THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Pfund’s Position an Unenviable One

A funny thing happened on the way to the glue factory. That Laker victory in Phoenix was a nice moment for a bunch of guys in an unenviable position, including their coach, Randy Pfund, who probably saved his job, at least for the moment.

Pfund has made mistakes, all right. His biggest? Not taking that Sacramento job. He could be up there right now, with his feet on his desk, drooling at the prospect of adding another lottery pick to a promising young team, with all the time he needed to grow into his job.

But Randy Pfund is a Laker. He bleeds purple and gold, and often.

He was nothing at all until Pat Riley lifted him out of assistant’s job at little Westmont College. Riley wanted someone young, eager, without scars, to train in the Laker way. Pfund, then 33, bought the program, so much so that in its last days, he still chose it. Then Magic Johnson retired and it was all over but the recriminations.

Word leaked out recently that Jerry Buss was leaning toward firing Pfund. Buss has been the ideal owner, with deep pockets, a low profile and an abiding confidence in Jerry West, a sharp general manager whom he lets call the shots, giving the Lakers a model front office.

Of course, the Lakers have never been in such a fix.

Season-ticket renewals last summer were down 22% until Johnson announced he was coming back. With courtside tickets priced at $500 and senate seats at $90, they are facing the prospect of a real hit next time.

There is a danger here: thinking that it is somehow avoidable.

That they can short-cut the process.

That they can find a big-name coach to turn it around.

That they can bring in a marquee player--there was talk at midseason of a Sam Perkins-for-Dominique Wilkins deal--to mollify the fans.

The fans won’t be bought off by names. They will come out for one thing, a winning team. People loved the Lakers because they were flashy and entertaining and exciting, but most of all, they loved them because they won.

The Laker situation is clear: They have a mediocre, aging team $3 million over the salary cap. They are locked into balloon payments the next three years--$14 million for Johnson, $13 million for James Worthy--that limit their options.

Even before the Laker victory Friday, Buss was said to have cooled down, but that doesn’t mean Pfund is out of the woods. The Lakers need to make more deals like the one that subtracted a player, Perkins, for a prospect, Doug Christie, and a contract, Benoit Benjamin. It takes time for prospects to grow, and some of them don’t turn out, so the result will be more losses. It’s hard to lose and look good at the same time.

It’s not only that Pfund deserves a chance. He deserves realistic goals.

He needs to get tougher. He needs to tighten up the defense. He needs to demand that his players play hard. It would be nice if he got angry when they stunk out the building, like that last regular-season game at Seattle.

But he shouldn’t be judged by his won-loss record. It won’t do the organization any good if he coaches out of fear for his job. Someone upstairs should tell him to play the kids, damn the consequences. Anthony Peeler should have been starting by midseason.

If the Lakers play hard and develop their young players, no one can ask any more of their coach.

Someone might ask, but no one can deliver.

RON ROTHSTEIN: MAY 21, 1992-APRIL 26, 1993

Just to show how difficult it is to break out of this cycle, take the case of former Detroit Coach Ron Rothstein.

The Pistons are another aging former power facing declining attendance. They don’t have the salary cap land mines the Lakers have, and they were lucky enough to miss the playoffs, giving them two lottery picks--they will get Miami’s as payment for John Salley, unless the Heat pulls one of the top three picks--but they know the feeling of watching the sand run out of the hourglass.

Rothstein might as well have arrived with a lily clenched in his fist.

The man who hired him, General Manager Jack McCloskey, immediately left for Minnesota. Then Dennis Rodman jumped ship and the rest of the players, in between griping about Rodman, decided that Rothstein was too tough. The same players had grumbled Chuck Daly out of town, but management axed Rothstein.

Assistant Don Chaney, who followed Bill Fitch into Houston, still the antidote to tough coaches, is expected to get the job, so pray for him.

“There’s been talk that certain players (read: Isiah Thomas) are running this team,” said Billy McKinney, who succeeded McCloskey. “That’s not true. This was a management decision.”

Around the Pistons, that statement is considered comic relief.

JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING

The Suns will take care of the Lakers. Fairy tales do come true, but not often.

The Clippers will upend the Rockets.

The SuperSonics will put the Jazz out of its misery.

The Spurs will get past the Trail Blazers.

The Knicks will roll over the Pacers.

The Bulls will show the Hawks they are still the Hawks.

The Hairdressers, er, Cavaliers, will terminate the Nets.

The Celtics will need five games to get rid of the Hornets. Robert Parish will lose the hearing in one ear listening to Alonzo Mourning.

