NBA Draft : Kings Will Not Name Pawn They Will Turn Into Top Rook Today

It became apparent from the start that the 1989 National Basketball Assn. draft would be tough to predict when, on the day his team won the lottery and the right to select first, Gregg Lukenbill, Sacramento’s managing general partner, held up a King jersey with a giant question mark on the back.

Uncertainty from the team that has the only pick without what-ifs. Either that, or the Kings were planning to draft the Riddler for frontcourt help.

Holy smoke screen. With the draft set to begin today at approximately 4:30 p.m., PDT, Sacramento had yet to announce its choice, although team officials had in the five weeks since the lottery whittled the list to three big men: Stacey King of Oklahoma, Danny Ferry of Duke and Pervis Ellison of Louisville, perhaps in that order. Or perhaps not.

“I’m not trying to be hard on Sacramento, but it would help everybody if there was some indication,” Dallas General Manager Norm Sonju said.

Which there wasn’t, even as late as Monday night. So, most of the 26 other teams wait.

The Clippers, picking second and in need primarily of a shooting guard, appear to be one of the few top teams not affected by Sacramento’s decision, but they have major uncertainties of their own.

There has been enough concern over the status of Sean Elliott’s knee that the Clippers will probably pass on the Wooden Award winner from Arizona in favor of Glen Rice. The Final Four’s most valuable player from Michigan wouldn’t be so much a consolation pick as a safer pick, and great shooting range makes Rice a sensible choice for the Clippers.

Elliott was tested at a rookie evaluation camp in Chicago a few weeks ago, along with the other prospects, and then underwent a more extensive exam of the left knee in Los Angeles when he visited the Clippers.

Team physician Tony Daly said a seven-year-old injury that caused Elliott’s detached ligament should not stop the Clippers, at least, from taking Elliott, and Sue Hillman, the trainer at Arizona, said, “The bottom line is that it’s no big thing.”

Indeed, Elliott, who suffered the injury as part of a larger problem with the knee, has played through high school, two-a-day workouts for the Olympic team and college without any problems. The large brace that covers the joint like a sleeve is more of a security blanket, for Elliott’s mother as much as anyone.

Bob Woolf, Elliott’s agent, sensed the league’s concern and sent letters to all 27 teams, trying to defuse the situation.

“Just to make sure everyone realizes he’s OK,” Woolf said.

Fine, but the Clippers, who lost Danny Manning to a torn knee ligament in January, may not think he’s OK enough. If they take Rice, that may slide Elliott as far down as sixth.

But isn’t that the norm for this draft? King, the Big Eight player of the year, could become a King, or he could drop all he way to Chicago at No. 6.

The top 10 possibilities and probabilities:

1. Sacramento--King, Ferry or, an outside chance, Ellison.

2. Clippers--Rice, ahead of Elliott because of the knee.

3. San Antonio--Danny Ferry, if he’s available, adding him to a front line that already includes David Robinson and Terry Cummings. Ellison is the second choice.

4. Miami--Elliott. The Heat may be tempted to grab King if he’s still around.

5. Charlotte--J.R. Reid, North Carolina forward. A hometown choice, pure and simple.

6. Chicago--Louisiana Tech forward Randy White; King or Ellison, if either is available. The Hornets probably won’t grab Elliott, so if Miami is also scared off, the Bulls might take him.

7. Indiana--George McCloud, Florida State guard. The Pacers will put him in the backcourt with Reggie Miller and hope McCloud can play the point full-time, an uncertainty at this time.

8. Dallas--White, or Tom Hammonds, Georgia Tech forward. The Mavericks need inside players.

9. Washington--Hammonds or McCloud.

10. Minnesota--Mookie Blaylock of Oklahoma or Nick Anderson of Illinois.

The Lakers’ only pick of the draft is 26th, next-to-last in the first round, and they figure to go for a guard, possibly Dana Barros of Boston College, John Morton of Seton Hall, Charles Smith of Georgetown, Ken McFadden of Cleveland State or Sherman Douglas of Syracuse.

“We’re going to try to take the player with the best potential, regardless of what we need,” General Manager Jerry West said.

That may mean Shawn Kemp, a 6-8 3/4 power forward who has great natural talent, but is only 19 and hasn’t played organized games since high school a year ago.

“You would have to seriously consider him if we’re in that position,” West said.

If the Lakers are in that position and if Kemp is available. It’s that kind of draft.

NBA Notes

TBS will broadcast the draft live beginning at 4:35 p.m. . . . J.R. Reid throws another note of confusion into the proceedings. Charlotte will probably take him fifth as a popular choice, Reid having played at North Carolina, but no one else has him rated higher than sixth or seventh. Other Hornet officials would rather grab Pervis Ellison, if available, but owner George Shinn has pushed strongly for Reid because of local appeal. Exactly why he would make a pick based on fan approval is tough to figure--the Hornets sold out 37 of 41 games at the 23,500-seat Charlotte Coliseum, the largest building in the league, last season.

The draft will be only two rounds, according to terms of the collective bargaining agreement, one fewer than in 1988. Anyone not taken is a free agent. . . . The Clippers will also pick 31st, their own second-round pick, and 33rd, acquired as part of the trade that sent Derek Smith to Sacramento in 1986. As planned, they tried to shop around the No. 2 overall choice, but as of Monday night, hadn’t come close to a deal. In all, General Manager Elgin Baylor talked to 18 teams about the pick. . . . United Nations West: The Golden State Warriors, who already have Manute Bol from Sudan and recently signed Sharunas Marchulenis from the Soviet Union, may take center Vlade Divac from Yugoslavia at 14 or 16.

FIRST-ROUND ORDER

The order of selection for the first round of the 1989 NBA college draft to be held tonight in New York. The top nine choices were determined by a lottery and the 10th and 11th by a coin toss.

1 SACRAMENTO 2 CLIPPERS 3 SAN ANTONIO 4 MIAMI 5 CHARLOTTE 6 CHICAGO (From New Jersey) 7 INDIANA 8 DALLAS 9 WASHINGTON 10 MINNESOTA 11 ORLANDO 12 NEW JERSEY (From Portland) 13 BOSTON 14 GOLDEN STATE 15 DENVER 16 GOLDEN STATE (From Houston) 17 SEATTLE (From Philadelphia) 18 CHICAGO (From Seattle-Chicago-Milw.) 19 PHILADELPHIA (From Seattle) 20 CHICAGO (From Milw. through Seattle) 21 UTAH 22 PORTLAND (From New York) 23 ATLANTA 24 PHOENIX 25 CLEVELAND 26 LAKERS 27 DETROIT