Clippers Second in Lottery : NBA draft: Warriors get first pick, but Fitch says there’s no clear-cut top choice this year.

The Clippers, who lost more games than any NBA team last season, were beaten again Sunday, by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA draft lottery.

It’s the second time in the last six years that the Clippers have been given the second pick, but this time the outlook is brighter. In 1989, they used the pick on Duke forward Danny Ferry, who refused to sign and was later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ron Harper and three draft choices. Clipper Coach Bill Fitch isn’t disappointed about having the No. 2 pick, because there’s no consensus No. 1, such as Orlando Magic center Shaquille O’Neal in 1992.

“It’s not a Shaq draft, where there’s just Shaq and whoever comes after Shaq,” Fitch said. “If I would have had to go from one to two and it was a Shaq draft, I’d have probably gone with a sharp knife.

“It’s not like losing a ball game. I don’t feel as bad after going from first to second in the lottery than I did after any of the 67 losses I took. Those hurt more.

“If it had been a Shaq draft, believe me, I might not have come back, I might have just jumped in the Hudson [River] and it would have been adios .”

The top players in the 1995 draft figure to be sophomores Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace of North Carolina, Joe Smith of Maryland and Antonio McDyess of Alabama. “The No. 1 thing about this draft is there are four or five guys who will get a lot of consideration,” Fitch said. “If you asked all of the people up here [in Secaucus, N.J., for the lottery] . . . I doubt that you would get one or two players who would stand out.”

The Clippers were guaranteed no worse than the fourth pick on June 28 and had a 25% chance, the best of any team, of being No. 1.

The Philadelphia 76ers finished third. Washington and Minnesota, which tied for the league’s second-worst record, were the big losers in the lottery. The Bullets will pick fourth and the Timberwolves fifth.

Expansion teams Toronto and Vancouver, who begin play next season, will select sixth and seventh with the order to be determined after the NBA finals.

The eighth through 13th picks went according to form:

The Detroit Pistons will pick eighth, followed by the New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks, who won the lottery last year. Then come the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings, who had the best record of the non-playoff teams.

The Warriors, who finished with the fifth-worst record and had a 9.4% chance of getting the No. 1 choice, may have been helped by divine intervention.

Peter Colapietro, a Catholic priest who conducted the wedding ceremony for new Warrior owner Chris Cohan, accompanied General Manager Dave Twardzik to the lottery, which was held at the NBA Entertainment Studios.

“I was happy to be of some service, but I think that St. Jude was the one who really helped out,” Colapietro said. “When I was in Rome last week, I went into a church and lit a candle for St. Jude, who is a patron saint of hopeless causes, and I guess he listened.”

Twardzik, who last week hired former Portland Trail Blazer Coach Rick Adelman to rebuild the Warriors after a turbulent season, declined to reveal who the Warriors will select. “There’s a lot more pressure because you have to pick the right guy, but it’s nice not to have to worry about who’s left over,” he said.

The Pistons, who selected Grant Hill in the No. 3 spot last year, lucked out again. If Detroit had finished lower than eighth, the Pistons might have had to swap positions with the San Antonio Spurs, who’ll pick 29th, as compensation for the Dennis Rodman-Sean Elliott trade in 1993. But the Pistons will keep their No. 8 spot.

After the Pistons’ ranking was announced, NBA Commissioner David Stern turned to new Piston Coach Doug Collins and asked: “Feeling better?”

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NBA Draft Order

The selection order for the first round of the 1995 NBA draft. The order of the first 13 picks were determined in Sunday’s NBA draft lottery.

1. Golden State

2. Clippers

3. Philadelphia

4. Washington

5. Minnesota

6. Toronto or Vancouver

7. Toronto or Vancouver

8. Detroit

9. New Jersey

10. Miami

11. Milwaukee

12. Dallas

13. Sacramento

14. Boston

15. Denver

16. * Atlanta or Miami

17. Cleveland

18. Portland

19. * Houston or Portland

20. Chicago

21. Phoenix (from Lakers)

22. Charlotte

23. Indiana

24. Dallas (from N.Y.)

25. Orlando

26. Seattle

27. Phoenix

28. Utah

29. San Antonio

* Atlanta will give its first-round pick in either 1995 or 1996, at its option, to Miami.; Houston will give its first-round pick to Portland if certain conditions are met.