BASKETBALL NOTES : Nets’ Gamble on Petrovic Could Backfire

In the words of New Jersey Nets’ executive vice president Bob Casciola, it was “a good gamble.”

Perhaps a more accurate assessment is that it was -- the type of gamble that has been known to backfire on the Nets.

Last week, the Nets acquired Drazen Petrovic. Terry Mills also was obtained for Greg (Cadillac) Anderson, but forget that part of the deal. The key ingredients in the three-team trade were Petrovic to the Nets, Walter Davis to the Portland Trail Blazers and a Nets No. 1 pick to Denver. In giving up a No. 1, the Nets included two contingencies:

-- In 1992, the Nets keep the pick if it is in the top 12. Eleven teams make the lottery. That means the Nets not only retain the pick if they do not make the playoffs, but they also get to keep it if they have the worst record of the 16 playoff teams.

-- In 1993, the Nets keep the pick if it is in the top seven.

In 1994, however, there are no contingencies. So if the Nets are the same way then as they are now -- and as they have been during the last four non-playoff seasons when they averaged 21.5 victories -- they could lose a top pick -- even the No. 1 pick -- in the 1994 draft.

And the Nets have no guarantee that Petrovic will be playing in the United States in 1994. His contract runs through 1992-93. What if he decides that averaging 18 points for the Nets is infinitely worse than scoring 65 points in a Spanish league game, which he has done?

Petrovic is remembered as a great star in Europe -- sort of a Yugoslavian Walt Frazier. What if a rich owner of a team in Italy or Spain, where there is no salary cap, offers him $5 million a year? He will be hero-worshiped and richer. Why stay with the Nets?

Even if the Nets become a playoff team, how good will Petrovic be? He is skilled enough to average 18 points, but he has not proven he is good enough to play for a championship-level team like Portland, where he was not as vital as Danny Young.

In 1986, the Nets signed free-agent Orlando Woolridge, who had played for Chicago. At that time, there was a compensation rule, and the Nets agreed to give the Bulls two No. 2 picks and a No. 1 pick in 1987, 1988 or 1989.

There were lottery contingencies in the first two years. But in 1989, there was not. The Bulls were rewarded with the sixth pick in the draft, which they used to select Stacey King. Woolridge, meanwhile, had missed most of one season with drug problems. By 1989, he had completed his contract and signed with the Lakers, so the Nets not only did not have Woolridge, they did not have the draft pick they traded for him.

In one respect, it is admirable that Casciola and senior vice president Willis Reed have the guts and creativity to engineer such a deal for Petrovic. But it was a huge gamble. And bad teams that gamble often remain bad.

Anderson, who the Nets had obtained from the Milwaukee Bucks, had a distinguished one-week career with the Nets. Not only did the Nets have a 2-1 record and a .667 winning percentage with Anderson (how many Nets in recent history played for a winning team?) but he also left with no worse than a tie as the leading field-goal shooter in the history of the team. As a Net, Anderson was a perfect 4 of 4 from the field. ... Nets’ Coach Bill Fitch said it is obvious that since the Nets gave up a No. 1 for Petrovic, he will get plenty of playing time. “He’s not coming here to teach me Russian,” Fitch said of the Yugoslavian. ... The Denver Nuggets had a deal worked out to send Davis to the Phoenix Suns for Cedric Ceballos and Kenny Battle. But as a courtesy, they asked Davis how he would feel returning to Phoenix, where Davis was embroiled in a drug controversy. Davis said he preferred not to go. “I was flattered that they would even want me back,” Davis said, “but for my piece of mind, I don’t want to go through the rehashing of all that crap again.”

Around the league: It is with a great deal of pride and anticipation that I deliver the news that Soviet forward Valery Tikhonenko, now playing in Italy, has agreed to come to Atlanta’s training camp next season. That should alter the power structure in the Eastern Conference.

The NBA isn’t saying it, but league officials are pleased the San Antonio Spurs decided not to sign David Wingate. The prospect of promoting the NBA playoffs with a player who has criminal and civil charges of rape in two states was not appealing to league officials. ... Much is made out of 5-3 Tyrone Bogues being the smallest player in the NBA. But it’s nothing new. His dad is 5-6, his mother is 5-4 and he has brothers 5-7 and 5-5. “I even got the short end of that deal,” Bogues said. ... This season, Greg Kite of the Orlando Magic has had a bruised larynx, 19 stitches from four separate facial cuts, one torn ligament in his hand and a broken nose. But he has not missed a game. ... Last year, the Lakers’ A.C. Green was an All-Star starter. This season, he did not finish among the top 10 forwards in Western Conference voting. I’m sure inquisitive fans would love to know how many votes Green received, but the league divulges totals of only the top 10 players, leaving many to conclude that no matter how advanced the NBA gets, unless it is a matter that relates to ticket prices, the salary cap or TV money, many people in the league office still can’t count past 10.

How bad is the situation in Dallas, where Roy Tarpley and Fat Lever have played little this season because of injuries? Last week, Coach Richie Adubato was in such a daze that he forgot to show up for “The Richie Adubato” radio show. ... All doesn’t seem well in Charlotte, where J.R. Reid has played poorly since Armon Gilliam was traded. Hornets’ Coach Gene Littles recently compared Reid to Darryl Dawkins. And the really bad thing is that Reid is no where near as funny. ... ohn (Hot Fudge) Williams is continuing to have problems shedding fat. He now will not return until after the All-Star Game. ... Houston Rockets’ Coach Don Chaney thought the lackadaisical play of Benoit Benjamin contributed to Chaney’s firing as the Clippers coach 3 1/2 years ago. But Chaney said Benjamin “has turned the corner into adulthood,” and deserves to be on the All-Star team. During a recent 10-game stretch, Benjamin averaged 17.6 rebounds.

Michael Jordan, a native of North Carolina, said the ticket requests are so heavy for the Charlotte All-Star Game that, “I feel like the host of the whole thing.” Jordan knows family and friends would like to see him perform in the slam-dunk and three-point contests, but he has refused because of his exhausting schedule. “Besides,” said a smiling Jordan, as he pondered adding to his mystique, “they saw all that stuff when I was growing up.”