McInnis Makes Pointed Effort to Improve

The Saturday morning practice had been over for at least 20 minutes and many of the Clippers had left the team’s training camp gym at College of the Desert.

But point guard Jeff McInnis was still on the floor, shooting one shot after another with assistant coach Rex Kalamian.

“Coach [Alvin] Gentry pulled me over and told me that he’s looking for me and Lamar [Odom] to step up because we’re like the veterans on this team,” McInnis said. “I’ve been working on my [three-point shooting] because Jeff Weltman [director of player personnel] and some of the coaches told me that I need to knock that shot down consistently to help make my game complete.”

McInnis left North Carolina before his senior season and has been looking for the right fit in the NBA. He was selected in the second round of the 1996 draft by Denver but was waived by the Nuggets before Christmas of his rookie season. He played a season in Greece and played in the Continental Basketball Assn. before joining the Washington Wizards for the final 35 games of the 1998-99 season.

McInnis played well for Washington, but spent most of last season in the CBA, where he was named the league’s most valuable player. He joined the Clippers for their final 25 games and impressed enough to return as the starting point guard.

It’s a role McInnis has taken seriously.

“He’s playing defense really well,” Kalamian said. “He’s getting people in spots they need to be and simply doing the things that need to be done from the point-guard position.”

Gentry is demanding that his point guards be assertive.

“Jeff has done extremely well from the standpoint of keeping guys organized and running the team,” Gentry said. “We haven’t really looked so much at [McInnis’ outside shooting] but more at how he is doing other things. . . . He’s going to be the first line of our defense and if we are going to be good defensively, then our point guard is going to have to be able to pressure the ball. That will help us then deny the ball on the wings and entry passes.”

McInnis has done that while going head-to-head with fellow point guards Keyon Dooling and Earl Boykins.

“I know as a point guard, you hate for someone to harass you up and down the court,” McInnis said. “I’m trying to do that because I know I don’t like that when it happens to me.”

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Gentry also plans to give Odom a good chunk of playing time at point guard. As a rookie, Odom started several games at the position but mainly has been used as a small forward.

Moving Odom to point guard will give Gentry more options involving Tyrone Nesby, Corey Maggette, Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson.