Maggette, Teammates Learn Desert Is No Joke

Corey Maggette was certain Coach Alvin Gentry was joking about returning to the College of the Desert for five days before the season begins Tuesday against the Spurs at San Antonio.

Gentry was quite serious about finding a quiet spot to give the Clippers some fine-tuning before playing for real next week. The Clippers spent the first seven days of training camp in Palm Desert.

One thing the player and the coach agree on: there are few distractions in the desert.

“No distractions,” Maggette grumbled.

Said Gentry: “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. I still see a lot of faults to our game that we’ve got to clean up in the next few days. We have to play better.... It’s a good opportunity to teach and learn here. It’s an opportunity for the guys to get closer to each other chemistry-wise.”

Gentry put the Clippers through two practices Thursday and will do so again today. On Saturday, there will be a scrimmage at Wright Gymnasium. On Sunday, there will be a morning workout followed by a two-hour drive back to L.A. On Monday, the team travels to Texas and a two-game trip to play San Antonio and Houston.

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The Clippers’ 5-2 exhibition record means little to Gentry.

“Preseason wins don’t mean a whole lot,” he said. “I don’t put a lot of weight into the preseason record. If we were 2-5, it wouldn’t bother me. The only game we played really well in was against Dallas.”