He’s the New Man of This Old House

Del Harris, 56, is no longer the oldest NBA coach in Los Angeles. Bill Fitch, 60, is. Our two new sunshine boys coached against one another in the NBA finals of 1981, although regrettably we must presume that neither will be involved in 1995.

Fitch has been around so long, he once drew X’s and O’s on a chalkboard to instruct his Cleveland Cavalier players on how to keep Elgin Baylor from scoring. Baylor, who is four months younger than Fitch, introduced him Thursday as the new coach of the Clippers, who along with the Lakers must have been crushed to discover that neither Red Auerbach nor Red Holzman was available.

Even so, Fitch is a fine fit for the Clippers, who could have done worse (and have in the past). Bill has done more rebuilding than Tim Allen. Granted, he was fortunate enough to have Austin Carr as a rookie in Cleveland, and to have Larry Bird as a rookie in Boston, and to have both Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon as rookies in Houston, and to have Mookie Blaylock and Kenny Anderson as rookies in New Jersey, so in fairness it should be observed at this point that it is considerably easier to remodel when somebody gives you tools.

Fitch stated his intentions to beautify the Clip joint, given time.

“I just don’t want to promise to do it tomorrow ,” he added, wisely.

Tomorrow. It is eternally only a day away with the Clippers, who are once again back at the old drawing board. I do not know how much truth there was to the gossip that Pat Riley demanded 20% of the team (I doubt it) or that John Thompson wanted $3 million (I believe it) or that the Clippers wanted Randy Pfund more than he wanted them (I am so mixed up) or that Larry Brown is still interested (I love trouble). What I do know is that Bill Fitch’s teams have historically done quite well in the NBA drafts, so it’s a shame he didn’t have a say in this last one.

Fitch is known around basketball as a take-no-guff coach and occasional martinet. He stood his ground in the Meadowlands with mister me-me-me himself, Derrick Coleman, who thinks he is bigger than the team, and probably would do the same with Ron Harper, who, should he choose to stay, probably will want to shoot the basketball every time he touches it now that Danny/Dominique is gone. Harper is a star player who considers himself a superstar player and can’t understand why anyone would disagree.

The 1994-95 Clippers, whoever they are, open this season with two games in Japan and also have six dates in Anaheim, barnstorming with an act many consider funnier than the Globetrotters’. Oh, and soon we should see advertisements promoting visits to Los Angeles by some of the NBA’s top stars, including Dominique Wilkins and the Boston Celtics, Mark Jackson and the Indiana Pacers, Reggie Williams and the Denver Nuggets and Don MacLean and the Washington Bullets, not to forget Manning and Harper of the (fill in blanks). The NBA--we love this game!

Coach Fitch, our fingers are crossed for you.

He took this job, he swore, eagerly and willingly. Fitch said: “Nobody took me prisoner. Nobody coerced me. I look at this as a fine opportunity. I’ve been in tougher situations than this.”

Vietnam? Korea?

Sorry, bad joke. But I must admit Fitch is accurate, in basketball terms, that running the first NBA club in Cleveland or being the first “outsider” brought in to coach Boston, these were no picnics. Fitch coached one clumsy bunch of Cavaliers who won 15 games. He coached another bad bunch in Jersey that won 17 games. The man knows how to lose. He has lost 877 NBA games in his career, plus 51 playoff defeats. The Clippers should put him over that magic 1,000 mark in no time.

Again, though, this is a guy you call in an emergency, like Red Adair to an oil fire. If you give Fitch some players, he can win. He added Bird to a bad team in Boston and immediately went 61-21. He added Olajuwon to a 29-victory team in Houston and immediately won 48. He might have done similarly in New Jersey had his superiors drafted from need rather than pitting Anderson against Blaylock in camp, dueling point guards.

Knowing whom to draft is the key to everything. Consider 1989, for example--that infamous year when Danny Ferry was so thrilled about being drafted by the Clippers that he grabbed his passport and left the country. Later in that draft, Fitch’s Nets drafted a good man, Blaylock. In so doing, however, both teams passed up Tim Hardaway, Shawn Kemp, B.J. Armstrong, Vlade Divac and Clifford Robinson.

In referring to Baylor as “one of the most maligned” executives in the game, Fitch contended that far too many people overlook “how smart he really is.”

What Fitch undoubtedly understands is that Baylor is just fine at finding the right players. He simply isn’t very good at keeping them. For all we know, Lamond Murray was the steal of the 1994 college draft. The question is, for which team will Lamond Murray be playing come 1996? Had the Clippers kept everyone they ever drafted, they would be kicking the Houston Rockets’ butts by now.

Tougher situations? Not many.

I believe Bill Fitch to be a suitable choice for the Clippers, but I hardly envy him in the months ahead. I predict by Christmas, latest, his hair and Del Harris’ hair will look exactly the same.