Clippers Will Start Season With Another New Coach

With the draft lottery now past, the Clippers made their first move toward sorting out their muddled coaching situation for next season by removing interim coach Jim Todd as a candidate for the job.

Todd, 47, joined the organization as an assistant under Chris Ford before the 1998-99 season. He took over as interim coach when Ford was fired last season after the Clippers’ 11-34 start.

Todd’s record was 4-33.

Elgin Baylor, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, met with Todd on Monday to inform him of the decision.

Baylor said the Clippers plan to have a coach in place by the NBA draft June 28, and said the team has spoken to several candidates.

Mike Fratello, who coached the Atlanta Hawks for seven seasons and the Cleveland Cavaliers for six, is a strong candidate but reports around the league say Fratello wants to have control over basketball decisions.

Fratello, 53, was fired by the Cavaliers last June 1, and has worked as a television analyst this season. His record is 582-465.

Other possible candidates include current Clipper assistant Dennis Johnson; John Lucas, a former NBA coach and current assistant with the Denver Nuggets; former Hawk coach Lenny Wilkens, the league’s all-time leader in coaching victories; Lionel Hollins, recently fired coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies; and Alvin Gentry, recently fired coach of the Detroit Pistons. Clipper assistant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was not ruled out, but Baylor did not confirm him as a candidate.

“I’ve had several conversations with people, I’ve talked to agents about their clients, I intend to talk to a couple of candidates this week,” said Baylor, who will be seeking the team’s eighth coach in their last 10 seasons. “I’m not going to get into who’s a candidate or who’s not a candidate.”

Baylor said Todd took the news in stride.

“We appreciate his effort and hard work, and we have let him know that he is entitled to be considered for a position on the staff, based on the wishes of the new head coach,” Baylor said. “He was very professional about it. He was very receptive. He wants to be an assistant, he feels his best situation with any organization is on the bench. He’s a coach. He would like to be [an assistant] here, or an assistant somewhere. That would be up to the head coach.”