Miles Might Have Swung Into Lineup

The initial plan for rookie Darius Miles went something like this:

Because of Miles’ age (19) and inexperience, the Clippers wanted to bring him along slowly. At the start of training camp, he was behind Lamar Odom at small forward and the Clippers figured it would take time for him to play through mistakes.

With so many other talented swingmen on the roster, Miles was not pressured to step up right away. But he did anyway. And now, after an impressive exhibition season, Miles finds himself on the brink of being a starter in his first NBA regular-season game when the Clippers play their opener at Utah on Tuesday.

“If he continues to work and put forth the effort he’s playing with,” Coach Alvin Gentry said. “I think he has a chance to be a great player.”

In the Clippers’ final exhibition game, a loss to Seattle on Friday, Miles started at shooting guard with Jeff McInnis at point guard, Michael Olowokandi at center, Brian Skinner at power forward and Odom at small forward. Although the lineup struggled at times against the SuperSonics, Gentry is leaning toward keeping the same five to open against the Jazz.

Miles’ rapid development has made playing time for the Clippers’ other talented swingmen even more of an issue.

“With our team, the only guys who are going to be consistently out there are going to be Darius, Lamar and Michael,” Gentry said. “We just have keep them out of foul trouble. On different nights, we’ll have different guys out there playing and that’s how it is going to be.”

For Tyrone Nesby, Corey Maggette, Quentin Richardson and Eric Piatkowski, this means nothing is guaranteed.

“It’s going to be impossible to play five or six guys [at small forward and shooting guard],” Gentry said. “We have an overload of players there and with Quentin and Darius playing well, it makes it tough. . . . That’s why [Maggette and Nesby] didn’t play a lot of minutes [against Seattle].”

Maggette, who played only four minutes Friday, said he understands why Gentry has to do it this way.

“It’s not a concern because I am going to play,” Maggette said. “Whatever the coach needs me to do, I am going to do it. We have a lot of good guys on this team and I want to win.”

Gentry will not be surprised if dealing with some of his players’ egos becomes a common practice this season.

“[Playing time] is a big concern and somewhere along the line there are going to be some guys who are very disappointed because they are not going to play a lot of minutes,” Gentry said. “That’s going to be the toughest thing, I think. Trying to find minutes for everyone because they are not there. Especially when we plan on using an eight- or nine-man rotation.”

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Scoring droughts. No defensive help. Turnovers.

Expect plenty of that this season from the Clippers, thanks to their youth and adjustment to Gentry’s system.

“We have to learn to not get down. Basketball is a game of mistakes. . . . We have to take that mistake and eliminate it and move on,” Gentry said. “There’s going to be ups and downs over the course of a game and we have to make sure we are standing on an even keel. . . . We have to make sure we are staying focused on the task in hand.

“That is only going to come with maturity and playing a lot of basketball.”

Skinner said the Clippers continue to grow together as a team every day.

“We’re jelling well but we still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Everybody is still learning the offense and their defensive assignments. . . . We all know we have our own roles on the team and everyone knows what they can do and can’t do. We are really trying not to overstep those boundaries. I think we all are doing a good job noticing what Coach wants us to do.”