CLIPPER UPDATE : Fish Might Catch On With Team

Center Matt Fish was a longshot to make the Clippers when training camp opened two weeks ago, but if he continues to play as he has in the Clippers’ first two exhibitions, he might make the team.

“You’ve got to think positive at all times because they never really give you any clue of what’s going on,” Fish said. “You’ve got to guess at what’s in their heads. But I think if I keep hustling, maybe I’ll have a shot to make it.”

Fish, who graduated from North Carolina Wilmington in 1992, has spent the last two seasons shuffling between European basketball leagues and the Continental Basketball Assn.

At 6 feet 11 and 265 pounds, he helped the Quad City Thunder win the CBA title last season.

“Fish is great,” Clipper rookie swingman Eric Piatkowski said. “He gets out there and he works his tail off.”

Fish has also impressed Coach Bill Fitch.

“As long as he keeps playing the way he has, it’s going to make it interesting on the roster,” Fitch said. “ . . . If he improves as much in the next two weeks as he has in the last two weeks, I’d say he has a pretty good chance of playing here and helping us.

“(But) he’s not in good shape. He gets so excited and he’s always on the trail end (of the fast break). He reminds me of a horse I bet on that’s still out there running.”

Lamond Murray, the Clippers top draft pick, will practice for the first time tonight at UC Irvine.