Schuler Gets Contract for Four Years

On a sunny Friday morning, fresh-faced, 49-year-old Mike Schuler climbed into the saddle of the NBA’s most gifted and mutinous losing entry, looked around and pronounced the view great.

Let him say that when the ride starts and his mount comes buckin’ out of the chute, and it will truly be a new day for the Clippers.

As expected, the Clippers named Schuler, an NBA coach of the year as a rookie in Portland in 1987, to replace the recently fired Don Casey. Schuler became the fifth coach in the six-year history of the franchise in Los Angeles, the third in 16 months.

There was the inevitable speculation that owner Donald T. Sterling and General Manager Elgin Baylor chose Schuler because he was cheaper than the other candidate, Mike Fratello, and had fewer demands. Baylor said Fratello made no demands. However, first estimates of Schuler’s four-year contract run in the $800,000- to $1-million range--about half what Fratello was earning in Atlanta.

Baylor said he made the choice because of Schuler’s love for fast-break basketball, which Baylor’s young racehorses yearn to play. Schuler’s first pro team, the 1986-87 Portland Trail Blazers, finished No. 1 in scoring, and his second team finished No. 2.

And the desires of the Clipper roster are hard to ignore.

In 1989, Gene Shue was fired amid grumbling from the players that he was too tough. Casey, his assistant, was deemed warmer. Casey was made interim coach and then, after a long if not exhaustive deliberation process last summer, retained.

In 1990, Casey was characterized as too tough by the players, who held their celebrated meeting with Sterling in his Beverly Hills office. Nine attended. Benoit Benjamin and just-acquired Winston Garland didn’t. A source close to the outgoing coaching staff said the players most responsible for the meeting were Charles Smith, Ken Norman and Gary Grant--three of the franchise’s brightest young stars, whom Schuler will have to hold happily in harness.

Casey’s option was not picked up at season’s end, and the Clippers were back in the coach hunt again.

“I really can’t respond to what happened in the past,” Schuler said. “It really didn’t involve me. If that did, indeed, occur--and I know it occurred--it’s unfortunate, but, you know, a lot of meetings like that take place all the time. They just don’t get public.”

The Clippers’ upside glows with promise. The roster has three lottery picks and four other first-round choices, plus there will be two high picks, eighth and 13th, in this June’s draft. The Clippers were playoff-bound last season until injuries sidelined Grant and Ron Harper. Grant will return for the start of training camp; Schuler said Harper expects to be back by Jan. 1.

Schuler didn’t promise the playoffs, although he did promise to be disappointed if the Clippers miss them.

“So far this year, there have been seven coaching jobs available in the NBA,” Schuler said. “I got the best job. There is no doubt about that.

“It’s not a situation where you have to come in and rebuild and ‘it’s going to take time.’ . . . It’s a team that hasn’t come close to realizing its ability and potential. . . . As I did my research and talked to the people in the league that I respect, they think it’s just going to be a great team, an outstanding team. (Laker General Manager) Jerry West said the other day on Roy Firestone’s show it’s a team that’s just ready to take off. I think everybody is ready to deal with the fact that the Clippers are going to be a good team. It’s time to get that done, and we’re going to get that done.”

Schuler was at least that upbeat throughout his Clipper debut. His problems in Portland?

Within two seasons of having been coach of the year, Schuler was fired after a running feud with Trail Blazer star Clyde Drexler, who didn’t like the benching of his friend, Kiki Vandeweghe, for Jerome Kersey.

On the record, Schuler has noted the difficulties caused by Kevin Duckworth’s lucrative contract. Privately, Schuler has made it clear that he was no more fond of Drexler than Drexler was of him.

After the firing, Schuler’s guru, Coach Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors rehired him as an assistant.

On Schuler’s behalf, no doubt, Nelson recently called Drexler the most overrated player in the NBA, adding: “He (Drexler) is the worst type. He’s polite and religious, but he’s a destructive force on a team.”

Drexler declined to comment Friday on Schuler’s appointment. But Duckworth said he was not sure how compatible Clipper players will be with Schuler, known as a disciplinarian. “I don’t know how Ben (Benoit Benjamin) and those guys are going to take it,” Duckworth said. “They have to be on time and work hard. From what I hear, those guys do the opposite sometimes.”

Is Schuler a martinet?

“We all have different labels,” Schuler said. “I have worked for some of the most outstanding coaches that ever coached the game of basketball. I’m like a little pussycat compared to some of the people I coached for.

“I mean, I sat beside Bobby Knight (at Army in 1965). I sat beside Don Nelson (at Milwaukee and Golden State) and Larry Brown (in New Jersey, 1981-83).”

Sterling, who had just awarded his longest coaching contract, didn’t attend the news conference. And Schuler didn’t fall down taking his seat on the dais. He actually did that when was introduced in Portland. Among the Clippers, the happy tidings keep getting happier.

MIKE SCHULER’S COACHING RECORD

REGULAR SEASON

Year Team W L Pct. Fin-x 1986-87 Portland 49 33 .598 2 1987-88 Portland 53 29 .646 2 1988-89 Portland 25 21 .543 -- Totals 2 1/2 Seasons 127 83 .605

x-Pacific Division

PLAYOFFS

Year Team W L Pct. 1986-87 Portland 1 3 .250 1987-88 Portland 1 3 .250 Totals 2 Seasons 2 6 .250