For Now, Baylor Lives Only in Dream World

Elgin Baylor shared his vision of the type of team he hopes the Clippers will be during the shortened NBA season Thursday. It was a dream filled with optimism.

Baylor, vice president of basketball operations, sees a former NBA player, as coach, leading a group of young, well-conditioned Clippers into the playoffs.

The new coach’s team will be defense-minded and will rely heavily on the inside presence of its No. 1 draft choice. The team also will push the ball upcourt and will have a recently signed free-agent point guard at the controls.

Unfortunately for Baylor, his vision is just that--so far. The Clippers still remain a team without a coach and, although reports have former assistant Jim Brewer as the leading candidate, Baylor said a decision will not be made until next week. And he concedes the new coach might not have enough time to put together the type of team he wants.

“Any coach who comes in is going to have very little time to do the things you would like to do,” said Baylor, who also lists former NBA coaches Eddie Jordan and Chris Ford as candidates. “It would be nice if we had a full season, with training camp and exhibition [games]. It would certainly help us. We have a lot of young players.”

Baylor disagreed, however, with the idea that the Clippers are behind the rest of the league because they don’t have a coach.

“There are some other teams who have new coaches too,” he said. “They have to do the same thing. Once training camp starts, they’ll be starting the same time as our new coaches will be starting.”

The Clippers’ new coach, however, will have to start with most of the players from last season’s 17-65 team, which finished in last place in the Pacific Division.

He also will open training camp without Michael Olowokandi, a 7-foot center from Pacific, the No. 1 pick in the draft. Olowokandi signed a one-year contract with Kinder Bologna on Jan. 4--the last day of the Italian League’s signing period--and must stay in Italy until Feb. 15 to honor the deal.

“We talked to [Olowokandi’s] agent and he said that he will be on the first plane back [Feb. 15],” said Baylor, who doesn’t think that the Clippers will have a problem signing Olowokandi. “Michael has even said that he wished that the lockout had been settled a few days earlier so he could be here. I know that he’s anxious to get back.”

Although he may wish that Olowokandi had not signed with Kinder Bologna so he could open camp with the Clippers, Baylor says that playing in Italy may be good for the center’s overall development.

“It’s a different kind of game they play there than the NBA game,” Baylor said. “There’s a larger lane. . . . One thing you have to learn in order to play there is to shoot from the outside. I just think playing is going to help, but there’s going to be extra work for him [to catch up] when he gets here.”

That means the Clippers will begin the season with a trio of big men in 7-3 Keith Closs, a free-agent project who signed an $8-million five-year deal last year; 7-2 Stojko Vrankovic, who averaged three points and three rebounds after being acquired in a 1997 trade from Minnesota, and 6-11 Lorenzen Wright, whose game may be more suited for small forward than center.

The team will get together Monday when the Clippers’ practice facility in Carson will be available. Trainer Ray Melchiorre will be in charge of workouts until the lockout is officially ended.

“The team that is the best-conditioned team will have an advantage,” Baylor said. “ I feel good about our guys because I’ve gotten reports that a lot of them played at UCLA this summer.”

Once the league’s ban on free-agent signings is lifted, Baylor plans to look hard for a point guard. But because the Clippers have only about $5 million available to sign one, don’t expect much.

The Clippers would love to attract some name players, but they know that selling a future that includes the Staples Center, where the team will play next season, might not be enough.

“In order to bring in a free agent in this league, you have to have a checkbook,” Baylor said. “It’s a question of money. The bottom line is that you have to pay top dollar to get the best players.”

That’s one reason Baylor’s vision may be a long way from reality.