THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Brown Gets to Heart of the Problem

Say what you will about Larry Brown, the Clipper coach puts it on the line.

Often it’s right before he puts himself on the road. But if he leaves tomorrow, his remarks on ESPN’s “Up Close” qualify as a landmark contribution to his organization.

Brown, eager to resolve the situations of Danny Manning and unrestricted free-agents-to-be Ken Norman and Ron Harper, was distressed when the trading deadline came and went with no one signed, traded or anything.

Being Larry Brown, he talked about it.

“I really think Mr. (Donald) Sterling will spend the money,” Brown said. “I think we waited too long. I don’t know if we have a plan. . . . I think we have so many people who have opinions how the team should be run that sometimes we lose sight of what the important thing is and that’s knowing who’s going to be on our team next year.

“We have to have a plan. If I were to ask Elgin Baylor or Mr. Sterling or Harley Frankel or Andy Roeser, which I probably have to most of the time, who would be on our team next year, I don’t think I’d get the same answer from any one of them.

“People in our organization got on me, saying, ‘Larry, there’s a lot of players on the Lakers that are unsigned like our team, what is the difference? Why do you think there’s such a need for you to have these guys signed now early?’

“I say, ‘Well, there is one difference. The Lakers have always taken care of their own.’ We have a history. Around the league, at least we’re perceived that we don’t take care of our own.”

When he’s right, he’s right.

Baylor, the general manager, is a good basketball man who has proved adept at trading under adverse conditions.

Frankel, the executive vice president, is an able man who has served not only in the Portland Trail Blazers’ front office but on President Clinton’s transition team.

Roeser, the vice president for business operations, has professionalized the front office.

But there is no clear chain of command. Baylor makes basketball decisions--until they involve large amounts of money, at which point others get involved, they all go to committee and hard choices get put off.

“One of the concerns I had (in taking the job), I didn’t think we ever had a true chain of command,” Brown said last week from Washington. “They had always had, like Carl Scheer and (Alan) Rothenberg and (Bob) Steele and Arn Tellem. And to me, my way of thinking, there’s never been a guy to make the decisions and you go from there.

“It’s still a workable situation. I told them, ‘I want it to be the way it was told to me.’ I don’t look at any of these people as adversaries. I really believe everybody wants the same thing I want.”

Lest we be in any doubt just whose problem this is, it’s Sterling’s.

It’s his front office. It’s his team. It has taken him 12 ignominious years to put it together. It has never seen a better day, but he’s on the verge of blowing it all.

IT ISN’T A LOVELY

LITTLE WAR ANY MORE

The new Knick-Net rivalry isn’t lovely and it isn’t little.

War still applies.

That hit New York’s John Starks put on New Jersey’s Kenny Anderson might have been a garden-variety hard foul, hardly comparing to Starks’ worst excesses, such as the time he hog-tied Scottie Pippen in midair. But because of who he is--”a repeat offender,” as Net General Manager Willis Reed put it--and the team he plays for--those new Bad Boys, the Knicks--it became the shot heard ‘round New York.

When the 159-pound Anderson thudded to the floor and came up with a broken bone in his left wrist, a rivalry was born.

Before this season, any bad feeling existed only in the minds of Net fans, whoever they were. Even crowds in the Meadowlands customarily rooted for the Knicks. To the Knicks, the Nets represented a short trip and a victory. Anderson, a Queens native, said he barely heard of the Nets as he was growing up.

Last Sunday, the Knicks bused across the Hudson River, took a 102-76 pasting and heavy PR damage, too. Anderson, regarded as the best New York player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is a local icon and the Knicks’ hometown papers had no trouble figuring where they stood on this one. “Dirty Tricks Must End Now,” read a headline in the New York Daily News.

Starks was fined $5,000 by the league office.

The Knicks called it an overreaction.

The Nets called it a slap on the wrist and vowed revenge, apparently not inclined to count Derrick Coleman driving Greg Anthony into the basket support.

Said Rick Mahorn: “Somewhere down the line, (Starks) will get his. You look around and see who’s doing what and he’ll get his.”

Said Net Coach Chuck Daly: “If it would have been (Michael) Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal or Patrick Ewing out three or four weeks, there would have been an uproar. You would never have heard the end of it.”

