Clippers to Hire Gentry as Coach

Fresh off the signings of their talented draft class, the Clippers are on the verge of another stale move.

They are ready to make Alvin Gentry their next coach, an action whose tardiness is exceeded only by its lack of creativity.

Gentry is OK. He’s not a bungler like Rick Adelman, but he’s not a superstar like Phil Jackson. He’s just another guy like Chris Ford or Don Casey or Mike Schuler or anyone else in that constant procession of Clipper coaches that starts to blend together and blur like an MTV video.

Gentry did a credible job when he took over for Kevin Loughery in Miami in 1995, then got bounced when the Heat decided to go big-time and brought in Pat Riley.

Gentry fared so-so with a Detroit Piston team that had some noticeable gaps, but he didn’t have Grant Hill in his corner and couldn’t keep the job.

The thing is, he has a history. And that history is just like the Clippers: mediocre.

If the Clippers can’t get a proven winner, they should get a promising newcomer.

The success of Doc Rivers in Orlando has made it safe, or even fashionable, to hire someone with no previous head-coaching experience.

The Clippers could have made a run at Byron Scott, the popular former Laker who was an assistant with the Sacramento Kings. He went to the New Jersey Nets instead.

Of course, the Clippers’ biggest impediment to getting anybody is the fact that they’re the Clippers.

During the playoffs I mentioned the Clipper vacancy to an out-of-work coach and to an eager assistant. Based on their reactions, I now understand the true meaning of the phrase “he scoffed at the idea.”

With an organization that has yet to show a commitment to winning, an association with its losing ways can stain a career--or shut it down before it even gets going, in the case of a first-time coach.

In Dennis Johnson they had a guy who didn’t have much choice. They could have used his bad situation for their own gain, but they missed that opportunity as well.

Johnson was once a bright coaching prospect, but fell out of favor after an altercation with his wife in 1997. He got his life straightened out working in the Continental Basketball Assn., and took an assistant coaching job with the Clippers this year as his entry back into the NBA.

He coached their summer-league team. That might be as close as he gets.

Elgin Baylor’s wheeling and dealing that brought in Darius Miles, Keyon Dooling, Quentin Richardson and Corey Maggette on draft night suddenly made the Clippers look a little more appealing.

Of course, it came one day after the Nets hired Scott. And after they already had been spurned once by Mike Fratello.

The search went on and on, lasting almost three months from the time they told interim coach Jim Todd to head to Kinko’s and prepare his resume.

The Clippers talked to John Lucas.

They made a run at University of Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins, who basically used them to position himself for the next NBA opening that appeals to him.

(I’m not sure how well Huggins’ super-intense style would have worked in the pros; check the P.J. Carlesimo file.)

They even talked to good ol’ Del Harris, which might have been a good idea if only because then Harris, Phil Jackson and Kurt Rambis all would have offices at Staples Center. They could install some cameras, lock the doors and it would be better than watching “Big Brother.”

The Clippers didn’t appeal enough to some candidates and didn’t offer enough years or money to others.

The Lakers just showed us what happens when you have talented players who respect their coach.

But over the years, Donald Sterling has shown us his reluctance to spend the money for a coach of Jackson’s caliber. This became an even more glaring issue when coaches’ salaries took off in the mid-1990s.

For all of their talent (let’s not forget about Lamar Odom) the Clippers still don’t have players who know how to win at the NBA level.

Without a coach or a few veterans who can show them, the danger is they could spend the next three seasons doing nothing more than developing bad habits, letting the losing conquer them instead of the other way around.

Gentry comes with Larry Brown’s blessing, and apparently that’s good enough. The Clippers actually had a winning record and went to the playoffs in the year and a half with Brown as the coach in the early 1990s. In Clipper Country, that’s the equivalent of the Red Auerbach years with the Boston Celtics.

Gentry was an assistant under Brown at Kansas and with the San Antonio Spurs.

So why not get the original? Brown and Allen Iverson can’t coexist in Philadelphia. The 76ers would trade Iverson, but they don’t think they can find the right combination of comparable talent and salary cap fit to make it worthwhile. The easier alternative could be to reach a settlement to get Brown out of that contract extension he just signed and let him come back to L.A. As a bonus, if he ever wanted to return to UCLA he wouldn’t even have to move.

Sure, it’s a fantasy scenario. But when it comes to the Clippers hiring the right coach, they all are.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.