THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : He May Give Up Life of Riley

Don’t look now, but the New York Knicks are about to go big to lure former Left Coast favorite Pat Riley back to coaching.

Try a five-year deal worth $5 million in cash and perks, like a swank New York apartment.

He said Saturday that he had been contacted by the club and that he is thinking about the job.

A year after his painful Laker exit, with a big buyout from Jerry Buss, a cushy TV job and a $20,000-per price tag on the motivational lecture circuit, does Riley need the aggravation?

He could be prince of the city for a summer but if you look past Patrick Ewing and the bright lights of Gotham, a problem or two occur.

The Knicks are about three starters away.

Ewing, a restricted free agent, can renegotiate his $3-million salary to the moon, leaving scant room for maneuvering under a $12.5-million cap.

New York isn’t Los Angeles. They have tabloids there, not to mention Morton Downey’s lost legion calling WFAN. Riley-esque touches like closed practices and keeping things in the family would be foreign concepts from a distant paradise.

On the other hand . . .

Laker insiders say Riley wants badly to coach again. Whether he was fired by the Lakers or nudged toward the door, his departure was less pleasant than advertised and he may feel like saddling up somewhere else.

As the tabloids burned out switchboards looking for him last week, Riley ducked from sight.

However, he previously told the Dallas Morning News that despite the fact that “this time away from coaching is really good for me . . . we all revert back to what we do best. If some team is willing to make an unprecedented offer, you have to listen.”

Notice, he said “away from coaching,” not “out of coaching.”

The Patrick Problem: The Knicks are also deciding whether to rebuild around Ewing . . . or without him.

Here are four teams in position to make a heavyweight offer:

Phoenix--Cotton Fitzsimmons’ deep bench didn’t prevent an untimely demise. The Xavier McDaniel deal didn’t exactly put the Suns over the top, so they may feel like stealing another march on the Wild West. They could give up a center (Mark West or Andrew Lang), a small forward (McDaniel and/or Cedric Ceballos) and a point guard (Negele Knight) and barely notice they were gone. If they are really intent on doing the deal, they could take out Knight and put in Kevin Johnson.

Just speculating, Cotton . . .

Clippers--We don’t have to guess at their interest after Don Sterling implored Madison Square Garden President Jack Diller on a bus at the All-Star game, within earshot of half the NBA press corps, to call him first. The Knicks could select three or four of the following: Olden Polynice, Danny Manning, Ken Norman, Loy Vaught, the upcoming lottery picks. The Clippers would throw in Gary Grant like complimentary gift wrapping.

Seattle--They were sinking and sniping at K.C. Jones’ play-everybody-but-keep-nobody-happy rotation, but two victories over the Trail Blazers may beckon toward a new dawn, however illusory. The SuperSonics have prospects in depth: young lion Shawn Kemp; talented enigma Derrick McKey; large Benoit Benjamin. They could throw in Eddie Johnson, Ricky Pierce, Nate McMillan, Sedale Threatt, Dana Barros and/or Michael Cage.

Washington--Ewing has said he wouldn’t mind returning to the city in which he played college ball. But could the Bullets land him with Pervis Ellison, Harvey Grant, Darrell Walker and a lottery pick? Would the Knicks be dumb enough to trade Ewing to a team in their own division?

Before the fall: Pride goes down the highway at 100 m.p.h. before the kind of falls Indiana’s Chuck Person sets himself up for.

After announcing he “owned” Larry Bird, the Pacer forward scored 39 points on Bird, et al, in an upset victory at Boston.

Quoth Person: “I love it. National TV, the parquet floor, all those . . . banners and the leprechaun. They were all trying to stop me, but nobody did.

“In my eyes, I was the best player in the world for one day.”

Added teammate Micheal Williams: “What can you say about Chuck Person? Tremendous? Sensational? Enormous? What else can you say?”

Erratic? Premature? Immature?

In Game 3, Person scored six.

In Game 4, he scored 30 and announced: “We feel these guys are scared of us.”

