THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Big Ben Has to Be More Popular in Seattle

Good night, Mr. Benjamin, wherever you are: An era ended when the Clippers bowed to inevitability and traded their free agent-to-be, old 00.

Benjamin departs with his legend intact, one of the most unpopular local figures since God created Southern California and whoever it was invented the traffic jam.

Benoit was 7 feet, 250 pounds (in the press guide, 265-290 on the floor) of human pincushion. He made Marc Wilson look like a fan favorite.

Naturally, Benjamin was undeserving of some of the abuse.

True, he remains a little, uh, confused about the demands of professional basketball.

Sometimes he played, sometimes he was in Never-Never Land. Every season he trimmed down, every off-season he returned looking like the Hindenburg.

He affected the trappings of the big city, the Porsche with the car phone and “NOITSKY” vanity plate, but he still looked like a country type from Louisiana trying to find his bearings.

He wasn’t malicious or mean. He took a lot of flak but didn’t hold grudges. His teammates genuinely liked him. It’s a shame it didn’t work out here, but he gets a new start.

Now for some post-Ben comments.

To Donald Sterling: Next time negotiate in the off-season and avoid the fire sale.

To Elgin Baylor: They said it couldn’t be done, but congratulations on dodging the bullet. Olden Polynice can be a Mark West and he plays hard. The two No. 1s will look nice in a trade package.

To Jerry West: Sorry . . . or are you still in this game?

To Seattle SuperSonic President Bob Whitsitt: Good luck.

For the Clippers, this was the week that was:

--Bo Kimble’s agent said Bo would welcome a trade.

--Gary Grant said he didn’t want to be traded.

--Benjamin was traded.

--Grant changed his mind and said he did want to be traded, after all.

Baylor, who had been trying to find a taker for Grant since December irrespective of his wishes, tried but struck out.

Grant said that was OK with him, too.

With attendance about to take its customary second-half dive, it’s too bad the Clippers can’t sell tickets to watch their wheeling and dealing. But on behalf of all of us who chronicle such things, thank you.

Last shots, I promise:

Said Benjamin: “I feel like I never reached my potential.”

Said Whitsitt: “Obviously, we’re easy targets if we can’t sign him . . . “

Right you are, big guys.

Lowball: For once, the Houston Rockets had a valid excuse for shooting 33% in the first half on their home court.

Their basket was three inches low, at 9-foot-9.

It wasn’t discovered until their opponent, the Phoenix Suns, took that end for second-half warm-ups and complained that something was wrong.

“I wasn’t much of a shooter when I played,” Rocket Coach Don Chaney said, “but I played with some guys who could tell if it was a fraction of an inch off.”

Said Rocket guard Vern Maxwell: “I noticed it in pregame warm-ups, I went in for a dunk and I said, ‘Damn! I’m looking down on this thing!’ I just didn’t want to say anything.”

Said Otis Thorpe: “I just thought I was feeling good.”

Proving that awareness can be overrated, the Rockets led at halftime, 49-43, and won, 100-91.

Bill Cartwright rides again: Make room on the list the Chicago Bulls’ center has dented with elbows--Akeem Olajuwon, Terry Catledge, Greg Kite and Jack Sikma--for Jim Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons, 9, was the Bulls’ honorary ballboy.

Cartwright, diving out of bounds for a ball, clipped the tyke with one of those ubiquitous elbows, raising a welt over his right eye.

Unlike Olajuwon and the others, Fitzsimmons said he wouldn’t call the NBA office.

Said Fitzsimmons: “All I care about is I got to meet Bill Cartwright.”

Be careful shaking that hand.

What’s next? Mr. Bill brings down a satellite?

NBA Notes

Michael Jordan says his buddy, Charles Barkley “will win (the MVP) this year. He was the All-Star MVP, so this should just follow, unless Magic (Johnson) slips in.” . . . What does MVP stand for, Me Vent Plenty? Barkley is a great star, but he has a short fuse and a pronounced habit of browbeating teammates. There have to be better criteria for MVP than scoring, rebounding and being good copy. Like, winning something sometime?

