THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Lakers, Clippers Must Play Cards in Their Hands

Danny Manning didn’t get traded. The Clippers didn’t come up with Dennis Rodman or Kendall Gill, nor did the Lakers get Jim Jackson.

What now?

Lakers--If Jerry West had landed Jackson, he would have deserved to go into the Hall of Fame all over again. He would have done three years of rebuilding in one year by adding Jackson to Anthony Peeler and Doug Christie.

As it is, West started the process, even if he had to bite a cannonball named Benoit Benjamin. West is aware of the trap of the middle--not good enough to win anything, not bad enough to get a high draft pick--and wants out.

For this he is to be congratulated and supported. Laker fans have to stop looking through the old prism. The glory days are over. To rebuild, they have to build down first. It won’t be pretty, but that’s life.

There is no divine right of Lakers, Celtics or anyone else.

Clippers--They didn’t need to build down, but they’re doing it anyway.

The front office is telling Larry Brown everything will work out, but he’s not buying it.

Brown desperately wanted the Manning and Ken Norman situations resolved and was more than disappointed when they weren’t.

Add in Ron Harper--the club doesn’t intend to pick up his $4-million option for next season but hopes to sign him at a lower price as an unrestricted free agent--and the situation is what might be called fluid.

The sad truth is that free agents, frustrated by the failure of negotiations with their old teams, are hard to sign. The most probable outcome is bye-bye Snake, bye-bye Ron and they’ll still have to shop Danny.

Brown, of course, comes with a double-edged reputation.

First, he’ll improve your team in a hurry.

I don’t have to tell you what’s second.

SALARY CAP DAYS

For those who still want to know how the heck West could do it, here goes:

Teams over the salary cap, like the Lakers and almost everyone else, must trade “slot for slot,” exchanging players within 15% of each other’s salaries.

Say you want to move Sam Perkins for a young player.

You’re out of luck.

There are only three under 27 who fit his $3-million slot: Shaquille O’Neal, Derrick Coleman and Danny Ferry--two untouchables and an unmentionable.

If you drank Allan Bristow into a stupor and swindled him out of Larry Johnson, you couldn’t make the deal. Johnson makes $2.54 million, not enough.

In the last two years, West struck out on proposals for Johnson, Manning, Hakeem Olajuwon and the No. 5 pick in the ’92 draft, to name a few.

By taking Benjamin, he got Christie, problem knee and all. It was his best remaining move and he knew it, from experience.

GOODBY UTAH

All-Star weekend revisited:

Biggest winner--David Stern. TV ratings were an all-time record for the event, 12% higher than the box-office numbers for the 1992 Magic Johnson game, almost double the 1991 rating.

Second biggest winner--Harold Miner, who let all his boys know he was still Harold Miner.

Biggest loser--East Coach Pat Riley.

He seemed pleased that what he called “the Riley rule” which bars consecutive appearances by coaches, put him in over his new archrival, Phil Jackson. But as Mark Twain once said of lynchings, if it wasn’t for the honor of the thing, he would have done well to pass.

Larry Johnson ripped Riley for playing him too little.

O’Neal dropped similar hints.

Said Johnson: “You don’t do that to me. I’ll score 80 on them (Knicks).”

Said O’Neal’s father, Sgt. Philip Harrison: “Of course, I was upset and everyone knows why (Riley) was doing it.”

Meanwhile, Michael Jordan, who played more than anyone, wondered if Riley was trying to wear him out.

“If Patrick (Ewing) hadn’t played all those minutes, something would have been up,” Jordan said. “It was OK.”

Jordan and Scottie Pippen did notice that Riley kept calling out Chicago plays for them to run.

Said Jordan: “He was telling us that the Knicks know our plays.”

Next year, Riles, try Malibu.

Worst victory trot--Co-MVPs Karl Malone and John Stockton came out of the All-Star break and fell on their faces. The Mailman scored one point in the second half of a Delta Center rout by the Houston Rockets. Stockton was six for 22 and scored a total of 14 points in defeats by the Rockets and Golden State Warriors.

Lamest post-event quote--Boston’s Dee Brown became the first dunk champion to refuse to return while at the same time maintaining he would have won.

