Clippers Fire Weiss; Coach Blames Selfish Atmosphere : Pro basketball: He says contract squabbles were a key factor in the team’s 27-55 record.

Bob Weiss, who coached the Clippers to the seventh-worst record in the NBA this season, was fired Monday with two years left on his $1.8-million, three-year contract.

The move caught Weiss off guard.

Weiss, who had met with General Manager Elgin Baylor and Executive Vice President Andy Roeser for four hours Friday, was making plans with his assistant coaches for next season’s training camp when he was summoned Monday to what turned out to be a termination meeting with Baylor and Roeser.

Weiss was the Clippers’ seventh coach in 10 years.

“It was my most frustrating year ever as a coach,” said Weiss, whose team finished 27-55.

Weiss, who succeeded Larry Brown last July, couldn’t overcome the turmoil caused by the contract status of former Clipper forward Danny Manning and free-agent guard Ron Harper, and the loss of center Stanley Roberts, who suffered a ruptured Achilles’ tendon 14 games into the season.

Did Weiss believe he got a fair shot in light of the circumstances?

“I’m not going to comment,” Weiss said. “I think there’s been enough Clipper bashing. I don’t need to do that.”

All season, however, the Clippers were torn by dissension.

“We never really had a teamwork approach,” Weiss said. “Having your two top offensive players be unsigned just created a selfish atmosphere, and that’s one of the things we discussed as a management team at the end of the year. That was the biggest factor, outside of the injuries, that we had that we could not overcome and it was a situation that we could not go in with again. We had to create a team.”

Baylor said the Clippers, who lost 17 of their last 21 games, had regressed under Weiss after making the playoffs for the last two seasons under Brown.

“Bobby and I discussed (the circumstances) and we both agreed that we should have had a better record than we did this season,” Baylor said. “We just felt that we were going backward and we want to go forward.”

The Clipper defense, statistically the worst in the NBA last season, might have been Weiss’ undoing.

The Clippers gave up an average of 108.7 points. They gave up a record 71 points to San Antonio center David Robinson in a season-ending 112-97 loss to the Spurs and Robinson edged Orlando Magic center Shaquille O’Neal for the league scoring title.

Although there were reports the Clippers had decided to fire Weiss after a 49-point loss at Seattle on April 14, club officials insist the decision wasn’t made until Monday.

“No one was pleased with the type of season that we had,” Baylor said. “Winning is what it’s all about. We started in that direction. There were difficult times this season, but we could have done things better ourselves to help. We recognize the fact that we need to do things better to make it work, and we’ll make every effort to do that.”

The Clippers, who took 62 days to find a coach last year, hope to have another coach before the NBA draft on June 29.

“We’ve just got to get the best possible coach we can,” Baylor said. “We’re going to go out and talk to a lot of people. We’d like to have a coach by the draft, but we’re not going to rush to do it.”

Although there was a report that the Clippers had contacted Brown, who has revitalized the Indiana Pacers, Brown and the Clippers denied it.

“They had a chance last year,” Brown said. “I wanted to stay. But I haven’t heard anything from them. The only thing I’m interested in is keeping this (the Pacers’ drive to the NBA Eastern Conference finals) going.”

The Clippers are also said to be interested in San Antonio Coach John Lucas, under fire since the Spurs were eliminated by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs. The Clippers asked for permission to talk to Lucas last year but were turned down.

The Clippers can’t comment on Lucas because he is still under contract to the Spurs.

The Clippers also contacted former New York Knick Coach Hubie Brown when they were searching for a coach last year and reportedly offered him a $1-million annual contract. Now a TV commentator, Brown is under contract to TNT.

Clipper All-Time Coaching Records

Coach Years W L Pct. Larry Brown 1991-93 64 53 .547 Mack Calvin 1991-92 1 1 .500 Jack Ramsay 1972-76 158 170 .482 Bob MacKinnon 1976-77 3 4 .429 Mike Schuler 1990-91 52 75 .409 Joe Mullaney 1976-77 11 18 .379 Jim Lynam 1983-85 52 91 .364 Tates Locke 1976-77 16 30 .348 Gene Shue 1978-80 105 179 .348 1987-89 Cotton Fitzsimmons 1977-78 27 55 .329 Bob Weiss 1993-94 27 55 .329 Don Casey 1988-90 41 85 .325 Paul Silas 1980-83 78 168 .317 Don Chaney 1985-87 53 132 .286 John McCarthy 1971-72 22 59 .272 Dolph Schayes 1970-71 22 61 .265

Note: Clippers played in Buffalo from 1970-78 and in San Diego from 1978-84.