NBA Notes : Hopson, Morris Bring Nets Stability

The New Jersey Nets, a longshot for the playoffs this season, can find solace in the knowledge that they might have found a frontcourt-backcourt duo that could take them to post-season play for a long time in the future.

Guard Dennis Hopson, the third pick in the 1987 draft, and forward Chris Morris, the No. 4 pick last year, started slowly after moving into the starting lineup together on Jan. 11. Going into New Jersey’s game at Seattle on Jan. 31, Morris was shooting 44.7% from the field and averaging 9.8 points, while Hopson had a 9.4 average on 42.8% shooting.

But since Jan. 31, when Hopson scored 32 points and Morris 21 as the Nets ended Seattle’s homecourt winning streak at 17 with a 118-112 victory, the pair has been on a roll.

Including that game and the next 11, Hopson hit 45.3% of his shots and averaged 21.1 points, while Morris connected on 46.6% of his field goals and averaged 19.8.

“Dennis and Chris are doing good things for us,” Net Coach Willis Reed said. “But once they get this season behind them and then come back with a full training camp, they will be even better.”

Reed said he was hesitant about putting Morris and Hopson in the starting lineup together.

“I didn’t want them to be on a roller coaster,” he said. “I think the worst thing I could do was to start them and then have to back away from that decision.”

There were plenty of hard feelings on both sides by the time Dallas traded Mark Aguirre to Detroit, but he left quite a legacy as the No. 1 pick in the 1981 draft.

He is the Mavericks’ all-time leading scorer with 13,930 points and all-time leading rebounder with 3,244. He also is the club leader in field goals, field goals attempted, 3-pointers, 3-point attempts, free throws, free throws attempted and games started, and has the team record for points in a game, 49, and season, 2,330.

But his former teammate weren’t sorry to see Aguirre go. From their point of view, Aguirre was both the best and worst of the Mavericks.

“If you’re working with somebody and they don’t want to be with you, you wouldn’t want to be with them either,” Derek Harper said. “Mark is not here anymore and I don’t think anybody is going to lose any sleep over it.”

“I feel 40 pounds lighter,” Sam Perkins added. “A load has been dumped.”

“This move is going to boost the morale of the team and make us a happier team, no doubt about it,” Rolando Blackman added.

Charlotte’s 5-foot-3 guard, Muggsy Bogues, wasn’t always a basketball star.

Asked what other sports he played as a youth in Baltimore, Bogues said he won a state wrestling championship as a 65-pound 13-year-old.

Later, he concentrated on basketball, following in the footsteps of his older sister Sheron, who won a scholarship to Towson State even though she was only 5-1.

Cleveland coach Lenny Wilkens has an answer for anyone who doubts the Cavaliers can win with low-scoring small forward Mike Sanders in the starting lineup.

“When I was at Seattle and we won the title, Lonnie Shelton was our small forward and he was no big scorer,” Wilkens said. “Portland won an NBA title with Bobby Gross not scoring much at small forward. What I’m saying is a lack of scoring in one area can be compensated for in other areas, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Shelton averaged 13.5 for NBA champion Seattle with Wilkens as coach in 1979. Gross averaged 11.4 for the Trail Blazers when they won a title in 1977.