“Terrible again,” Brown said of the competition. “There was no creativity. If I’d been there, I’d have won it.”

RAISING MINNESOTA

How would you like it if your prize rookie turned out to be the second coming of Dennis the Menace?

If you’re the Minnesota Timberwolves, you would have very mixed feelings.

Christian Laettner has been irritating everyone since the day he arrived and before. At Duke, he had run-ins with teammates who resented his yelling. On the Dream Team, his high-handed behavior had NBA officials raising eyebrows.

He had an early crisis with his Minnesota teammates, responding to suggestions that he was selfish--or in the words of Doug West, “brain dead”--by ignoring West alone under the basket and dribbling in for a dunk.

After the ensuing firestorm, Laettner agreed that he needed to pass more.

Interim Coach Sidney Lowe, taking over for Jimmie Rodgers, made it a priority to warm Laettner up.

Said Lowe: “What I tried to do with Christian, I said, ‘You can do this two ways. You can decide you’re right and something’s wrong with the people who don’t like you. Or you can say, “What can I do to make them like me better?” ’

“Sometimes he comes over to the bench and says things and I’ll say, ‘Are you talking to me or are you mad at yourself?’ And he’ll say he’s mad at himself.”

Or not.

Shortly thereafter, Laettner flipped out at assistant coach Chuck Davisson, telling him to shut up.

Then Laettner missed a practice after the All-Star break to fly to North Carolina to accept an award. Lowe suspended him for one game--$25,609 worth.

Said Laettner, not exactly repentant: “I asked them if I could go and they said no. I knew while I was away there would be some kind of repercussion. I feel like I’m being dealt with like a child. I’m still being punished. I thought this was the pros.”

Laettner’s agent, Ed Tiryakian, released a statement that conceded his client is “not going to become Mr. Congeniality overnight, but I’m not sure anyone wants him to be.”

Just be glad it’s their problem and not yours.

FACES AND FIGURES

Isn’t it amazing how the game’s evolution always seems to mirror the makeup of his roster? The Knicks’ Riley on the future of basketball: “The game of the ‘90s has become a game of force. The evolution of the game of basketball has changed. It is a game of force, offensively and defensively. The whole psyche of the players has changed to a point where it’s a very willful I-will-impose-my-will-on-you (thing).” . . . The Knicks can’t negotiate with Charles Smith until July 1 when he will become an unrestricted free agent, but they are close to agreement on a deal worth $3.5 million per year. “Before the trade, we received permission from the Clippers to talk to Charles,” Knick General Manager Dave Checketts said. “We’re committed to him.” Said Smith: “As far as I’m concerned, I’m a New York Knick from here on in.” . . . Now if he could only make a jump shot: In the first two games after the break, Smith shot seven for 26.

Just be glad this guy is someone else’s problem, too: Rodman missed the first Detroit practice after the All-Star break, claiming his flight was delayed. The next night, he arrived 45 minutes late for a game against the Philadelphia 76ers and had 25 rebounds. . . . The 1994 free-agent class is getting formidable. First Manning, then Gill, now Detlef Schrempf, who has a buyout clause in his contract similar to the one Xavier McDaniel exercised in New York. . . . In case you thought the Lakers would be under the cap then, forget it. In the ‘94-95 season, their balloon payments come due: $14.6 million to Magic Johnson, $7.4 million to James Worthy.

With the $10,000 he and Pippen were fined for missing the All-Star interview session, Jordan is up to $73,000 this season. The others: $10,000 for fighting Reggie Miller, $48,000 in a one-game suspension for same, $5,000 for criticizing officials.

Chris Webber of Michigan and Jamal Mashburn of Kentucky get more exposure, but some people think Anfernee Hardaway of Memphis State is the best of the three great underclassmen. Among them are Larry Bird, who says of Hardaway: “I always did like guards who can rebound.” Says Sacramento General Manager Jerry Reynolds: “Anfernee Hardaway is the real deal. You can make a comparison with Magic. I’m not saying they’re the same, but he’s as close as he needs to be. If he comes out, it will be hard not to see him No. 1.” . . . Reynolds, seeing a tape of his work as a TV commentator: “I told my wife I looked like a fat little hillbilly. She said, ‘That’s because you are, dear.’ ”