NBA Draft Lottery : Clippers Have Experience on Their Side

The Clippers will return to their one area of consistent success today, the National Basketball Assn. draft lottery. And as the defending champions, no less.

It’s no great honor, of course, to reach this made-for-television event. The stage is usually reserved for the league’s worst teams. But give the Clippers credit. Once they get here, they become a winning franchise. The lottery has given them two No. 3 picks, a No. 1 and a No. 6.

What some of those picks have developed into is another matter, but consider:

--1985: The New York Knicks win the inaugural lottery and take Patrick Ewing. The Clippers get the third pick and draft Benoit Benjamin.

--1986: The Clippers don’t participate, having traded the pick to Philadelphia for Joe Bryant, who lasts three seasons with the club and is long gone by the time the lottery takes place. The 76ers get the No. 1 spot and then make a pre-draft deal with the Cavaliers, who select Brad Daugherty.

--1987: The San Antonio Spurs win and take David Robinson. The Clippers get fourth and draft Reggie Williams.

--1988: The Clippers win and take Danny Manning. The first team to ever have two lottery picks, they also pick sixth and get Hersey Hawkins, but trade him to Philadelphia in a three-team draft-day deal. The trade sends Charles Smith, the No. 3 pick by the 76ers, to Los Angeles.

Today, when the nationally televised event occurs here at the Equitable Center at halftime of Game 1 of the Chicago Bulls-Detroit Pistons series, they are guaranteed no worse than the seventh pick among the nine teams in what has become a complicated process.

Cards bearing the logos of the Clippers, Charlotte, Chicago--the Bulls are the only playoff team in the lottery, taking the place of New Jersey as a result of the trade that sent Orlando Woolridge to the Nets in 1986--Dallas, Indiana, Miami, Sacramento, San Antonio and Washington will be placed in identical envelopes and sealed, placed in a clear container and mixed. Each team, in an order determined by a draw earlier in the day, will select one envelope.

The first six envelopes will be placed on one side of the display board and will represent picks four through nine. The seventh envelope taken will be for draft spot No. 3, the eighth will be for No. 2 and the remaining for No. 1.

Commissioner David Stern will open the envelopes for picks four through nine, and the logos will be arranged in reverse order of the teams’ regular-season record. The Clippers will have broken their tie with San Antonio--both teams finished 21-61--earlier in the day. If they win the tie-breaker the Clippers be able to do no worse than sixth, by virtue of trailing only Miami and Charlotte.

Finally, Stern will open, in order, envelopes No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1, keeping them in those spots for the June 27 draft. Orlando, Fla., and Minnesota, the expansion teams for 1989-90, fall 10th and 11th, the spots to be determined by a coin flip June 12.

Steps will be taken to ensure that the Clippers continue their winning streak. Team President Alan Rothenberg will go to the same store, buy the same brand of fortune cookies and, along with his wife, break the 100 or so open. He got down to the last one a year ago and the message read, “Your fondest wish will come true.”

Rothenberg: “You don’t want to break up a winning combination.”

What could change is the Clippers’ plan for the pick. Some teams have already made courtesy calls about trading for a prime position in the draft, but once the exact spot is determined today, conversations will begin in earnest. And the Clippers, who would like to add a shooting guard and some experience to go with a young team, will listen with great interest.

“Last year, there was no way we would deal the pick because of Danny,” said General Manager Elgin Baylor, who will represent the Clippers at the drawing. “This year, we would certainly entertain trade talks. It hasn’t been decided if we will move the pick because we don’t know where it will be. But if we feel good enough about a deal, we certainly would move the pick.”

Clipper Notes

The Clippers plan to renegotiate the contract of Ken Norman, who led the team in scoring last season while making only $300,000. No serious talks will begin until after the Clippers evaluate their draft, but management has contacted David Falk, Norman’s agent. The Clippers hold a 1989-90 option on the third-year player, but would now like to give him a raise and an extension now.