THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Will Lakers Follow Bouncing Balls Into Lottery?

Take a look at the Lakers’ championship team of 1980, Magic Johnson’s rookie season.

Who’s missing from this picture?

Oh.

Everyone.

What they are going through now can hardly be termed a surprise.

When Johnson left, they lost their crunch-time scorer, No. 2 rebounder, floor leader, cheerleader and walking boss. The weight of his loss is simply beginning to crush them.

Coach Mike Dunleavy refuses to concede anything, proclaiming this half “unacceptable” and that game “an embarrassment,” but no one on the coaching staff actually thinks the Lakers are underachieving. This is a paper-thin team in a schedule crunch.

Moreover, nothing is falling into place for them.

Vlade Divac is expected this week but it may be April before he’s in real shape.

By then, the Lakers have an East Coast swing and games at Portland, Utah and Houston.

Said a team official last week: “I don’t see the cavalry riding over the hill.”

Barring divine intervention, recent history offers a model of what might be expected.

In 1988, the Celtics lost Larry Bird six games into the season.

They had Kevin McHale near his prime (he averaged 23 points and shot 54%), Robert Parish (19 points, 12 rebounds, shooting 57%), Reggie Lewis (19 points, 49%), Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson.

They went 42-40.

Start thinking the unthinkable--the Lakers in the lottery.

Said a general manager last week: “It could happen.”

CLIPPERS ASCENDING

This was another no-brainer.

They’re not going to win 50 games or walk into the playoffs, but they look like they will approximate their potential.

This was every bit as predictable as the New York Knicks’ rise under Pat Riley.

The Clippers and Knicks were talented teams that massively underachieved under revolving-door coaches.

Given someone who combined a command presence with human qualities and technical expertise, whom they were obliged to respect, they figured to improve dramatically.

The only question was how dramatic?

Ron Harper started taking the ball to the basket. He was shooting 39% when Larry Brown arrived, 50% since.

Olden Polynice hasn’t complained once about sharing time with James Edwards.

Gary Grant, shopped to everyone in the free world--”I don’t like guys who talk major trash, especially if they can’t back it up,” an opposing general manager said of him--has looked like a real point guard.

What’s gone right?

“One thing with Larry,” says Doc Rivers, “you know he’s here. It’s not guessing every day whether the coach is going to be here or not.”

THANKS BUT NO THANKS

A Clipper official says they were close to getting the 76ers’ Charles Barkley--for Charles Smith, Ken Norman, Bo Kimble and a No. 1 pick--but both teams pulled back.

The Clippers say it was a close call.

One one hand, in a 27-team league, you almost never get a chance at a superstar.

The Clippers could have landed him without tearing apart their nucleus.

They do not figure to land an all-star center or point guard. If they intend to play for a championship, here was their chance. A front line of Polynice, Edwards, Barkley, Danny Manning and Loy Vaught would have been a nice start.

Barkley and Manning are fine passers and would have been dynamite together.

There’s always the chance that Barkley will grow up.

On the other hand, there’s always the chance he won’t.

Forget his current antics (see below) that are designed to drive 76er owner Harold Katz crazy so he’ll trade him. However, Barkley hasn’t had to invent a new persona.

Brown had a problem here and there with David Robinson.

Compared to Barkley, Robinson is Sir Lancelot.

The Clippers would have been chained to Barkley. If it didn’t work, it might have wrecked the program.

The Clippers got it right. They’ve come too far to bet everything.

CHARLES--THE WEEK

In Dallas, Barkley cursed heckling fans loudly enough to be heard in the balcony.

After the game, he was asked by a Dallas TV station to record a public service announcement. He said he’d do it two ways:

The first: “This is Charles Barkley of the 76ers. Stay in school. It’s your best move.”

The second, covering up his uniform with a towel: “This is Charles Barkley of the Los Angeles Clippers. Stay in school. It’s your best move.”

Then he told the camera man: “Now you’re covered.”

