Piatkowski Is Hopeful Amid Gloom

Shooting guard Eric Piatkowski holds the dubious honor of the longest current tenure as a Clipper. His reward? 284 defeats and only 112 victories, 18 games into his sixth season.

Piatkowski, however, remains hopeful about the team, even though he continues to struggle with his shot. Piatkowski made only two of eight from the field and finished with four points in the Clippers’ loss Wednesday night at Atlanta.

“I still think we are going to win a lot of games here,” Piatkowski said. “This is by far the most talent we’ve had since I’ve been here. We’re deep at every position and we can hang with any team in the league if we go out and play the way we’re capable of.”

Even with the possibility of power forward Maurice Taylor and shooting guard Derek Anderson leaving as free agents next summer, Piatkowski remains upbeat.

“I just try and take each year as it comes and right now, I’ve been sustaining a real positive attitude,” said Piatkowski, who re-signed with the Clippers last summer and is under contract through the 2001-02 season.

“I have a lot more optimism now than I had in the past. . . . Some of the things people are concerned about I don’t even think about that. I’m only thinking about this year right now. I’ve only been with the Clippers.”

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Former Clipper Lorenzen Wright had nine points and seven rebounds for the Hawks in his first game against his old team.

Wright, who backs up center Dikembe Mutombo and power forward Alan Henderson, entered averaging only 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds.

“I wanted to beat those guys bad,” said Wright, traded to Atlanta in the off-season. “It feels good. I didn’t think I’d be as excited as I was. But, after I got that first dunk. It felt good.”