THE NBA: 1995-96 : Greater Expectations : Clippers Take a Chance With Draft Deal, and Even Jordan Says They’re Improved

The Clippers, who might have had trouble beating a CBA team last season while compiling the NBA’s worst record, may be one of the league’s most improved teams.

“They’re a better team now, and they’ll sure win more than 17 games this season,” Chicago guard Michael Jordan said last weekend after the Clippers defeated the Bulls, 104-101, in an exhibition game.

An expert at fixing bad teams, Coach Bill Fitch took a shortcut toward rebuilding the Clippers with a controversial draft-day trade, sending Alabama forward Antonio McDyess, the No. 2 pick overall, to the Denver Nuggets for 6-11 swingman Brian Williams, forward Rodney Rogers and the rights to Oregon State guard Brent Barry, the 15th selection.

The Clippers also sent the Nuggets guard Randy Woods and center Elmore Spencer.

“When you lose as many games as we did, you can’t always take the most popular route,” Fitch said. “You need to get two bodies instead of one out of a draft if you can.”

Williams, who made all 10 shots in his first exhibition game with the Clippers, is expected to start at center in place of Stanley Roberts, who hasn’t played a regular-season game in almost two years and was held out of the exhibition season after reporting to training camp overweight and out of shape.

Although Fitch had threatened to suspend Roberts without pay if he wasn’t in shape at the start of the regular season, Roberts made the Clippers’ opening-night roster.

“I see less and less of Stanley, so I like what I see more and more,” said Fitch, who plans to bring Roberts along slowly.

Roberts, who is due to make $3 million this season, said the suspension threat didn’t motivate him to lose weight.

“I did it because I wanted to do it,” he said. “I did it for myself and my health. Suspension? I’ve been in the league almost five years. I’ve got enough money to live off for the rest of my life. It ain’t about the money anymore, it’s about what I want to do with my life.”

With starting point guard Pooh Richardson sidelined because of a foot injury for the start of the season, Barry will be a reserve behind Terry Dehere, who will start in place of Richardson.

Rogers, who averaged 10.3 points during the exhibition season, adds depth to the Clipper front line, which figures to be anchored by power forward Loy Vaught and small forward Lamond Murray.

The Clippers’ toughest roster decision was cutting rookie Ma Jian, who would have been the NBA’s first Chinese-born player. Ma met with Fitch and General Manager Elgin Baylor for 1 1/2 hours after practice Thursday.

“Ma’s going to make it in this league someday,” Fitch said. “For a guy who had never played guard, he did a marvelous job. Pooh’s going to be back in two weeks and it wouldn’t have been any easier to tell him then.”

Here’s how the roster shapes up:

GUARDS

Richardson, who reported to training camp in the best shape of his career after shooting a career-worst 39.4% last season, averaged 20 points, 4.5 assists and shot 63.6% in two exhibition games before suffering a stress fracture to his right foot.

Drafted as a shooting guard in 1993, Dehere was converted to point guard after shooting only 39.7% in his first two NBA seasons. He played well during the exhibition season, averaging 12.2 points and 6.2 assists, but the real test will come when he’s asked to run the offense in regular-season games.

Malik Sealy may have been the Clippers’ most improved player last season. Moved from small forward to shooting guard after being acquired from the Indiana Pacers, he established career highs in scoring (13.0), rebounds (3.6), assists (1.8) steals (1.2) and shooting percentage (43.5%). He has picked up where he left off, averaging 14.6 points in the exhibition season.

Barry, the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 assists in exhibitions as he made the transition from shooting to point guard.

FORWARDS

The Clippers’ most consistent player, Vaught averaged a career-high 17.5 points and 9.7 rebounds last season. The highlight was a career-high 33 points in a victory over the Houston Rockets.

The acquisition of Rogers should help Vaught, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in the off-season after averaging a career-high 37.1 minutes last season.

The seventh player selected in the 1994 draft, Murray struggled as he tried to adjust to the NBA, shooting 40.2% but only 29.8% from behind the three-point line.

Fitch compared swingman Eric Piatkowski to Larry Bird after coaching him at an NBA pre-draft camp in 1994, but Piatkowski had an inconsistent rookie season as a reserve.

He showed flashes during the Clippers’ final two exhibition games, making 16 of 19 shots (84.2%), including 12 of 13 three-pointers.

One of the NBA’s best leapers, 6-8 swingman Charles Outlaw, played out of position, starting 31 games at center last season. The Clippers’ best shot blocker, he’s likely to play more at forward with the addition of Williams and the return of Roberts.

Logan Vander Velden, who played in Switzerland and Belgium last season, made the team after averaging 5.4 points and 1.6 rebounds during the exhibition season.

CENTER

Williams, who had two solid seasons as a backup to Denver center Dikembe Mutombo, opens the season as the starter with Roberts and Keith Tower as the backups.

Tower played three games for the Orlando Magic before being cut last season. He finished the season in Argentina.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Clipper Roster

STARTERS

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. College Exp. 7 Lamond Murray F 6-7 236 California 1 35 Loy Vaught F 6-9 240 Michigan 5 08 Brian Williams C 6-11 260 Arizona 4 24 Terry Dehere G 6-4 190 Seton Hall 2 21 Malik Sealy G 6-8 190 St. John’s 3

No. 1994-95 7 14.1 pts, 4.4 reb. 35 17.5 pts, 9.7 reb. 08 7.9 pts, 4.7 reb. 24 10.4 pts, 2.8 ast. 21 13 pts, 3.6 reb.

*--*

RESERVES

*--*

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. College Exp. 31 Brent Barry G 6-6 185 Oregon St. R 45 Charles Outlaw C/F 6-8 210 Houston 2 52 Eric Piatkowski G/F 6-7 215 Nebraska 1 2 Pooh Richardson* G 6-1 180 UCLA 6 53 Stanley Roberts C 7-0 290 LSU 4 7 Rodney Rogers F 6-7 255 Wake Forest 3 51 Keith Tower C 6-11 250 Notre Dame 2 25 Logan Vander F 6-9 215 Wisc.-Green Bay R Velden

No. 1994-95 31 21.0 pts, 5.9 reb. 45 5.2 pts, 3.9 reb. 52 7.0 pts, 1.6 reb. 2 10.9 pts, 7.0 ast. 53 injured 7 12.2 pts, 4.8 reb. 51 0.3 pts, 1 reb. 25 In Europe

*--*

* Coach: Bill Fitch.

*-Injured reserve.