Clippers Junk Their Ford

The Clippers lost back-to-back games by a combined 77 points, and not even 24 hours after the second of those games, Elgin Baylor fired the coach.

What took him so long?

Actually, that’s not as frivolous a question as it sounds, and the serious answer is that Baylor would have fired Chris Ford sooner-- before the Clippers started this latest avalanche of 16 losses in 18 games, before the 31-point loss at home against Golden State on Tuesday night and the 46-point loss at Phoenix on Wednesday night--if permission had been granted sooner by the owner, Donald Sterling.

Baylor is more astute than his record in 15 seasons as vice president of basketball operations for the little franchise that couldn’t--or wouldn’t--indicates.

But he didn’t have to be that astute to see that:

1--A team that started the season with playoff potential had become the worst in the Western Conference and the second worst in the league.

2--The team had quit on Ford.

3--Ford had quit on the team.

4--The Magic Johnson smile that Lamar Odom brought to Los Angeles had been wiped off his face.

Sterling, on the other hand, is not more astute when it comes to winning basketball games than his record in 18 seasons as the owner indicates. But give him a little credit. He’s cheap, not blind. He no doubt saw the same things Baylor did.

The challenge for Baylor was to persuade Sterling that he should pay another coach not to coach. Bill Fitch remains on the payroll, even though he was fired in 1998.

Baylor’s case was made for him by the Clippers’ inept play in two games within 48 hours this week. Even for a franchise that has become almost anesthetized to humiliation, that was too much. Or should we say too little?

But then, exactly what was it we expected when Ford was hired eight days before the lockout-delayed start to last season?

That he would become the next Red Auerbach? Or even the next Larry Brown?

No, we pretty much knew that Ford would become the next Bob Weiss, the next Mike Shuler, the next Don Casey, the next Don Chaney, the next . . . well, you get the point.

The Clippers had some intriguing possibilities to succeed Fitch, none more so than Doc Rivers. He wanted the job. Some within the front office wanted him.

But, ultimately, the Clippers decided that he wanted too much money for someone with no coaching experience. Lucky him. Now he’s in Orlando, where he’s considered the NBA’s best young coach.

The Clippers opted for Ford, who was less expensive and had experience, mostly in recent seasons at losing. He was coming off four consecutive losing seasons, two at Boston and two at Milwaukee, and had a reputation for not relating well to young players when the Clippers hired him.

He leaves town with his reputation intact.

The obvious--actually the only--choice to replace Ford--at least until the end of the season--was assistant Jim Todd.

First, unless you like Garfield Heard, P.J. Carlesimo or Fitch, there weren’t many other coaches available.

Second, Todd won both games when he filled in for Ford, who was out because of back spasms. One was a four-point victory over Golden State, 35 points better than the Clippers’ performance against the Warriors this week. Todd earned a chance, although Ford probably would tell him that’s like saying that he had earned a root canal.

The Clippers expected Todd to take it because there aren’t that many NBA head coaching jobs around. But it’s safe to assume he didn’t want it under these circumstances. Todd and Ford are close friends, having shared a house in Redondo Beach until Thursday while their families were in the East. Todd no doubt would be the first to tell you that this mess is not entirely Ford’s fault.

You can argue that Sterling was right not to sign Maurice Taylor to the maximum-dollar contract he wanted before the season. But the Clipper owner at least should have agreed to meet with Taylor’s agent, David Falk.

When Sterling refused, and Falk responded by saying that his client would leave as a free agent after this season no matter how much the Clippers offered, a threat later echoed by the client, Baylor should have been instructed to trade Taylor.

Taylor, to his credit, hasn’t meant for his contract status to become a distraction, but it has been nonetheless. The Clippers’ other quality free agent, Derek Anderson, sees how the team has treated Taylor and is thinking that this is a temporary address too.

Meantime, a young team with a nucleus of Odom, Taylor and Michael Olowokandi has been unable to cope with the knowledge that it will be torn apart before it has time to come together.

So, these are the Clippers that Todd inherits, and, by the way, speculation is that his new assistant coach will be Mike Smith, who might be imported from the broadcast booth to save money. The Lakers did something similar 20 years ago with a former player turned broadcaster named Pat Riley. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the Clippers of today aren’t the Lakers of 20 years ago. That won’t change even if Odom gets the smile back.

For their sakes, one can only hope that Ford and Todd were renting in Redondo.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com