It’s a Big Deal for Clippers : There Are No Slam Dunks in the Flurry of NBA Deals

Welcome to the newly configured NBA.

Modern times hit the league like a hurricane in the last week as battered teams traded problems-- unhappy free agents, acquisitions who wouldn’t report--for other teams’ problems.

The balance of power was relatively undisturbed. The Miami Heat called up exciting Brent Barry from the local farm team and the New Jersey Nets got Rony Seikaly, but the Chicago Bulls probably aren’t shaking in their boots.

Of course, there’s nothing like getting rid of your old troubles to make you feel better, for the moment, anyway.

In one dizzy week, 37 players--more than 10% of the league--were traded. Seventeen will be free agents. Of the top 15 draftees in the 1995 class, the first to be granted free agency within three years, 13 have been traded.

Many of their elders were in transit too, not to mention negotiations. Seikaly was dealt to the Utah Jazz, demanded that it redo his contract, was sent back to Orlando and trans-shipped to the Nets, where he will try to reclaim what remains of his good name. Kenny Anderson went from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Toronto Raptors, refused to report and was forwarded to the Boston Celtics. Of course, Rick Pitino is re-routing players as fast as they arrive, so Anderson might not want to buy in Boston right away.

It may have been a go-round but it wasn’t merry, as a look back at the major deals suggests:

* Portland trades Anderson, Gary Trent, Alvin Williams and two No. 1 picks to Toronto for Stoudamire, Walt Williams and Carlos Rogers.

The Raptors knelt before Stoudamire for two seasons, but when his mentor, owner/general manager Isiah Thomas, left in a huff, the protege was out of there too.

Trent and Williams are upcoming free agents and Anderson wouldn’t report. That was the best deal the Raptors could find, after shopping Stoudamire for a month.

Stoudamire gives Coach Mike Dunleavy a guard he can talk to but has yet to show if he’s a great player, as Thomas insists, or one who was allowed to monopolize the ball and score a lot of points, while taking a lot of shots for a bad team.

Says an Eastern general manager: “I want to see him distribute the ball on a good team.”

* Orlando trades Seikaly to Utah for Greg Foster and Chris Morris.

Everyone thought it was a steal for the Jazz, but Seikaly asked for an extension, was refused and wouldn’t report. Particularly incensed was Karl Malone, who had talked to Seikaly by telephone before cheerfully endorsing it.

“If a guy says he doesn’t want to play here with me,” said Malone, “I say the hell with him.”

That’s what they were saying in Orlando too. After making the trade, a Magic assistant confided that Seikaly had been “a total pain in the rear end.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers and the rest of the West breathe easier.

* Orlando trades Seikaly and Brian Evans to New Jersey for Yinka Dare, David Benoit, Kevin Edwards and a No. 1 pick.

By now, Chuck Daly’s staff had made it clear how it feels about Seikaly. So the Magic dumped him on the Nets like a sack of laundry, taking back Dare, whose career is one of the league’s longest-running jokes, plus free agents Edwards and Benoit.

In New Jersey, all they know is Yinka is gone and life is good.

* Golden State trades Joe Smith and Brian Shaw to Philadelphia for Clarence Weatherspoon and Jim Jackson.

Both new Warriors will be free agents. That’s how little trade value the still-unproven Smith, top pick in the ’95 draft, had after letting it be known he’ll want mega-bucks this summer.

The Warriors just hope the new players help them avoid a bottom-three finish, which would send their No. 1 pick to Orlando, the last installment in the Penny Hardaway-Chris Webber trade.

Said Golden State Warrior General Manager Garry St. Jean: “I can’t tell you we had seven or eight deals to pick from.”

Smith, who wanted to be closer to his Virginia home, says he’s pleased. Wait till he hands the 76ers the bill.

* Toronto trades Anderson, Popeye Jones and Zan Tabak to Boston for Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, John Thomas and Roy Rogers.

Pitino, who has been running around like a hamster in a cage, shopped Billups almost from the day he drafted him No. 3 last spring. He settled for Anderson, a hot prospect no longer, who joins his fourth team in three seasons.

Pitino did it, as much as anything, to get Brown’s $3.75-million salary, which runs through 2000, off his cap.

“The way I figure it,” said Jones, an upcoming free agent who has sat out most of the season, “if a team trades for me under these circumstances, they must really want me.”

Sorry, Popeye. Pitino says he did it to pick up an additional $2.5 million worth of cap room, which would mean renouncing Jones and Tabak.

Of course, $2.5 million doesn’t buy you a great player these days, but Pitino is sure to think of something.

* Vancouver sends Anthony Peeler to Minnesota for Doug West.

Peeler got hurt and was beaten out in Vancouver by Sam Mack. However, he’ll help the Timberwolves if he’s still anything like he was as a Laker.

* Phoenix sends Cedric Ceballos to Dallas for Dennis Scott.

Ceballos’ career went down in Lake Havasu with all hands aboard. Since his famous boat trip, he has been traded by the Lakers, warmed the bench in Phoenix and now goes to the Mavericks, who are too bad to be fussy. With playing time, he could go back to scoring his 20 a game.

He and Scott will both be free agents. Scott might be headed to the Lakers, to be reunited with his buddy, Shaquille O’Neal--if he’ll play for the minimum.

* Miami sends Isaac Austin, Charles Smith and a No. 1 pick to the Clippers for Brent Barry.

Barry’s agent, Arn Tellem, made it plain Brent would leave, leaving the Clippers, once more, looking down the barrel of the cannon.

Austin would be great, except he’ll not only be a free agent but the most coveted big man on the market. He has said he’d love to go to Utah, where he broke in, or Phoenix. The Clippers have never retained a free agent in such demand, or one in any demand, so they had better enjoy him while they have him.