Richardson Cools Heels in Minnesota : Pro basketball: Former UCLA guard ponders less playing time, desire to play in Los Angeles.

Pooh Richardson, being of thick skin and thin blood, answers the phone at his home in Minnesota. The temperature outside hovers near zero.

Things are cold, he says, even for someone who grew up in Philadelphia. On the court, they’re not quite as bad--only chilling. But what can a guy do?

He plays point guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, though lately not as much as he would like. Not always the way he would like, either.

Richardson dreams of returning to play in Los Angeles, his adopted home since being honored as a three-time All-Pacific 10 Conference selection at UCLA. He makes no secret about it.

“No question,” he says. “If I said I wouldn’t want to, that’s not being fair to myself.”

Although he lived in a Westwood apartment last summer, he likes Minnesota, especially the people. The winter weather, that’s the main drawback.

The style of play is another. Richardson figured that his career got a reprieve when Bill Musselman, his coach in his first two years in the NBA, was fired after the 1990-91 season, the slow-down, dump-it-into-the-post style of play going, too.

Richardson wasn’t the only guy who pooh-poohed Musselman and his offense, but as a point guard ready to run, he probably was the most affected. Those two years taught him a lot, but mainly about dealing with a trying situation. He was the only player in the NBA who could play all 164 games his first two seasons as a pro and claim no one saw him.

“He was so good for us, and that was part of his frustration,” Bruin Coach Jim Harrick says. “I look at films now of him at UCLA, and it’s like he is spoon-feeding most of the guys with passes.”

Musselman was replaced by Jimmy Rodgers, the former Celtic coach. Moods soared, but in the course of learning a new system with some new players, the team’s scoring has suffered. The Timberwolves (3-11) have a league-low average of 94.9 points a game heading into a two-game trip that begins tonight in Seattle against the SuperSonics and concludes Saturday night at the Sports Arena against the Clippers.

Somehow, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

“I wasn’t really comfortable because playing the NBA style of game is supposed to be exciting, and it’s always going to be a challenge,” Richardson says. “Just to be in a situation where you can create on the floor night in and night out and not have to worry. That’s what makes players great in this league . . . not only great ability, but to have the support of the coaching staff and management and the extra support of the head coach.

“What would you think if a team had Clyde Drexler and told him to take all his shots from the low post and pass? What kind of player do you think he would be? It’s hard. If you give a player all the opportunities and then he shows he can’t perform, that means he can’t handle it. I’m looking at it from an outsider’s standpoint, where I see a lot of teams that would be able to get the most out of your abilities.

“Yes, it’s frustrating losing so many games, but with an expansion team, you have to prepare yourself for that situation. But I don’t think I should be losing the minutes. You lose the aggressiveness, you lose the creativity. Who wants to be on the court and play like a robot? To a certain extent, I feel that way.”

Losing the minutes. That never used to be a problem for Richardson, who has started 138 consecutive games and last season averaged 38.5 minutes.

“He loved to play basketball,” says Harrick, who keeps in touch with his former player. “He loved to practice basketball. Miss a day, get sick--unheard of. Put his hands on his shorts and let you think he was tired--unheard of. A real hardballer. Then he goes to Minnesota and they make him sit behind Sidney Lowe (early in Richardson’s rookie season). He would have sat, that’s no problem. But to sit behind someone not really in his class, that’s frustrating.”

Richardson capitalized when the chances came--he was third in the league last season in assist-to-turnover ratio. He finished seventh in assists despite occasionally being victimized by passes going off the hands of teammates.

And now, he is struggling, shooting 39.6% while averaging 12.6 points, about 4.5 fewer than last season, and 7.6 assists, down about 1.5.

But this is the worst part: 33.9 minutes a game, still most on the team, but fading. Continuing to be beaten defensively, one on one, by quick, penetrating guards, he is averaging only 30.1 minutes in the last seven outings.

The difference in styles from Musselman to Rodgers is responsible, says Bill Robertson, publicist for the Timberwolves. Rodgers is using more players and spreading out the opportunities because his uptempo style demands it. Richardson is sharing time with Scott Brooks, the former UC Irvine player who is averaging 2.9 points and 3.1 assists in 13.9 minutes.

“I don’t want people to read an article and see someone just complaining,” said Richardson, who holds UCLA records for career steals, assists and three-point shooting percentage. “That’s not it at all. Here’s the key: You’re an expansion team, a growing team. You have to develop. In your development, you take what you consider the top guys and give them as many minutes possible without killing them.

“I’m feeling like I have to prove myself again. Not with other teams around the league, but with this team. That seems ludicrous to me. But I guess that’s the way it is.”