CLIPPERS : The Forward Foursome Is Still Playing Through

The gang’s all here . . . still. All four on the floor, not at once, but it would seem too much horsepower anyway.

The Clipper logjam at forward still exists with Charles Smith, Danny Manning, Ken Norman and Loy Vaught. Norman, who lost his starting job to Manning last season and will be No. 2 again come the Nov. 1 season opener at Sacramento, spent much of his summer at home in suburban Chicago wondering if he would be traded.

He was ready for anything.

And he got nothing.

“Am I surprised?” he said in the first week of Clipper training camp. “I wouldn’t say I’m surprised to be back, but I thought someone along the front line would be moved. As I’ve said before, we have four of the finest forwards in the league--Danny, Charles, Loy and myself. I knew we were trying to deal for a point guard, and I thought one of us would go in the trade. But I’m happy to be here and I look forward to the season.”

Norman hasn’t been a regular non-starter since early in his rookie season of 1987-88. Now, even though his 17.4-point average was third on the team last season, he faces the prospect of constant sixth-man status.

Not to worry. Just as Manning did a few seasons ago with Don Casey, Norman went to Coach Mike Schuler and said he would prefer to come off the bench, a conversation Schuler confirmed.

“Sure there’s ego involved,” Norman said. “But the bottom line is winning. People outside the team may talk about who took Ken Norman’s spot, but the coach thought the move would help the team, so that’s fine. My role is the same thing as a starter or a reserve, to help the team win.”

Although the sides never talked specific figures before he walked out of camp Friday night, sources for both sides agree the one-year contract extension guard Doc Rivers wants is at about $4 million.

The Clippers are not amused. They are not so much against an extra season on a deal that still has four years to run, but at the right time, after they take care of Charles Smith and Olden Polynice. And the $4 million is startling since Rivers, who will turn 30 Sunday, already is the third-highest paid player on the team for 1991-92 at $1.2 million, trailing only Manning and Ron Harper.

Even if they wanted, the Clippers couldn’t spread $4 million over two extra seasons instead of one because of a rule against extending a player’s contract beyond the season of his 35th birthday. That prevents avoiding the salary cap with psuedo-deferments for players nearing retirement.

The news on Harper, in his first training camp in two years, is all good.

Recent tests have determined the right knee that underwent reconstructive surgery in January of 1990 to be at 80-85% of its original strength, which indicates continued improvement during the off-season. Equally encouraging is that Harper has been cleared to play without a brace on the joint, though he will probably wear it at least to start the season.

Clipper Notes

Olden Polynice, who was born in Haiti and still has relatives there, has drawn a peace sign and the name of the Caribbean country on his sneakers in protest of the coup there. “Those are my roots,” he said. “That’s my background. I feel I have to show my feelings one way or another. I play in the NBA and I get to be seen so maybe people will see the shoes and become aware what is happening there.” Polynice, whose plans for a basketball clinic next August in the capital city of Port-Au-Prince are on hold, moved with his family to New York City when he was 7 years old but retains dual citizenship.

In what could be an entire training camp without competition as his foot continues to recover from a summer stress fracture, Bo Kimble will be relegated to the likes of swimming, riding a stationary bicycle and a rowing machine to stay in shape. . . . The Clippers, who have had occassional workouts at UCLA in the past, have scheduled 20 practices there this season.