As usual, the Knicks weren’t apologizing.

More like snickering.

“It’s funny hearing Chuck Daly talking about us,” Doc Rivers said. “Has he forgotten? Those Detroit Pistons? They were dirty. We play physical.”

In case Pat Riley hasn’t figured it out, it’s easier to be a Bad Boy in Detroit than in New York, where everyone already hates you on general principles.

Stung, the Great Communicator struck back.

“It’s incredible sometimes how this team is covered,” Riley said.

“I wasn’t working for the team then, but I read an article when they got swept by the Chicago Bulls two years ago about a heartless, gutless (Knick) team that allowed people to drive the lane, have lunch, get a car wash, cash a check before anyone would ever step up and defend them. And the team was characterized as a heartless, gutless team and why wouldn’t anybody every now and then step in front of somebody?

“So now here we are, playing hard and playing tough, and those same people that are characterizing us as that want us to be like that again?

“We will never be soft again, not as long as I’m here. I don’t care what they do. Whatever soft means. I don’t know what that means.

“And Reed! Mister Reed! Ask him about the night he took on our whole team!”

OK, they’re agreed that no one has the right to talk, everyone has been on both sides of this issue and no one is backing down.

In other words, stay tuned.

GOODBY, COLUMBUS

How close was Jerry West to landing Ohio State’s Jim Jackson, who, with Anthony Peeler and Doug Christie, would have given the Lakers three top prospects without a lottery finish?

West had a three-way deal worked out with the Mavericks and Bucks, sending Vlade Divac to Milwaukee.

He had only to get Jackson to agree to come . . . but couldn’t.

With the Lakers $3 million over the salary cap, he presented two deals: a one-year, $190,000 minimum contract for a token appearance that would have made Jackson a restricted free agent and allowed the Lakers to match any offer; and Divac’s slot, $942,000, which would then have been raised 30% a season in a long-term contract.

Given the Lakers’ natural recruiting advantages and Jerry Buss’ reputation for generosity, West thought he was home.

Imagine his surprise when Jackson and his agent, Mark Termini, said they weren’t trusting anyone for anything.

A man who was also on the conference call says West didn’t go quietly, either, yelling at Termini.

Meanwhile, the rest of the league was aghast. Magic Johnson, doing a game for NBC, criticized Jackson.

Said George Andrews, a Chicago agent: “I thought (Jackson) had taken a vow of poverty. Next, I would expect him to shave his head and join a monastery.”

Instead, Jackson signed with the Mavericks.

FACES AND FIGURES

Boston’s Kevin McHale, on the newest NHL team: “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. That’s just awful. The Mighty Ducks! What are we going to call the Bruins, the Cuddly Bears?” . . . At least he’s not claiming he’s misunderstood: Minnesota’s Christian Laettner on his widespread unpopularity: “Everyone thinks, ‘Just because he’s white and from Duke, e should be a good guy.’ Well, I’m not nice when I’m losing all the time. . . . When we’re not playing well, I can’t leave my feelings on the court.” . . . Still unexplained is why he came off so arrogant at two-time champion Duke and with the Dream Team.

Charles Barkley, playing with a sore toe, scored 36 points with 17 rebounds and nine assists in his first game against his former Philadelphia 76er teammates. Said Barkley: “If I was breathing, I was playing this game.” . . . Washington Coach Wes Unseld, after Miami’s Steve Smith punctuated a rout of the Bullets by trying to catch his own lob off the backboard and dunk it: “When I was playing, if he’d done that he would have been wearing his intestines on the floor. But it’s a different time now. You’re surprised when your guys don’t high-five a guy after that.”

Portland Coach Rick Adelman, who had started the same lineup since Buck Williams arrived four seasons ago, benched Kevin Duckworth and Jerome Kersey for Mark Bryant and Cliff Robinson. “I feel we’re at the crossroads of our season,” Adelman said. “We have to decide if we’re going to have a good season, a middle-of-the-road season or if we’re going to drop back.” After that, Clyde Drexler pulled a hamstring and the Trail Blazers were walloped in Boston and Denver, then lost at home to Charlotte. . . . Phoenix’s Mark West to Kevin Johnson, suiting up after missing 17 games because of a bruised calf: “What is it, picture day?”