The Suns will take out the Spurs.

The SuperSonics will be too much for the Clippers.

The Knicks will trip merrily past the Celtics. Greg Anthony will be ejected in Game 4 for sucker-punching Red Auerbach. Riley will forget to fine him.

The Cavaliers will take the Bulls to seven games before laying down their curling irons. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen will combine for 50 points in Game 7 (Jordan 45, Pippen 5).

Shawn (You Can’t Guard Me) Kemp will get an earful of Charles (Grow Up Before You Pop Off) Barkley and the Suns will come out of the West.

Jordan will score 99 points in Game 7 at New York, but the Bulls will lose, 100-99.

Swarming defense by Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason will shut down Barkley in Game 7 and the Knicks will win a defensive battle, 50-47. Anthony will be ejected for sucker-punching the Gorilla. Barkley will be missing in action, last seen trying to post up in the middle of the Knick defense in the third quarter.

FACES AND FIGURES

That’s the old spirit: Pippen, at questions about his two-for-16 shooting in the season finale at New York: “I have two rings so I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Maybe you guys are trying to make me feel that way, but I don’t have to prove anything.” . . . Playoff fever, catch it and die: Before the weekend, the Hawks had 8,000 tickets unsold for their first home game, the Pacers 7,600.

Denver’s Chris Jackson has a $4-million option for next season, but the Nuggets aren’t going to pick it up. To keep Jackson from becoming an unrestricted free agent, they have to send him a $2.97-million qualifying offer, but they don’t want to do that, either. They are still negotiating to see if they can keep him off the market. . . . The Nuggets are also trying to re-sign former USC star Robert Pack, who averaged 11 points and was No. 2 on the team in assists--in 21 minutes per game.

That’s consistency: In the last four seasons, the Pacers were 42-40, 41-41, 40-42 and 41-41. Grand total: 164-164. . . . Indiana Coach Bob Hill, on promoting veteran Vern Fleming over prize acquisition Pooh Richardson for the playoffs: “For the first time, maybe all year long, we had a leader on the floor.” . . . Why you can’t go home again: Malik Sealy, the Pacer from St. John’s, went back to New York for the start of the Knicks series, and lost his playbook. It was given to WFAN’s Don Imus, who read selections on the air. Included were scouting reports on Patrick Ewing (“foul prone, go right at him”), Anthony (“mistake-prone, erratic shooter”) and John Starks (“trash talker, ask about his sister”). Imus added that the part about Starks’ sister wasn’t really in there.

Boston’s Kevin McHale, on the experience-vs.-youth angle in the Boston-Charlotte series: “Chief (Parish) and I are the only two guys here to get past, what, the second round? There are a bunch of guys here who have as much to prove as the Hornets do.” . . . The Celtic-Hornet series features three players from the same high school team, Baltimore Dunbar: Reggie Lewis, Muggsy Bogues and David Wingate. A fourth member of the team, Reggie Williams, plays for the Nuggets. . . .That’s why we’ll miss him: McHale, soon to announce his retirement, on talk he stayed too long: “To be truthful, I probably did.” . . . All coaches pooh-pooh their own teams in playoff hype but few with the sincerity of Jerry Sloan, whose Jazz went 14-16 after the All-Star break. Said Sloan of the SuperSonics: “We wish we had their talent.” Of his offense: “We know what we’re going to do. Everybody knows what we’re going to do.” And the people picking the Jazz: “I keep hearing that and I wish they’d call me and explain to me why they have that perspective.”

Orlando, also 41-41, was aghast at being eliminated by the Pacers on the fourth tiebreaker: total points in their games. The Pacers scored five more. In a rout at Indianapolis, Magic Coach Matt Guokas pulled his starters and settled for a 14-point victory. . . . Seattle’s Nate McMillan, who played for the late Jim Valvano at North Carolina State, on being recruited at tiny Chowan (N.C.) Junior College: “I couldn’t actually believe that Jim Valvano was interested in me. I was amazed that he was even there. He went to church with me and my mother. He was clapping and dancing and singing and he was the only white guy in the church. And I’m saying to myself, ‘Is this guy for real?’ Yeah, he was real. As real as it gets.”

Sacramento General Manager Jerry Reynolds, on Garry St. Jean’s 25-57 rookie season: “I look at it this way: If Paul Westphal, Rudy Tomjanovich or Don Nelson had been our coach, we’d have won about 25 games.” . . . Free-agent-to-be Chris Dudley says he will no longer negotiate with the Nets. He will be free July 1, but asked for permission to talk to other teams now. General Manager Willis Reed said no.