Ford Will Continue Looking for Players

The Clippers have 10 players under contract and two first-round draft choices in Michael Olowokandi and Brian Skinner, but that doesn’t mean new Coach Chris Ford is content to start training camp with the current roster.

“It’s going to be a frenzy out there,” Ford said about the free agent signing period, that will not begin until at least Wednesday.

“Hopefully, there is going to be somebody out there who can fill some of our needs and make us a better team. Whatever 12 men we can put together to make us better that’s who we will go with.”

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Once the free agent signing period begins, highly sought-after players like Scottie Pippen and Antonio McDyess are expected to sign lucrative deals quickly. It’s anyone’s guess, when lower level free agents will get their contracts done.

Players such as Trevor Wilson, a free-agent training camp journeyman, and Raymond Tutt, a rookie free agent out of UC Santa Barbara, are hoping that it’s later than sooner. Last week, both players worked out at the Clippers’ informal practices at Carson in hope of gaining a spot in an NBA training camp.

“There’s not going to be a lot of time for teams to [sign players] and hopefully my experience will get me in somewhere,” said Wilson, a former UCLA standout who has bounced around the NBA and overseas since being a second-round selection by Atlanta in 1990. Because the Clippers’ workouts were open to anyone with NBA ties, Wilson and Tutt simply took advantage of the opportunity to work out locally since the daily UCLA pickup games had lost their zeal.

“I know that I can be a role player in the league,” said Wilson, who last played professionally in Turkey last year. “I practice hard and I know how to get players ready for games and in case of emergency can go in and play.”

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Skinner, drafted 22nd overall, arrived in Los Angeles on Monday and is expected to be at the team’s workout session today. Skinner, a 6-foot-9 forward who averaged 18.1 points and 9.5 rebounds last season at Baylor, spent the lockout in Houston working out daily with other NBA players.

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The Clippers will conduct team physicals in Marina del Rey once the lockout is declared over before traveling to Palm Desert to start training camp. The team will practice twice a day at College of the Desert and its two exhibition games against the Lakers are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29 at the Great Western Forum and Jan. 30 at the Sports Arena.