Clippers Fire Shue; Casey Is Interim Coach

The Clippers, mired in an 11-game losing streak and on a pace to repeat last season’s 17-65 record, ended speculation Thursday afternoon and fired Gene Shue as coach.

Don Casey, Shue’s only assistant, was named interim coach for the rest of the season. Casey will take charge of the team at practice today in Pauley Pavilion and will coach his first pro game next Wednesday at Dallas.

In making the announcement, General Manager Elgin Baylor cited motivational factors as the main reason Shue was fired midway through his 3-year contract.

“It was the effort as a team,” Baylor said. “We didn’t seem to maintain any intensity, didn’t have any enthusiasm. We played well in spots but weren’t able to maintain anything.

“We would like to be competitive for 48 minutes of every game, and we just haven’t had much of that.”

The move was no surprise, especially in the wake of consecutive road losses by 35, 34, 35 and 21 points. It was widely reported that the Clippers had to beat the Lakers Wednesday night at the Forum for Shue to save his job, but the Lakers won, 111-90.

The Clippers (10-28) got off to a promising 6-6 start, then lost 22 of 26 games and fell into last place in the Pacific Division.

Shue, who did not return phone calls Thursday night, got the news from Baylor, who also held a 90-minute meeting with the players at the Sports Arena.

Baylor then met with Casey, 51, who had three options:

--Remain as assistant coach.

--Become the interim coach and get a contract for next season as an assistant or scout if the new job doesn’t work out.

--Take this job and a $20,000 raise with no guarantees about the future.

Casey chose the last, which raises his salary to approximately $100,000 but makes him one of the lowest-paid head coaches in the league.

“I don’t know how close I came (to turning the job down), but I considered it a viable option,” said Casey, who spoke to Shue five times Thursday. “(I took it because) it was the feeling of opportunity.

“It’s awkward. Gene keeps me in the league, makes me a part of the team and lets me assume a major role within the team, and then I benefit from his demise.”

Several candidates have been mentioned to become the new assistant coach, but Casey interviewed only Keith Erickson Thursday. Erickson is Casey’s first choice and could accept today.

Other names being circulated include Junior Bridgeman, Quinn Buckner and Clipper guard Norm Nixon. However, Nixon denied a report that team officials had asked him to retire to become an assistant.

“Not right now,” Nixon said when asked if he had any interest in the job. “I want to play this year.”

Following their .500 start, which appeared to reflect their potential after a strong 1988 draft, the Clippers struggled, their games marked by lackluster efforts, bad defense and sloppy offense.

Shue tried to develop a fast-break offense but was stymied by injuries, a lack of stable play at point guard and little rebounding help inside. The Clippers went into the Laker game as the second-worst defensive team in the league in points allowed (116.4 a game) and the worst in turnovers (21.8).

The much-awaited forward tandem of Danny Manning and Charles Smith, the first and third picks in the draft, played all of 15 games together because of Manning’s holdout, Smith’s nagging health problems and, ultimately, Manning’s knee surgery, which has sidelined him for at least the rest of the season. Shue had been trying to acquire another big man since training camp, but that and other requests brought no action from the front office.

“Our predicament was kind of a no-win situation,” said veteran guard Quintin Dailey, the Clippers’ lone consistent scorer. “He gets the players to where they can see above the water level, then they got hurt, and the team’s drowning again. Last year, it was with Reggie (Williams) and (Joe) Wolf and now it’s with Danny. Gary (Grant) and Charles have also been hurt, so it’s been real messed up.”

As the up-tempo game failed to materialize, players privately complained that the offense was too structured, that the constant play-calling limited their ability to run when the opportunity arose. Some players went so far as to take their gripes to upper management.

Ultimately, Shue’s downfall was a result of players showing little interest in playing for him.

“Our goals will be to generate the maximum effort out of them,” Casey said.

Shue was both the winningest and losingest active coach in the league--784-861 in his 22-year career--and was 27-93 in the 1-plus seasons of his second stint with the Clippers. He coached the team in San Diego in 1978-79 and 1979-80 before returning in 1987. He was 105-179 overall with the Clippers.

The Clippers are considering giving Shue another position in the organization.

Casey coached at Temple University for 9 seasons (1973-82). He also served as an assistant under Paul Westhead with the Chicago Bulls in 1982-83 and under Jim Lynam with the Clippers in 1983-84. After spending 1984-85 coaching in Italy, he returned to the Clippers under Don Chaney in 1985, and he was retained when Shue was hired in 1987.