Good memory: Milwaukee Buck Coach Del Harris, after trading Ricky Pierce for Dale Ellis: “Ricky became available when he held out my first season. After that season, he was always available for the right deal.” Harris became Buck coach four seasons ago. If that minor disruption can get you sprung from Milwaukee, check your stopwatch. Ellis should be available any second.

Management seminar: Al Bianchi, the Knicks’ soon-to-be-former general manager, fined Mark Jackson for saying Bianchi has a vendetta against him. According to Bianchi, when he gave him the good news, Jackson argued, left practice and slammed the door behind him. Bianchi says he had no choice but to suspend him for two games--$40,000 worth on Jackson’s $1.7-million salary--for “conduct detrimental to the team.” . . . If Bianchi wants to find detrimental conduct, let him ask the face he sees in the mirror who ran off Rick Pitino and converted a good pressing team into an inept half-court team. . . . Jackson made his comments a week ago. Bianchi waited until after the trade deadline to suspend him, obviously hoping to trade Jackson first. When he couldn’t, he decided to get his money’s worth. . . . Nice job: Chicago General Manager Jerry Krause, who had $1.8 million under the salary cap to play with, superfluous young players to trade and holes in his lineup, stood pat.

B-O-R-I-N-G: Sacramento’s Antoine Carr, earning $750,000, wants $2 million, like Wayman Tisdale. . . . The Detroit Pistons’ James Edwards, 36, earning $935,000, upset because Dennis Rodman is about to get a four-year, $11.8-million deal, wants an extension at $1.5 million-per that would carry him to age 40. . . . Scottie Pippen can’t hold still a second longer since the Bulls have been slow raising his $765,000 to the $3-million level of fellow 1987 draftees Reggie Miller and Reggie Lewis. . . . Denver’s Orlando Woolridge, denied renegotiation until the off-season, said his $800,000 “makes me feel so cheap . . . (like) just another peon in this organization.” . . . The Denver Post, seeking to ascertain Woolridge’s bargaining position, found none. Said one general manager: “I know of no team in the NBA interested in having Orlando Woolridge on their roster--probably including the Nuggets.”

House of the (Intermittently) Rising Suns: They had a four-hour no-coaches meeting after they were beaten in Houston and Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers argued on the floor. Was KJ upset at Chambers for shooting too much? Said Chambers: “For me, being a team player is taking my shots.” He may be right. He took 16 against the Boston Celtics, made three, and Phoenix won. . . . New Jersey Net Coach Bill Fitch, on the rookie-of-the-year “race” between his Derrick Coleman and the Sacramento Kings’ Lionel Simmons: “We should let all 27 teams draft again to settle it. They’d all draft Coleman.” . . . Kids: Simmons averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, five assists over three games, then left the lineup with tendinitis in his right wrist--from playing Nintendo.

Weekly Jordan Olympic update: Despite posing with Johnson, Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone for Sports Illustrated’s dream team, Michael said he’s still leaning against playing in Barcelona because of the time commitment. . . . Comment: If Jordan winds up going because his sneaker company wants him to, that’s lame. One of these multimillionaires ought to make some choice in his life that doesn’t involve his sneaker company. . . . Boston’s dunk contest winner Dee Brown now gets more attention when the Celtics are on the road than Larry Bird. Said Brown: “What’s this world coming to?”

Laughable folk movement of the week: Houston fans, swept away by the Rockets’ 10-2 streak, called for injured Akeem Olajuwon to be traded or become sixth man. Coach Don Chaney even discussed bringing him off the bench. Said Olajuwon: “Sure, they could always trade me. You know how long that would take the Rockets? (Snapping his fingers.) I’d be gone like that. The Rockets would get two or three players and probably some money. And I know that I’d get more money. So I guess everybody could be happy. I could be happy with more money, if that’s what everybody wants. . . . I work hard and that’s all I can do. If that’s not good enough for the man in the street, he can go to hell.”