The next day, he left the team, missed practice and flew here to do Arsenio Hall’s show. He didn’t ask Coach Jim Lynam until all the arrangements had been made.

Barkley flew back to Houston the day of the game and scored 23 points in a loss.

Officials in Philadelphia are doing the usual slow burn with their fists stuffed in their mouths.

A Clipper source says the long-suffering Lynam was one of the people pushing the Barkley deal.

DON CHANEY--JUNE 13, 1988-

FEB. 18, 1992

A team with Hakeem Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe ought to win 50 games by accident.

On track for 41 victories, the Rockets converted easy rider and nice guy Don Chaney from defending coach of the year into an ex-coach.

Running No. 9 in the West and headed for the lottery, they were desperate enough to eat $1.2 million of Chaney’s new, three-year contract.

“Don’s easiness this year was perceived as a lack of strictness,” guard Kenny Smith said.

“Last year when we won 52 games, it was called the freedom to let the players play. But there was no difference.”

In the best of times, Chaney was never a match for Vern Maxwell or Sleepy Floyd who kept shooting from the three-point line, at a 30% pace this season. Other teams went inside-out. The Rockets went outside-in.

In Rudy Tomjanovich’s debut, Maxwell and Floyd took 12 shots, Olajuwon and Thorpe 28. They won.

See who wins out in the end.

FACES AND FIGURES

Peanut Gallery: When Golden State’s Don Nelson heard the Lakers might be close to getting Derek Harper, he called Maverick Vice President Rick Sund to complain, asking how could he let the Lakers get up again? . . . Beware, coaches of the year: Of the last six winners, Don Chaney, Pat Riley, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Doug Moe, Mike Schuler and Mike Fratello, only Fitzsimmons is with the same team. Only one other--Riley--is working.

The trading deadline passed with two minor deals involving four players, none of them starters. Charles Barkley, Rolando Blackman, Harper, Jay Humphries, Chuck Person, Pooh Richardson, Ken Norman and James Worthy stayed where they were. Comment: Is David Stern serious when he says the salary cap isn’t restricting movement? To date, there has been enough juice between the NBA office, owners happy with the cap because it assures a profit, teams on top and teams afraid of the machinations of the great powers--the Knicks and Lakers--to keep the status quo. But the pressure is building to loosen the rules.

Will the Bulls make the NBA finals? Here are their streaks against East powers: Cavaliers, won 13 of 14; Knicks, won 13 in a row; Pistons, won eight in a row; Celtics, won four of five. . . . Chicago guard John Paxson, on scoring his 5,000th point: “It’s only taken nine years. Michael (Jordan) scored 5,000 in what, 90 games?”

Lest Larry Brown get nostalgic: Spur Coach Bob Bass exchanged angry words with Rod Strickland during the 124-110 loss to the Clippers. Strickland reportedly threw a soft drink can in the dressing room. “We lost our leadership out there on the floor, totally lost it,” Bass said. “He (Strickland) didn’t get us into our offense.” Bass, the 63-year-old general manager, had to take over when Brown left. “He doesn’t even want to coach,” a friend says. “It wouldn’t be any fun handling Rod if you wanted to coach.” . . . The Spurs called eight teams last week, asking if there was any interest in Strickland. The Lakers were interested but couldn’t close the deal. . . . The SuperSonics asked the Mavericks if they were interested in Gary Payton for Harper. No, thank you. . . . Larry Bird, surprised at his Forum ovation at Magic Johnson’s retirement: “I was ready to tell them they could boo me if it made them feel better. I think people understand how special the game is to me and Magic.” . . . Charlotte’s Larry Johnson after a newspaper poll of writers found Denver’s Dikembe Mutombo beating him, 21-5, for rookie of the year: “If that’s true, it would bug me.” When the teams met last week, Johnson scored a career-high 34 points. He said it was a coincidence. . . . The Pistons’ home record the last four seasons: 37-4, 34-7, 32-9, 16-10.