Magic and Kareem, Part II?

The Laker Solution, or they’re getting warmer: In retrospect, it doesn’t look as if Chris Ford was the Clippers’ entire problem, does it?

This wasn’t a coaching issue, so terminating Ford, or bringing in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as an assistant, however worthy he is and whatever positive public relations it engendered, couldn’t change much. The problem is organizational and the answer is to bring in a man strong enough to turn this from a moldering plaything into an NBA franchise, good enough to inspire confidence and secure enough to consider the job.

Now, who could that be?

Well, as long as they’re turning to the Lakers, why not go after another--Magic Johnson, who is signaling he’s available, now that Michael Jordan is back in the game?

Magic being Magic, he’s itching to get his own team and beat Mike’s brains out. Because Jordan joined a particularly hamstrung team, and since the Clippers represent a marvelous growth opportunity to anyone who can wake them up--imagine a roster loaded with talented young players in a new arena in downtown Los Angeles with $15 million in cap room next summer--this would be duck soup . . .

If only someone could convince owner Donald T. Sterling. Magic wouldn’t work cheap (he’d probably want a salary in the millions), might need a piece of the action (Sterling, a developer, prides himself on never having sold a property) and definitely would demand control of the basketball end and the budget (Sterling will faint when he hears that one).

“I would love to be involved in the game,” Johnson said last week in Oakland, asked about published speculation linking him to the Clippers and Dallas Mavericks.

“I’d love the coaching side of it. I’d love to be a GM. But you’ve got to have it where you can put your own team together. . . . Only way you can consider anything like this is, you have to have control. Without that, you don’t do anything because what’s been going on before, whether it’s the Clippers or the Mavericks or whoever, it’s going to go on, even with me being there, unless you’ve got control.”

Johnson has the clout and the charisma, and he’d bring the credibility they don’t have. Of course, the day Sterling (swallowing hard, his hand trembling) made the deal, he would become the owner of a basketball team, as opposed to warden of a work farm or head nurse of a depression ward. Everything would change, as in 1994, when the then-moribund Lakers named Magic coach and the franchise lit up as if someone had flicked a switch.

The Clippers’ problems are spiritual and perceptual as in, their players want out and everyone knows it.

Clipper players would start playing, as opposed to numbly going through the motions. Free agents would start thinking about that $15 million in cap space that few mention now, because no one would touch it, even if Sterling offered it.

Sterling, who is actually a canny operator in business, has made a career of not learning anything from his mistakes in basketball, so even if a sixth-grader could tell you what a slam dunk this should be, it’s a longshot. Sterling still thinks if he sits on the problem long enough, something good will happen, as if it were a property in a time of rising asset prices.

Now, though, having moved into Staples Center, he can no longer fail anonymously. Nor can his landlords at Staples or his broadcast partners at Fox, watching the place empty as the odor rises, be too happy.

Of course, David Stern, himself, tried to force Sterling out of the Sports Arena and it only took 10 years.

Spending and trusting aren’t things Sterling does, but his greatest joy is introducing his famous friends at his fabulous parties. Think of Johnson and his 1,000-watt smile at Sterling’s elbow!

Well, it filled up a column, anyway.

FACES AND FIGURES

Oops: NBA executives did a good job of not looking panicky about falling TV ratings at the All-Star game--which soon after posted an all-time low TV rating. This was the more ominous, since the game was not a turkey, had all the league’s sparkling young personalities involved and got a terrific lead-in from Vince Carter’s performance in the dunk show. Bottom line: This thing hasn’t leveled off yet.

The Emperor’s New Clothes (cont.): Cleveland management studiously avoided comment on Shawn Kemp’s chunky look until last week, when owner Gordon Gund said he was “surprised and disappointed at the way Kemp reported to training camp. I had to be disappointed. Shawn is an exceptional basketball player. I hope he knows that it is not in his best interest to be like this if he wants to be the kind of professional I know he can be.” Asked if he had spoken to Kemp, Gund said, “I don’t want to talk about this any further.” Nor will trading Kemp be easy. He has four years left on his back-loaded contract--worth $73 million, a guaranteed luxury-tax trigger.

Situation wanted: Celtic Coach Rick Pitino, acknowledging the heat is on, vows to stay in the NBA, one way or another. “I’m not quitting,” he says. “Heat to me is something that can be deserved or undeserved, depending on your perception of it, but I’m not walking out any doors. Paul [Gaston, team owner] some day may say, ‘I really think we should make a move.’ Then I say, ‘Thank you, Boston,’ but I’m going on to my next professional team. I don’t want to leave the NBA. If it is me that some day moves on, I’ll try to find something else. I came here--back to professional basketball--to win an NBA championship. And if it can’t be Boston, then I’ve got to try somewhere else, obviously.” Since he’s still owed $29 million and Gaston is notoriously frugal, Pitino is safe--for another year or two, until they work out a buyout. But believe this: The next team that hires him won’t let him make personnel decisions, and Pitino probably won’t even want to.

Milwaukee’s George Karl, before his game against Dennis Rodman’s Dallas Mavericks: “I’ve been with Dennis in some party situations in Vegas in the summertime and he’s a good guy to hang out with and to have fun with. But I don’t know if you want to have that much fun every day in the NBA season.”

Sonic Wars (cont.): Carl Poston, the agent for 20-year-old reserve Rashard Lewis, suggested trading starter Ruben Patterson, noting, “Rashard could be around for the next 10 or 12 years. It’s time for that egg to hatch.” Replied Patterson’s agent, Dan Fegan, “We’re talking about the agent who advised Rashard to forego college and enter the draft because his egg was ready to hatch. As I recall, Rashard was drafted in the second round, so I guess that egg speaks for itself.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Clipper guard Eric Murdock, on his return to Miami: “Pat Riley was the best coach I ever played for, hands down. He seemed to come up with something before every game to make you run through a wall for him. His preparation was the best, and the coaching staff works the hardest in the league, by far. In Miami, it was all about winning. I miss those things. Nobody was out there playing for a contract, looking at their own stats.” . . . ESPY Awards master of ceremonies Jimmy Smits, in a flowery introduction of Jordan: “Michael, I think I speak for everyone here when I say--the Wizards?”