track to run a mile.

Guard Darnell Valentine, a fitness fanatic, finished first in 5 minutes 10 seconds. Center Benoit Benjamin, who walked and skipped, finished last in 9:30.

“I’m not worried,” Shue said of Benjamin. “He’s a basketball player not a track runner.”

Elgin Baylor, Clipper general manager, said Benjamin appeared to be in better shape than he was at his point last season. “He would have fainted last year,” Baylor said.

Benjamin, who reported to camp last year at 272 pounds, looks trimmer now. “I was 262 pounds the last time I weighed myself,” he said. “But I think the scale was off. I’ll weigh 250 by the time the season starts.”

Shue said he plans to rebuild the 7-foot center’s game. “Benoit might be big news in L.A., but I don’t have any big expectations for him until he’s a proven player,” he said. “From my point of view, I’m looking at Benoit as a player just starting out.”

Clipper Notes Steffond Johnson, a free-agent forward who played in 29 games for the club last season, signed a contract just before the first practice and joined the team. . . . Guard Norm Nixon, who sat out last season with a knee injury, looked fully recovered. . . . Club President Alan Rothenberg said the club expects forward Ken Norman of Illinois to report to camp today. Rothenberg said the Clippers had reached a contractual agreement with Norman and was close to signing forward-center Joe Wolf of North Carolina. Reggie Williams, the club’s top draft pick, is still far from signing, however. Rothenberg said the Clippers must sign Williams before they can sign free-agent forward Michael Cage because of salary cap considerations. . . . Guard Lancaster Gordon will be sidelined indefinitely. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Aug. 17.