NBA Draft Is Danny and the Question Marks

The NBA college draft, reduced to three rounds and increased to 25 teams, will be held Tuesday with a long list of question marks following Danny Manning.

Manning’s selection by the Clippers was clinched on May 21 at the NBA lottery.

“He will definitely make us a better team,” Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor said of Manning, the college player of the year who led underdog Kansas to the NCAA title. “He’s a terrific player and a fine young man. He’s definitely going to have an impact.”

Joining the draft this year are two expansion teams, the Charlotte Hornets and the Miami Heat, who will pick eighth and ninth, after the seven spots determined in the lottery.

The draft will be reduced from seven rounds to three this year and two in 1989, a concession made by the league in the April 25 collective bargaining agreement with the players.

The Clippers, who also have the No. 6 pick in the first round, will look to improve on this season’s 17-65 record. But the Indiana Pacers, who won the second choice, will be building upon a 38-victory season that just missed being good enough to make the playoffs.

General Manager Donnie Walsh said the Pacers’ high draft position, coupled with their close proximity to playoff status, could lead them to select 7-foot-4 Rik Smits of Marist.

“We’re considering him heavily,” Walsh said. “We haven’t made up our minds, but you don’t get a chance to get a center often, especially in the team position we’re in. We missed the playoffs in a tiebreaker.

“We might not, in fact we hope we won’t, have the chance again to draft a big center.”

Smits, from the Netherlands, is considered a raw talent who flourished in a second-echelon college program.

“He definitely would change the look of our team,” Walsh said. “He weighs 250 pounds, but on his frame he could go up to 300 without hurting him.”

Smits averaged 24.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots and shot 62.3% from the field as a senior. He had similar statistics as a junior.

“He’s raw and he’s going to need work, but Patrick Ewing didn’t really come into his ow until his third year,” Walsh said. “Why should we judge Rik Smits any harsher than Patrick Ewing?”

NBA scouting chief Marty Blake believes that Smits has outstanding potential and deserves to be one of the top five players selected.

“He is a big-time first rounder who I think will be a real force in the NBA in three or four years,” Blake said.

“I know the competition will be much tougher than anything I’ve faced in college,” Smits said. “Much of the time I was playing against people 6-8.”

After the Clippers and Indiana, the first-round draft order, barring trades, will be Philadelphia, New Jersey, Golden State, the Clippers, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami, San Antonio, New York, Washington, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Seattle, Houston, Utah, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Cleveland, Denver, Boston and the Lakers.

The 76ers have a pressing need for a shooting guard and have narrowed their choices to Hersey Hawkins of Bradley, Rex Chapman of Kentucky and Mitch Richmond of Kansas State.

“Both Hawkins and Chapman are considered excellent players and each has his plusses and minuses,” owner Harold Katz said.

Katz called Chapman a Jerry West-type guard, while Hawkins is a better inside threat.

The 6-3 Hawkins averaged 36.3 points as a senior, the highest NCAA average in 11 years, leading the nation by nearly eight points per game.

Chapman, who elected to leave Kentucky after his sophomore year, averaged 19.0 for the Wildcats.

“He’s an exceptional perimeter shooter, but beyond that he’s got enormous physical talent,” 76ers general manager John Nash said. “He can pull up and take the shot, but he can also dunk on the fastbreak.”

But NBA insiders say Chapman and Hawkins are unprepared for the defensive demands that will be placed on them in the NBA.

New Jersey general manager Harry Weltman has a list of potential choices that includes Chapman, Hawkins, Smits, Richmond, 6-8 forward Chris Morris of Auburn and 6-10 forward Charles Smith of Pittsburgh.

Weltman said the 1988 draft is difficult to assess because it has depth but few potential star players besides Manning.

“This is like preparing a fighter,” Weltman said. “You don’t want to peak until you step into the ring. This is maybe the toughest draft, at least the most difficult in terms of pegging players to certain teams. It also is open to more trade possibilities that any other.”

Weltman said the Nets probably won’t trade to get a higher pick.

“Surrendering something just to move up two spots doesn’t make sense,” Weltman said. “No player excites us to the degree that we must have him.”

Potential first-round centers besides Smits include 6-11 Rony Seikaly of Syracuse, 6-11 Eric Leckner of Wyoming, 7-0 Will Perdue of Vanderbilt and 7-1 Tito Horford of Miami and the Dominican Republic.

The top forwards besides Manning, Smith and Morris are 6-9 Tim Perry of Temple, 6-9 Harvey Grant of Oklahoma, 6-6 Jerome Lane of Pittsburgh, 6-7 Derrick Chievous of Missouri, 6-9 Mark Bryant of Seton Hall and 6-6 Dan Majerle of Central Michigan.

Leading guards in addition to Chapman, Hawkins and Richmond are 6-5 Jeff Grayer of Iowa State, 6-3 Rod Strickland of DePaul, 6-3 Gary Grant of Michigan, 6-7 Willie Anderson of Georgia and 6-8 Ricky Berry of San Jose State.

Chapman, Horford, Lane and Strickland are early entry candidates, along with 6-10 Charles Shackleford of North Carolina State.