Clippers Are No. 2 in Lottery : Baylor Likes Options but Sacramento Gets First Pick in Draft

It happened at the National Basketball Assn. draft lottery Sunday afternoon:

Susan O’Malley, the executive vice president of the Washington Bullets, brought two duffel bags full of good-luck charms from fans. The pen a woman used to sign her divorce papers, three wisdom teeth from different people, a speeding ticket from one man, who got it while rushing to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes.

“Somedays, I was opening my mail like this,” O’Malley said, shaking her hands nervously.

Elgin Baylor didn’t bring anything except prayers and the Clippers’ past success at the event, a kind of game show and charity case rolled into one. After landing the top pick last season, which they used to get Danny Manning, the Clippers came away from the Equitable Center in great position again for the June 27 draft, getting the No. 2 pick, prime property for expected trade bait.

Gregg Lukenbill, the managing general partner at Sacramento, brought the most fitting trinket of all: A jersey, the Kings’, of course, with a giant question mark on the back. It’s that kind of year for the draft, when four players could be taken first.

But, after being the last team to have its logo taken out of an envelope by NBA Commissioner David Stern, the Kings will at least have their choice. The guess work will start with them, and few clues were offered Sunday.

“There are three or four players we have in mind,” Lukenbill said. “I think we’ll take a little time. Bill (Russell, the executive vice president) is leaning toward Glen Rice, but we’ll see.”

Sacramento a lottery veteran like the Clippers, had finished sixth in both previous trips to the made-for-television event, in 1985 and ’87. This time, Lukenbill and the Kings, winners of seven games by Dec. 31, thought ahead, saying then that getting the No. 1 pick would be a New Year’s resolution.

He didn’t think far enough in advance, though, about what to do when No. 1 comes up in Sacramento’s favor.

“I realized that when it got down to the last three (the Clippers, Kings and San Antonio Spurs), I should have made some mental preparations in case we won,” Lukenbill said. “I never even thought about it.”

Once Stern opened San Antonio’s envelope for the No. 3 pick, putting the Spurs in very good position to land either Danny Ferry, Pervis Ellison or even Sean Elliott, it came down to the Clippers and Kings. Coincidentally, Baylor, by now beaming at a second consecutive prized position, and Lukenbill, were sitting side by side on the stage.

When the next-to-last envelope was opened with the the Clipper logo inside, Sacramento’s New Year celebration began. The Clippers will be content with Christmas, because this pick could translate into a package deal.

“As it was getting down, I certainly believed we would get No. 1,” said Baylor, the team’s general manager. “But No. 2, hey, if we have to go that route, it’ll be great. . . . We’ll get a terrific player, if we decide to go that route.”

Clipper officials are more interested in filling a hole at shooting guard and adding some veteran leadership in the process than getting another rookie. They figure they might be able to get both in one swoop, and more, in a trade for the No. 2 spot. Other teams have been calling, if only to lay groundwork toward a possible deal, for weeks.

Baylor said he has a player in mind if the Clippers do use the pick themselves, but refuses to say who.

The Clippers are not alone in their marketing of a pick. Several other teams expressed a similar interest, but, for today at least, the order of the lottery teams is:

1. Sacramento.

2. Clippers.

3. San Antonio.

4. Miami.

5. Charlotte.

6. Chicago.

7. Indiana.

8. Dallas.

9. Washington.

The Bulls, who got the choice in a 1986 trade with New Jersey, were the only playoff team to take part. They also have their own pick, at No. 20.

Probable lottery picks include Rice of Michigan, Ellison of Louisville, Ferry of Duke, Elliott of Arizona, Stacey King of Oklahoma, George McCloud of Florida State and Randy White of Louisiana Tech.

Lottery Notes

A crowd of several hundred people watched the proceedings at the Beverly Hills home of Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling. As picks were announced and tension mounted for a second consecutive No. 1 finish, Sterling and John Wooden leaned close and clasped hands. . . . The Clippers will also pick 31st and 33rd, the latter acquired in a trade with Sacramento. . . . The Lakers will pick next-to-last in the first round. They finished 57-25, identical to Cleveland, but the Cavaliers won a draw Sunday morning for the 25th spot. Detroit is 27th. . . . The Clippers could have done no worse than seventh in the complicated procedure that sought to protect the losingest teams. Along with San Antonio, they finished 21-61, but a pre-lottery drawing gave the Spurs the advantage and the guarantee of getting no worse than sixth. . . . The Clippers have been in this spot with San Antonio before. In 1984, it took a coin flip to determine the No. 7 pick in the draft, and the Spurs won. They took Alvin Robertson, who has gone on to become one of the top defensive guards in the game. The Clippers would also have picked Robertson, but ended up with Lancaster Gordon, who spent four seasons with the team before being waived.

David Robinson, the No. 1 pick by San Antonio in 1987, got off active duty in the Navy Saturday and watched the lottery at a Spurs’ party in Texas. He is now on active reserve, which means for the next five years he will serve one weekend day each month and two weeks in the summer. The one day during the season should not present a problem even on the day of a game, because the stint is scheduled to end at 5 p.m. . . . The lottery was held at halftime of the Chicago Bulls-Detroit Pistons game, so Jerry Krause, the Bulls’ vice president for basketball operations, had mixed emotions in missing part of the game. “My heart was there,” he said, pointing to the television. “My butt was here, but my heart was there.”

NBA DRAFT ORDER

The order of selection in the first round of the 1989 NBA college draft, to be held June 27 (top nine were determined by a lottery Sunday, 10 and 11 will be determined by a coin toss on June 12):

No. Team 1. Sacramento 2. Clippers 3. San Antonio 4. Miami 5. Charlotte 6. Chicago (from New Jersey) 7. Indiana 8. Dallas 9. Washington 10. Minneapolis or Orlando 11. Orlando or Minneapolis 12. Portland 13. Boston 14. Golden State 15. Denver 16. Golden State (from Houston) 17. Seattle (from Philadelphia) 18. Chicago or Seattle 19. Philadelphia (from Seattle) 20. Chicago or Seattle (from Milwaukee) 21. Utah 22. Portland (from New York) 23. Atlanta 24. Phoenix 25. Cleveland 26. Lakers 27. Detroit