Stringing Them Along

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch’s rotation of players is enough to make you dizzy.

With six guards, four forwards and two centers on his 12-man roster, Fitch sometimes seems to shuttle players into games on a whim.

“I don’t think there’s any pattern to his substitution pattern,” the agent for one former Clipper said.

With forward Loy Vaught, last season’s leading scorer and rebounder, out because of a back injury, Fitch has used 10 different starting lineups in the first 39 games.

“Granted, they all get mad at the coach, but the teams that have won got mad at me,” Fitch said. “As a coach, you’ve always got to tell guys ‘no’ and mean it.

“These days there are very few guys that can tell guys ‘no.’ How many guys could tell [Michael] Jordan no? This is a high-pressure job. It’s something you don’t go through a lot of years without having a lot [complaints].”

All but three players--rookie Maurice Taylor and guards James Robinson and James Collins--have started at least one game as Fitch has tried to get the team to be consistent.

Not surprisingly, there have been complaints.

Rookie center Keith Closs complained last month that Fitch was playing mind games with him when he was held out for the final three quarters at Seattle after starting for the first time in his NBA career. But Closs has mellowed.

“I think he experiments to see what he can do,” Closs said. “Sometimes he’ll put in a power squad, a scoring squad or his runners.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen, so you can’t worry about it. You have to think about what you’re going to do when he calls you to go in.”

Fans began calling for Fitch to insert Closs in the third quarter of a 110-102 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies earlier this month at the Sports Arena after he had made all six shots and scored 12 points in the second quarter.

But Fitch kept Stojko Vrankovic in the game after the Grizzlies had cut a 14-point third-quarter lead to two points, explaining later that Closs would have been overmatched against Grizzly center Bryant Reeves.

Fitch, who signed a $2-million, two-year contract extension after leading the Clippers to their first playoff berth in four seasons, has a free rein.

“I guess what you have to do is put these guys in roles they don’t like because then they play them pretty well,” Fitch said. “With six guards, you’re not going to be able to make everybody happy.

“Everything depends on how you match up against other teams. Sometimes you go on hunches, but a lot depends on the situation.”

Guard Pooh Richardson, held out of a game last season after he complained that he was being misused by Fitch, begrudgingly accepts it.

“When he asks you to play, you try to do whatever you can,” Richardson said. “It’s tough, it’s tough.

“You can’t make nothing out of it. Honestly, it’s flat-out hard to be ready to play. . . . Because you don’t know [how much you’re going to play], you really don’t know what to prepare yourself for. . . .

“It’s hard to be productive. You can’t do nothing. You can go out and be a mediocre player until you’re somewhere you can get some consistent minutes, then you can probably play well.

“I don’t think you have anybody on our team that’s consistent that doesn’t play. It’s hard.

“I’ve never had a coach like this, never in my life. You just go out and try to do the best you can and try to do whatever is asked of you and play hard. Hopefully, you can have a good couple of minutes, if there is such a thing.

“I think it happens to everyone, not just me.”

Richardson began last season as a starter, was replaced by Darrick Martin a month into the season and finished averaging a career-worst 5.6 points.

Robinson, who signed a $10.5-million, five-year free-agent contract with the Clippers last summer, has also had trouble adjusting to Fitch’s rotation.

Robinson averaged 8.3 points and 1.3 assists with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season but has shot a career-worst 31.3% and averaged a career-worst 4.7 points this season.

“It’s difficult, but it will work out,” he said. “Everybody can play. When your turn comes, you’ve got to be ready to play. . . .”

Forward Rodney Rogers, who was removed from the starting lineup last February after he got into an argument with Fitch during an off-day practice in Milwaukee, said he doesn’t care how many minutes he plays.

“I don’t let it bother me,” he said. “He’s the one that has got to make the decision. He’s the one that’s got to live by it.”

Forward Lamond Murray, suspended for a game two years ago for ripping Fitch, agreed.

“You’ve just got to stay focused,” Murray said. “We don’t know the rotation sometimes. Sometimes you can predict the rotation if you’re a veteran player.

“But you’ve just got to be prepared and do the best that you can when you get out there. If you do well, you’ll get more minutes.”

Not everyone is unhappy.

Swingman Eric Piatkowski said flexibility is the key to playing for Fitch.

“You’ve just got to understand that that’s the way things are here,” he said. “I don’t know how I could be discontented. I’m playing a heck of a lot more than I have in my four years, so I’m like a pig in his trough.”

Fitch hasn’t changed his methods. He guided the Boston Celtics to the 1981 NBA title, and forward Cedric Maxwell said Fitch kept the Celtics guessing.

“He was really demanding,” said Maxwell, now a broadcaster for the Celtics.

And he still is.