Trials of Man Named Pooh

There are great success stories everywhere around Pooh Richardson except Richardson himself.

His old buddy from Philadelphia is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. The sister of a former college teammate is one of the first female officials in the NBA.

As for Richardson, he spends most of his working hours on the Clippers’ bench, backing up another former college teammate, Darrick Martin.

No one could have predicted this in 1989, when Martin was a freshman at UCLA and Richardson was finishing a career that began as the most heralded recruit of Walt Hazzard’s coaching tenure and ended with more assists than anyone in the history of the storied Bruin program.

They both started their careers with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but even then they were accorded different status. Richardson was the 10th player selected in the 1989 NBA draft and the first college player drafted by the expansion Timberwolves. Martin wasn’t drafted out of college. He played with Magic Johnson’s traveling team and in the Continental Basketball Assn. before he signed a couple of 10-day contracts with the Timberwolves in 1995 and managed to stick around through the end of the season.

Martin didn’t play a full season in the NBA until last year. He never had a contract before training camp until this season.

But he starts ahead of Richardson, who had almost 200 more assists than Martin in college.

“That’s just the way it is,” Richardson said before the Clippers played the Utah Jazz at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim on Tuesday night. “It’s nothing permanent. We’ll see what happens. I still can play. I don’t worry about it as much. Those situations, you can’t control. This is one occupation you can’t file for a transfer and actually get it. It’s a different situation. Whatever comes my way, I can handle it.

“Just like Will. He handled his situation when it wasn’t so good. I think I’ll handle mine also.”

“Will” is Will Smith, Richardson’s friend and the star of “Men in Black” and “Independence Day,” to name his two most recent and most successful movies.

Richardson met Smith before Smith was a movie star, before the Fresh Prince had his own sitcom or hit records. When he first saw him, Smith was just a skinny teenager trying to rap.

“A place called Hotel Philadelphia,” Richardson said. “They used to do little deejay battles against each other there. Will always had some talent to perform. He liked people, he liked performing in front of people. He liked to put smiles on people’s faces. He’s the kind of person that only good things are going to happen to him.”

Smith’s talent is irrepressible. Richardson’s shortage of talent was inescapable. In a career that took him from Minnesota to Indiana and then to the Clippers in 1994, Richardson has been held back by his lack of height, speed and shooting touch.

The closest he has come to achieving celebrity status was a couple of years ago, when former ESPN anchor Craig Kilborn took a liking to him and made a point of mentioning Richardson’s point totals on “SportsCenter.” Kilborn also came up with nicknames like “Skip to my Pooh” and “2 Live Pooh.”

Richardson also holds the honor of being mentioned in the liner notes on what’s generally considered to be the greatest rap album, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” thanks to a friendship with the group Public Enemy that began when he was playing summer ball on Long Island.

On the court, Richardson’s best season was seven years ago, when he averaged 17 points and nine assists. He still holds the Timberwolves’ career record with 1,973 assists. But not much has gone his way in the six years since he left Minnesota, not even now that former UCLA teammate Rod Palmer’s sister, Violet, is a referee in the league.

“Violet’s not cutting me no breaks,” Richardson joked. It’s safe to bet Richardson never will average 17 and nine again, and it’s also safe to assume he won’t be in a Clipper uniform when his contract expires in two years. Richardson is averaging 4.1 points and 3.1 assists in his 18 minutes per game and it’s gotten so bad that a Clipper fan behind the bench was pleading with Richardson not to shoot when he had the ball in his hands during a recent game at the Sports Arena.

The Clippers have put the ball and the team in the hands of Martin, Richardson’s one-time understudy.

“If it was anybody else, it would probably be harder for him,” Martin said. “Since we are friends, he’s always wished the best for me.”

“It’s not weird, because that’s the coach’s decision,” Richardson said. “That’s not my decision. I go practice hard every day, do what I’ve got to do. I’m a professional and I carry myself that way every day. I’m not even worrying about that as much as the fact that I have a great life in Los Angeles. It’s good to me, and I’ve got friends and family, so it’s cool.”

Despite his situation, the Clippers don’t have to worry about Richardson poisoning the team because of his situation.

“The first thing that sticks out in my mind about Pooh is he’s always been a people person,” said Utah center Greg Foster, who played with Richardson at UCLA for a year. “He’s always been able to get along with everybody. He’s a real likable guy.”

Most times you see Richardson he has a smile on his face. He was excited Tuesday because a Clipper staffer got him a box of Tasty Kakes (It’s a Philly thing).

It’s not as if Richardson is a failure at age 31, not with a nine-year NBA career plus solid real estate investments. But his first basket Tuesday was a pretty good indication of where he stands. It came with a little more than eight minutes left in the third quarter. Richardson had just checked into the game . . . and only because Martin had just picked up his fourth personal foul.

* CLIPPER UPSET

James Robinson led the way with 25 points in a 111-102 victory over the Utah Jazz. C3