Game 5 is today. Imagine the possibilities.

NBA Notes

Call Atlanta and Ask If We Can Preempt The Beverly Hillbillies: Awaiting the pleasures of NBC and TNT, the NBA is turning teams upside down. The 76ers were to open in Chicago Saturday and Tuesday, decided to fly home in between, only to learn it was now Saturday-Monday, forcing them to scramble for hotel space. . . . The Warriors get a one-day break after beating San Antonio. This is nothing compared to the schedule if the Spurs had won. They would have flown to San Antonio Saturday, played Game 5 Sunday afternoon and been delivered to the Forum on a plate for Game 1 Monday.

Grass Is Always Greener Dept.: Portland’s Kevin Duckworth, criticized after Benoit Benjamin’s big game turned the first-round series around: “That’s the story right there. When we lose, the center gets blamed. When we win, the center doesn’t get any of the credit. When I come back in my next life, I want to play another position. . . . I want to own my own business, a stress-free job. I’ll grow worms and sell them.”

Add Stress: Chuck Daly, who almost bolted last season and is scheduled to spend the summer working on Olympic duties, is issuing qualified denials to reports he doesn’t want to return as Piston coach. “It hasn’t really crossed my mind,” Daly says. “Maybe I’ll do something after the season.” . . . If you want to see what stress looks like to a coach, look at Mark Aguirre. Daly and Aguirre yelled at each other during Detroit’s Game 1 loss to Atlanta. Said Daly: “I might have overreacted. . . . I wanted a defensive rotation. That’s all I ever want--a hand up, a box out.” . . . Said Aguirre, misunderstood again: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I followed his instructions and he let me have it big time.”

Sunrise, Sunset: Kevin Johnson denied it, but there is little doubt his hamstring pull hurt him in the 3-1 Jazz walkover. John Stockton outscored him, 18-13, outshot him, 62%-31%. . . . Remember, KJ’s hamstring pull in Game 6 of the Portland series shot the Suns down last season. . . . More numbers from the rout: Xavier McDaniel averaged nine points, shot 31%; Dan Majerle shot 38%; Tom Chambers shot 41%; Jeff Hornacek 43%.

Sayonara: New York’s John MacLeod and Miami’s Ron Rothstein left town ahead of the posse, resigning before they could be fired to the relief of both organizations. Rothstein, once considered the architect of the Piston defense, couldn’t make the jump from assistant coach. He was taut as a piano wire, alienating headstrong players such as Rony Seikaly. . . . Comic Relief: Former Utah funnyman Frank Layden, who walked away from coaching two seasons ago, says he’s interested in the Heat. He was Miami’s first choice originally, but Jazz owner Larry Miller refused Miami permission to talk to him.

Bright Lights, Medium-Size City: Several Spurs were spotted in a San Antonio club after midnight, hours before the next afternoon’s Game 2 loss to Golden State. The Spurs then imposed a curfew. You’ll recall how they lost Rod Strickland at midseason after an early morning fight in a club parking lot and put two prominent hot spots off-limits. . . . Team of 2000s?: The Warriors unmasked the Spurs’ lack of depth and shooting ability. Terry Cummings and Larry Brown don’t like each other, so the “team of the ‘90s” could be ready for a shake-up, too.

St. Charles: The Philadelphia 76ers had a bill of indictment on Charles Barkley as long as Manute Bol’s arm, but have forgiven him after playing valiantly on a sore knee in the sweep of Milwaukee. The 76ers are guaranteed two home sellouts against the Chicago Bulls--a $750,000 bonus. . . . Charlie’s water-throwing incident at Milwaukee passed with minor ripples. Buck fans may have thrown the first cup before Barkley retaliated with a torrent that had spectators passing towels down the rows.

Knick stability: In five seasons, they have had five coaches (Hubie Brown, Bob Hill, Rick Pitino, Stu Jackson, John MacLeod) and five general managers (Dave DeBusschere, Scotty Stirling, Jack Diller, Al Bianchi, Dave Checketts).