Big Fella on Board

Over the last few years, former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has made it known he wanted to coach in the NBA.

He got his wish Friday, when the Clippers hired him as an assistant under interim Coach Jim Todd.

Two years ago, before the Clippers hired Chris Ford, they didn’t want Abdul-Jabbar when he met with owner Donald Sterling. Nor did they want him after he met with General Manager Elgin Baylor the couple of times since then.

But after losing 40 of 51 games this season, the Clippers changed their position.

“We wanted to have as many people as we can helping us,” Todd said. “I’m happy Mr. Sterling and Elgin were supportive in me making this move. They realize the importance of it.”

Abdul-Jabbar, 52, who is expected to join the team for tonight’s game at Chicago, will work mainly with young centers Michael Olowokandi and Keith Closs.

“They’ll be getting the benefit of my experience,” said Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time most valuable player who played on six NBA championship teams and is the league’s all-time leading scorer.

Although being an NBA head coach is still his dream, Abdul-Jabbar is happy to get a chance to show his coaching skills after working the last five years as an assistant at an Arizona high school.

“Working for the Clippers and helping them become a better team is my priority now,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “Eventually, I would love to be a head coach, but first things first.”

With only 30 games left in the regular season, Abdul-Jabbar will have his work cut out getting Olowokandi to become a more consistent player. Olowokandi went into Friday’s game against Charlotte averaging 9.7 points and 8.6 rebounds.

“He’s a winner with a lot of championships under his belt,” Olowokandi said after the Clippers lost by 28 points to the Hornets. “It’s going to be interesting to see how he will mix in with the Clippers.”

Since working out Olowokandi in several private workouts two summers ago, Abdul-Jabbar said he has not seen much of the Clippers’ No. 1 pick of the 1998 draft this season.

“I have not followed the Clippers too closely,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I’ve seen them on TV a couple of times, but mostly I’ve been following them through newspaper reports.

“So, I haven’t seen [Olowokandi] play a whole lot. But what I’ve seen, he hasn’t been overwhelming. But from the time I worked with him before, I know he has a lot of talent and works hard. He has to learn how to do things and what to do in competition. . . . From what I understand, he hasn’t had a good environment, and that affects your performance.”

The Clippers began the season short-handed on the bench with only two assistants under Ford.

But since Todd took over on Feb. 3, the team has added former NBA great Dennis Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar and now has three assistants, including holdover Rex Kalamian.

“Hopefully, something will rub off on our guys,” Todd said. “I know they are happy about it and I’m happy. It’s all part of an image. D.J. and Kareem are great players who are well respected and are winners.

“Our guys have to be taught how to win, then we have to put it to music on the floor. . . . I couldn’t be happier with the decisions I’ve made.”

After working as an assistant with the Clippers for seven games, Johnson already has a feel for the team’s needs and said the addition of Abdul-Jabbar will help.

“All these guys can play, they just have to learn how to pick up knowledge,” Johnson said. “They have to listen, pay attention and understand we are not the enemy. We are just coaches put in position to help them.

“The addition of Kareem can only help because he’ll be giving off knowledge, just by him being on the bench.”

But is Abdul-Jabbar ready for the Clippers, who have a 22-82 record over the last two seasons?

He thinks so.

“You can change any team in any season,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

*

CHARLOTTE 115

CLIPPERS 87

The losses continue to pile up (nine in a row, 23 of 25, 15 in a row on road) as jump shots don’t get the job done against balanced Hornets.

Page 7

Notes: Page 7

TONIGHT

Clippers at Chicago

5:30 PST