Clippers Thinking Big

Size does matter.

Owner of the first pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor had within his grasp Arizona’s 6-foot-2 guard, Mike Bibby, a proven quantity who had already led his school to an NCAA title, and Pacific’s 7-1 center, Michael Olowokandi, who hadn’t picked up a basketball until five years ago and hadn’t started playing in this country until three years ago.

“If you have both a good lightweight fighter and a good heavyweight, who do you take?” Baylor asked. “You always take the good big man over the good little guy.”

OK, so Olowokandi is actually only 6-11 3/4 in his stocking feet. Baylor still figures it won’t be long before he towers over most of the rest of the league.

“Look at the big men out there,” Baylor said. “In three years, who will still be around and be among the best? Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille [O’Neal] and Tim Duncan will. But I think Olowokandi will be in that elite group in three years. He can have a bigger impact than anyone in the draft.”

With Olowokandi going first, Bibby dropped to second, where he was grabbed by the Vancouver Grizzlies, drafting in front of a hometown crowd of 10,024 at GM Place.

The Grizzlies already have a surplus of guards, but they couldn’t pass up the chance to get the highly rated Bibby.

Vancouver General Manager Stu Jackson, while hoping that the Clippers would stick with Bibby and give him a shot at Olowokandi, knew in his heart that it wasn’t going to happen.

“At some point, it changed in L.A. land,” Jackson said. “It was a no-brainer.”

Jackson could have traded the pick, but he decided against it.

“In that situation,” he said, “you usually dig in your heels, stand pat and take the player you really like.”

With the third pick, the Denver Nuggets took 6-11 1/2 Raef LaFrentz from Kansas.

North Carolina hadn’t had a player taken in the first round since 1995, but they had two taken at No. 4 and No. 5. And those two, Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, immediately switched places. Jamison, taken by the Toronto Raptors, was traded to the Golden State Warriors for Carter and cash.

While Olowokandi rose in the draft in the final 10 days as one general manager after another sought him in a trade, Kansas’ Paul Pierce tumbled in the other direction. Once projected at anywhere from No. 2 at the highest to No. 4 at the lowest, Pierce wound up at No. 10, going to the Boston Celtics.

With their second pick in the first round, obtained from the Miami Heat, the Clippers might have been expected to take a guard, since that is now their primary need with the acquisition of Olowokandi. Instead, not seeing anybody he liked, Baylor went for another big body, selecting 6-9 forward Brian Skinner from Baylor.

“It’s one thing to bring in a top guard,” Baylor said. “But to draft a rookie [at No. 22] and expect him to be a starter, well, that is not going to happen. To get a guard, we know that we are going to have to go into the free-agent market, or, if we have to, we will make a trade.”

If that is the case, Baylor said, he knows that he may well have to part with one of his forwards, the one area where the Clippers actually have a surplus of talent.

Thus, the Skinner pick.

“If we have to move one of our front-line players,” Baylor said, “we will be covered with Skinner. He has a big body, is a good defender and a good shot blocker.”

Bibby tried his best to shake off whatever disappointment he might have felt from going second after being projected as the top pick since the day of the lottery last month.

Bibby’s agent, David Falk, did his best to land his client in Los Angeles. He had not allowed Bibby to work out with any team other than the Clippers. And Falk had met with Clipper owner Donald Sterling on Tuesday to get in one last word for Bibby.

“Bibby is a nice player, a steady player,” Baylor said, “but the upside of Olowokandi is better than perhaps anyone in the draft.”

Asked if he might be motivated to play a little harder against the Clippers because they passed him over, Bibby replied, “I might. But I’m not having any hard feelings. I’m happy being No. 2. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.”

Asked why he didn’t work out for any other team, Bibby said, “It wasn’t my decision. I did what David told me.”

Bibby, who knows that questions have been raised about his speed and defensive ability, is confident he can play in the NBA.

“I will try to make the biggest impact I can,” he said. “I will do what I did in college, come in and run [the offense]. I will bring point-guard leadership to the team.”

Bibby was happy to answer questions about any subject. Except his father, Henry, the USC basketball coach. The older and younger Bibby are estranged.

“I don’t talk about my father,” Mike Bibby said.

But his mother, Virginia, did when she was asked if she was glad her son had not wound up in the same city as his father.

“It wouldn’t have bothered me,” she said. “And it wouldn’t have bothered Mike. But now we don’t have to deal with it.”

Jamison and Carter had to deal with one of the strangest moments of the draft after playfully arguing about who would go higher.

And after the draft that saw them going one after the other and then be traded for each other?

“I would call it a draw,” Carter said.

*

To join in a discussion of the NBA draft on The Times’ Web site, go to: https://www.latimes.com/nbadraft