The NBA : This Year, Kelly Tripucka Is Stuck in Utah: He Can’t Get In--or Out

Kelly Tripucka, the forgotten member of the Utah Jazz, made his first start of the season last Saturday against the Lakers and scored 21 points, including all five of his three-point attempts.

Tripucka, whose woes were detailed in a front-page story in the (Salt Lake City) Deseret News, reportedly was inserted into the starting lineup only after a pregame meeting among owner Larry Miller, General Manager David Checketts and Coach Frank Layden.

“I guess Kelly Tripucka still can play,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said innocently after the game.

Tripucka, a two-time All-Star who was obtained from Detroit before last season in a trade for Adrian Dantley, would like to go elsewhere but has three years left on a contract that is paying him $971,000 a season. That apparently has discouraged interested parties, including the Clippers, who reportedly offered a second-round draft choice--on the condition that the Jazz pick up half his contract. Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor said Monday that no such offer was made.

Utah has gone so far as to tell Tripucka’s agent, Bob Woolf, to try to make a deal on his own for the 6-foot 6-inch swingman, who is 28.

“How could you ever think this would happen to me?” Tripucka said to Kurt Kragthorpe of the Deseret News. “How could you ever describe a scenario like this? I’m sitting here, and I don’t even feel like a professional athlete anymore.

“That’s the worst part, being from my background, being the way I am. This whole thing has just been a complete and total nightmare.”

Layden, however, was less than sympathetic after Saturday’s game.

“If he wants to play somewhere else, he’d better start playing good here,” Layden said. “No one wants him. Let him come here and establish his worth. If he does that, then there’s no holding him back. Then it’s good luck. In the meantime, let’s see him help us win.”

Add Tripucka: Layden, of course, is the one who insisted that Utah trade Dantley, who is helping the Pistons to one of the best records in the league this season. But when asked if maybe he could find more playing time for Tripucka, he shot back to reporter Kragthorpe: “Let me ask you this: Are we keeping an All-Star on the bench? We want to win like anybody else. As much as I hated Dantley, I couldn’t keep him out of the lineup.”

Add Layden: Last week, Layden kept Mel Turpin out of the lineup after the Jazz backup center missed a shootaround in Cleveland. He dressed Turpin, a former Cavalier, for the game, however, and during a third-quarter timeout, Turpin began jawing with fans. When Layden told him to knock it off, Turpin went to the end of the bench and threw down a towel, whereupon Layden sent him to the dressing room.

Layden, recalling the incident Saturday: “He got mad and threw down his towel, just like a little boy, so I sent him to the corner. The only thing was, the corner was in the locker room.”

Second add Layden: The Utah coach, who complains bitterly of teams playing zones, was hardly mollified when referee Earl Strom called an illegal defense on the Lakers, and said: “One out of 20 isn’t bad.”

Layden, seeing laughter on press row, strolled over and barked: “Welcome to the big leagues. Big . . . joke, isn’t it?”

Chairmen of the boards: The Clippers may have shot just 35.1% against the Boston Celtics last Saturday, but they set team records with 31 offensive rebounds, 20 in the first half. Michael Cage had 14 offensive boards himself, which is more offensive rebounds than the Laker team has had in 12 games this season. . . . Detroit, meanwhile, had 70 rebounds, a league high this season, in a 110-75 rout of the Nets.

What do Walt Wesley, Luther Rackley, Len Chappell, Rick Roberson, Steve Patterson, Bob Rule, Luke Witte, Elmore Smith, Dave Robisch, Richard Washington, Kim Hughes, Jerome Whitehead, Paul Mokeski, Sam Lacey, Jeff Cook and Geoff Crompton have in common?

Answer: They all have played center for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics are heartened by the recent play of Kevin McHale, who had 25 points in Sunday’s win against the Sacramento Kings and missed just two shots (11 of 13) from the floor. McHale is still recovering from surgery on his fractured right foot.

“Some days the foot feels good,” McHale said. “Some days it’s average. And the bad days, there aren’t that many of them anymore. And that’s a good sign.”

McHale scored 16 points in the fourth quarter against the Kings.

“Yeah, it felt like the hoop was awful big again,” said McHale, who was a nonfactor when the Lakers beat the Celtics three weeks ago in Boston.

“And I haven’t had that feeling for some time. It’s about time. And it felt good.”

After Gerald Wilkins of the Knicks helped limit Michael Jordan to 16 points in New York’s 90-89 win last week, he said: “I told myself, ‘I’m going to call him Mickey Johnson. When you say ‘Mickey Johnson,’ it’s just not the same as saying ‘Michael Jordan.’ ”

Interview of the week: Mohammed Chems-Eddine Belamine, a reporter from Algeria, was in town last week to interview Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“I found him very logical and intelligent,” said the reporter for a publication called Revolution Africaine, as well as a monthly sports magazine, Africa Sports.

“The Algerian public is interested in him as a Muslim sports star.”