Olowokandi Stages Lively Workout

After being roughed up in back-to-back losses to the Lakers, the Clippers responded with a spirited practice Sunday as No. 1 draft choice Michael Olowokandi completed his first full team workout.

With Olowokandi and Maurice Taylor, sidelined the last four days because of a thigh injury, on the floor together, Coach Chris Ford got a chance to see the Clippers’ future.

“Those two guys really raised our level of play out there today,” said Ford, whose team has only four more days of practice before beginning the regular season Friday against Phoenix at the Sports Arena.

“The intensity and physical toughness that both of those guys bring made a great impact.”

Olowokandi, a 7-foot-1 center who signed with the Clippers on Friday, looked a little green at times and raw offensively, but his overall talent and strength could not be ignored.

Whether he was banging inside against Lorenzen Wright or Rodney Rogers, or running into Brian Skinner chasing down a loose ball, Olowokandi did everything hard. And he displayed enough natural athletic talent to make anyone in attendance understand why the Clippers made him their top pick.

“From the short period of time we were able to see today, he’s what we thought he would be,” Ford said.

“He brought to the court a lot of the things we thought he would. He’s tough. He can run the floor and he’s very, very light of foot like [Houston center] Hakeem [Olajuwon]. He catches the ball and he’s into his moves really quick.”

Darrick Martin drove Olowokandi to practice and said that the rookie has a good grip on what’s expected of him this season. Martin was also impressed with Olowokandi’s first practice.

“He made a couple of moves today and I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be good,’ ” Martin said. “He also was getting some rebounds, blocking shots and changing some shots. Just his presence inside was good. You could tell he was definitely there.”

Since returning from Italy after playing three weeks with Kinder Bologna, Olowokandi has been going through a crash course learning Ford’s system. He sat on the bench in dress clothes and watched Saturday night’s loss to the Lakers and then spent a couple of hours watching tape prepared by the Clipper coaching staff. He watched more tape Sunday morning and arrived to his first full workout with the conclusion that the Clippers have to get tougher.

“Obviously, we’re going to try and win games but if we are going to lose games, it is not going to be because we were scared,” Olowokandi said. “That’s something we are going to have to establish. That’s something that I saw.”

Olowokandi said that he felt more comfortable on offense than defense, somewhat surprising considering that before the draft most experts said that his defense would develop faster.

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After nine days of practice and two exhibition games, the Clippers released three players, trimming their roster to 15. Juaquin Hawkins, Chris Smith and Mark Blount were cut, leaving the Clippers with 13 healthy players as Scott Brooks and Stojko Vrankovic sat out Sunday’s practice because of injuries.

“Those guys all brought a toughness and helped raised the competition during the week of practice,” Ford said of the released players. “They all made positive impressions.”

With Brooks scheduled for an MRI test on his injured knee today and Vrankovic’s nagging back injury listed as day-to-day, free-agent forward Tyrone Nesby, a rookie from Nevada Las Vegas, is expected to be among the final 14 players at the start of the season.

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The Clippers will hold a free two-hour scrimmage that will run like a game Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Sports Arena.

The game will use 20 minute halves with prizes and events at halftime.