Sterling: He’s the One Who Put the Woe in Woeful

To the still-dazzled millions who think the Los Angeles Clippers finally got their arms around so much young talent that even they can’t screw up, here are two words:

Donald Sterling.

This is the man who put the woe in woeful, who put the Clippers in the basement and who will go out of his way to hire a coach on the cheap to guarantee they stay there. Since Sterling took control of the franchise in 1981, the Clippers have made it above .500 exactly once and into the playoffs three times. It’s hard to believe a team with all the draft choices that so much losing brought never got better. But it’s easy to figure out why.

When it comes to personnel, Sterling has made more bad decisions than Darva Conger. He drafted one guy who fled to Italy rather than play for the Clips (Danny Ferry) and several others who spent more time driving to the doctor than the basket (Danny Manning, Terry Cummings). He’s drafted too many busts to name (a few, anyway: Benoit Benjamin, Bo Kimble, Lancaster Gordon) and traded away the only no-brainer the Clips ever selected (Antonio McDyess). And then came Wednesday night.

For one shining night, during the NBA’s annual pick-and-swap meet, the Clippers did everything right. It could not have been a coincidence that Sterling was on vacation. Barely 10 minutes into the draft, the team used the third pick overall to grab high school sensation Darius Miles, setting in motion a chain-collision of good fortune that would extend out well into the night.

Because the Orlando Magic were desperate for Miles, they offered the Clippers a deal: Draft Miles at No. 3 and swap him for Marcus Fizer, whom the Magic would select with the No. 5 pick, along with Corey Maggette, Derek Strong and the No. 10 pick in the first round.

The deal was supposed to short-circuit when Chicago, picking fourth, took Fizer out of the equation. But for reasons that had more to do with Orlando’s need for salary-cap space than Baylor’s acumen, the Magic went ahead and made the deal without Miles, anyway. It cost the Clippers an additional No. 1 choice, but when the night was over, so, it appeared, was general manager Elgin Baylor’s reign of error.

He used the No. 10 pick on Missouri point guard Keyon Dooling and his own No. 18 on DePaul swingman Quentin Richardson. Sean Rooks came in a trade, forward Marko Jaric of the Italian league came with the No. 30 pick, and then came the most impressive move of all. Baylor stood pat.

Former NBA star-turned-TV-analyst Charles Barkley started out the TNT network telecast by advising Miles to get out at all costs. “People assume that every organization is trying to win and there’s just no excuse for what the Clippers have been doing.”

But by the end of the end, he was the only one still parroting the party line. Suddenly, Barkley’s fellow TNT analysts (and former coaches) Mike Fratello and John Thompson were wishing they hadn’t blown off the Clippers so rudely. “It may be time,” Thompson said, chuckling, “to go back for another interview.”

Small wonder. The Clips took Lamar Odom last year, and Michael Olowokandi two years ago and now they can surround them with Miles, Dooling and Richardson. They are all young--”The Clippers’ biggest need now is a dermatologist,” said Orlando senior vice president Pat Williams--and they are all hitched to Los Angeles for three to five years. That’s because of the rookie contract deal that NBA commissioner David Stern put in place to protect inept owners like Sterling from themselves.

But here’s the best part. Right now, the new kids on the block want to stay.

“Being with the Clippers,” Miles said, beaming after his pal, Richardson was selected, “is going to be fun.”

“We’ve got a chance to start over,” Richardson added, “and black out all the bad part.”

But only a chance. In a fitting twist, both Miles and Richardson are represented by agent David Falk, who is furious with Sterling because another of his clients, Maurice Taylor, is not getting treated the way Falk demanded. But in this instance, Falk’s hands are tied.

If only the same could be said for Sterling. He might be Midas when it comes to finding real estate in Los Angeles, but coaches are another matter. He fired coach Chris Ford in the middle of last season, replaced him with Jim Todd, and then fired Todd. Sterling hasn’t hired a replacement and probably won’t until August to satisfy his penny-wise, pound-foolish way of looking at the world of the NBA.

Finding a coach to shape all that talent, to keep this bunch of kids patient while they try--as Richardson said--”to black out all the bad part,” is the last piece of work left to do. Yet it might be the most important.

Unfortunately, Sterling didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry. A call to his office Thursday seeking comment brought this response:

“I believe he’s still on vacation.”