1988 NBA DRAFT : After Clippers Pick Manning, It’s Guesswork

The National Basketball Assn. draft, according to Clipper scout Barry Hecker, is much like “The Dating Game.” You hope you’ve asked all the right questions, but when it comes down to choosing among Player No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3, you never know if it will be the start of a beautiful relationship or a one-night stand.

At least the Clippers have the luxury of choosing first in this morning’s draft, and they have already decided their future is wedded to Kansas star Danny Manning, even if it may take a $35-million dowry to snare him.

Part of Gene Shue’s past has a Manning connection, too. The Clipper coach had Manning’s father, Ed, as a player when he coached the Baltimore Bullets in the 1960s.

“Ed had one move--a very good shot from the top of the key,” Shue said. “He liked to go to his left a lot, and had a quick first step.”

The Clippers are betting the franchise that Ed’s son--the college player of the year after leading the Jayhawks to a national championship--has a much greater repertoire than his old man.

“There’s never been any question about him being the best player in the nation,” Shue said. “Rebounding was a weakness, but I think he answered the critics.”

The Clippers have entertained any number of suitors inquiring about their other first-round draft choice, the No. 6 pick, the result of a 1986 trade with Sacramento.

Names popping out of the rumor machine have included Charles Barkley, Mark Aguirre, Danny Ainge, Waymon Tisdale, Otis Thorpe, even Michael Cooper of the Lakers, but Shue said that no team has made an offer worth giving up the draft pick.

“There doesn’t appear to be a trade out there that would help us,” Shue said, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that the Clippers might have made a move before the trading deadline of 9 p.m. Monday, even if it weren’t announced until today.

It appears that the Clippers will grab a guard at No. 6 from a group that includes Mitch Richmond of Kansas State, Rex Chapman of Kentucky and Hersey Hawkins of Bradley, the nation’s leading scorer. Hawkins was projected to go to Philadelphia, who are picking third, but there were indications Monday that the 76ers prefer Richmond.

Chapman, the Kentucky guard who chose to enter the draft early after his sophomore season, may be the most intriguing pick of the bunch. Marty Blake, director of the NBA’s scouting service, rates the 6-foot 5-inch Richmond as the better player, one who could help the Clippers immediately, but says that given two or three years, Chapman will come into his own.

“Everybody says he’ll be the next Jerry West,” Blake said of Chapman, who performed poorly in the Olympic trials. “I wish I had $100 from everybody who said he’ll be the next Jerry West. I’ll be happy if he’s the next Danny Ainge.”

The Lakers have the last pick in the first round, No. 25, because the two new expansion teams, Miami and Charlotte, also will be selecting. Last season, the Lakers didn’t have a pick in the first round, having given it up to San Antonio in the Mychal Thompson trade.

“Obviously we’d like a huge center, but I don’t think that’s possible,” said Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers’ assistant general manager.

The biggest center available is Rik Smits, the Dunking Dutchman. Smits, 7-4 and 250 pounds, was born in the Netherlands and played for Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after writing the school requesting a scholarship. Smits is raw and relatively untested--”What’s he wear, wooden Nikes?” asked one team official--but the Indiana Pacers are expected to take him with the No. 2 pick.

Smits averaged 24.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots and shot 62% as a senior.

Donnie Walsh, the Pacers’ general manager, said that Indiana would have to be “deranged” not to pick Smits. That’s potential forgettable quotes material, should the Pacers be enticed into making a last-second trade.

The other big men in the draft--Charles Smith of Pitt, Rony Seikaly of Syracuse, Will Perdue of Vanderbilt--will be long gone when it’s the Lakers’ turn to choose. Tito Horford, the 7-1 Dominican problem child, might still be around, but the Lakers say they’d have no interest in Horford, who chose to leave the University of Miami early.

Instead, the Lakers may go for a point guard, of which several quality types should still be available at No. 25. Brian Shaw, the UC Santa Barbara guard who may be point man on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, should be the top local player chosen, but probably won’t be around for the Lakers. Among the guards that may be, however, are Everette Stephens of Purdue, David Rivers of Notre Dame and Rod Strickland of DePaul.

“There are a lot of people saying it’s a weak draft but we think there are a lot of good players out there,” Kupchak said. “There’s a possibility of getting a good player through the first 30 picks.”

The draft, as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement, has been streamlined to three rounds this season, two starting next year. The Lakers don’t have a pick in the second or third rounds, having traded them away. Phoenix has six picks--two in the first, three in the second, one in the third.

One trade appeared to be near completion Monday. Barring salary-cap complications, Sacramento was planning to send guard Reggie Theus to Atlanta for guard Randy Wittman and the Hawks’ No. 18 pick in the first round.

Times staff writer Chris Baker contributed to this story.