New Heavyweight Champions? : Clippers: With Roberts and Williams, they are thinking pounds as well as rebounds.

The Clippers dealt with weighty issues when they opened training camp here Friday.

Stanley Roberts checked in, claiming to be 295-298 pounds. And he said it with a straight face.

John Williams was said to be equally out of shape when he took his physical.

Good thing General Manager Elgin Baylor is in good shape. He spent the day playing defense, and explaining how the team that won 45 games, that pushed the Utah Jazz to a fifth and final game in the first round of the playoffs, that finally seemed to be fulfilling potential, is only a memory, what with seven newcomers and only five players returning.

“New York has seven new players,” he said.

But Knick newcomer Rolando Blackman wasn’t suspended all last season for weight problems, as was Williams, acquired from Washington Thursday night for unsigned rookie Don MacLean and reserve center William Bedford. And former Clipper, now Knick, Charles Smith never frustrated teammates for being unmotivated, as did Roberts at Orlando.

“Are we concerned with that?” Baylor said of potential chemistry problems. “No. We never really even thought about that. The moves we made were for the betterment of the team. We had to look at this season and the future of the franchise. With Mark (Jackson), Stanley and John, we feel better about things.”

Asked what he would tell fans who might be wondering if the Clippers have messed up a good thing, he replied: “Do they also understand that we had to move Charles and Doc (Rivers), that we had to do certain things?”

Whether the Clippers had to trade Smith is a point of contention. Smith had said all along he wanted to stay in Los Angeles and the Clippers could have kept him with a long-term contract.

Too expensive? The option was to deal from a position of weakness--having to move Smith, in the same transaction that also cost Rivers. This not long after James Edwards was allowed to sign with the Lakers because the Clippers had decided a year after trading for him that he wasn’t enough of a defensive presence.

Roberts, the new starting center, is closer to 310 pounds, despite his claim of the mid-290s. The Clippers are waiting for him to meet with doctors and test for fat content before assigning a target weight.

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Assuming all the expected players make the roster, the Clippers will have two spots open for free agents.

One will probably go to Kiki Vandeweghe, if he accepts the offer of a one-year deal at the NBA minimum of $140,000. The veteran free agent remains available and, because of salary cap restrictions, can’t sign until rookie Elmore Spencer gets his contract.

That leaves six players going for the last spot: swingman Skeeter Henry, center Tito Horford, forward Ed Horton, swingman Jaren Jackson, forward Sebastian Neal and center-forward Brian Rahilly. Jackson probably has the inside track.

Clipper Notes

Mack Calvin will not be back for a second season as an assistant coach. The Clippers said he was let out of his contract by mutual agreement. He could not be reached for comment. Calvin, the former USC star who interviewed to replace Paul Westhead as coach at Denver, had voiced his disappointment with the Clippers for not giving him a chance to become permanent coach after Mike Schuler was fired before the All-Star break last season. He was interim coach for two games before Larry Brown took over. . . . The Clippers are in La Jolla until Thursday and open the exhibition schedule two days later at Cleveland, followed by a Sunday game against Milwaukee at Green Bay, Wis. They return to Los Angeles for two games at the Sports Arena--Oct. 20 against the Cavaliers and Oct. 23 against Philadelphia--before returning to La Jolla for a second camp.