NBA NOTES : Lottery Picks Have Made Little Impact in NBA

The downtrodden in the NBA may perceive the annual lottery preceding the June draft as a panacea that will put them on equal footing with the league’s dominant teams.

Dream on. The reputed college blue-chippers often show serious flaws when exposed to the highly physical pro game and the glut of talent. In most cases, it takes such players several years to reach their potential.

These adjustment problems have been underscored by the class of 1989. With few exceptions, lottery picks have struggled to make an impact.

Power forward Pervis Ellison of the Sacramento Kings, the No. 1 pick in the draft, can be excused. Ellison underwent foot and ankle surgery in September and has tendinitis in his big right toe that could sideline him until mid-March.

No. 2 pick Danny Ferry, chosen by the Clippers, decided to play in Italy, and the NBA rights to him later were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. No. 4 choice Glen Rice of the Miami Heat is averaging 10.6 points but is shooting less than 40 percent from the field. Oklahoma All-American center Stacey King, chosen sixth, is averaging 5.6 points as a reserve with the Chicago Bulls.

No. 7 selection George McCloud (1.6) has been of little use to the Indiana Pacers, but they are off to a surprising, 13-6 start, thanks to dramatic improvement by veterans. Highly touted forward Randy White of Louisiana Tech, picked eighth by the Dallas Mavericks, has averaged 4.4 points. The Bullets’ Tom Hammonds, the final lottery pick, also is struggling, averaging 3.4 points.

Of the remaining lottery choices, small forward Sean Elliott, the No. 3 pick, has provided solid numbers (12.0) for the San Antonio Spurs, and aggressive forward-center J.R. Reid, chosen fifth, was averaging 13.4 points and nine rebounds for the Charlotte Hornets. Elliott has been part of the Spurs’ rebirth, but the Hornets, despite Reid’s strong inside play, have won only three of 21 games and lost 10 straight.

Other struggling first-rounders are the Boston Celtics’ Mike Smith (1.4) and the Chicago Bulls’ B.J. Armstrong (5.7).

Of the bottom half, the most pleasant surprises have been teen-age center Shawn Kemp, averaging 6.3 points for the Seattle SuperSonics, and agile 7-footer Vlade Divac (7.9) of Yugoslavia, a steal by the Los Angeles Lakers as the 26th overall pick.

Speaking of the lottery, if the Bullets fail to make the playoffs, they still wouldn’t participate in June’s drawing. They traded their No. 1 pick to Dallas for forward Jay Vincent in 1986.

Vincent’s reputation as a player who performs only when the mood suits him is well-documented. He wore out his welcome in Washington and was sent to the Denver Nuggets in 1987 as part of the deal that landed Darrell Walker and Mark Alarie.

The Nuggets, in turn, traded Vincent to San Antonio in January 1989. Last seen, he was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.

He lasted 17 games before General Manager John Nash and Coach Jim Lynam agreed this was a classic case of addition by subtraction.

Lynam said, “To me, the essence is, when given the opportunity, you must seize it and do something with it. I think it’s fair to say Vincent didn’t do that. He reported late and never got on target. You can’t guess. I have to have a sense what I’m going to get from my guys.”

Nash said, “The guaranteed money ($400,000) we’ll have to pay Vincent is considerable. But we didn’t think his presence was lending much in the way of a positive attitude to our ballclub.”

Quiz: What happened to Albert King, former All-American forward from Maryland? Answer follows.

Spontaneous combustion: Philadelphia 76ers forward Charles Barkley had several blowups last week. The first came Dec. 12 after an 87-72 loss to the New Jersey Nets in which Philadelphia scored 32 second-half points. The second came when he was ejected from Friday’s 95-88 loss to Dallas at The Spectrum after he allegedly spit on referee Steve Javie, who called a technical on him.

After the Nets game, Barkley accused his teammates of gross indifference. “I want guys to expend energy and win some games,” he said. “We’re too good to have our record (11-10). Nobody’s come to me to disagree or kick my butt about it. I’m easy to find. I sit in the same place for all the home games.”

But sixth man Ron Anderson rapped Barkley. “We might not have played with a lot of emotion against the Nets, but it wasn’t that we didn’t care,” Anderson said. “Barkley played two bad games and had one good one and decides to speak out. Give me a break.”

Hot rumor: New York Knicks General Manager Al Bianchi is busy these days denying reports that he is prepared to trade playmaker Mark Jackson and shooting guard Gerald Wilkins to the Celtics for power forward Kevin McHale.

“It’s crazy,” said Bianchi. “Can’t the people who start these things be more responsible?” But Bianchi later added, “If this team plays well together, we can contend. If they don’t, we might have to do something.”

Jackson’s agent, Don Cronson, seems convinced that his client is on the block. “I think there’s substance to the McHale talk, and the swap for (the Clippers’) Joe Wolf was based in fact. Bianchi wants to move Mark,” Cronson said. “I think that’s eminently clear.”

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Quiz answer: King, who spent most of his eight NBA seasons with the Nets, is playing in Israel.