Overton Replaces Dooling

The phone rang at Doug Overton’s place in Barcelona, Spain, and he was out the door and on his way to the airport before he had time to say, “Adios, amigos.” Overton caught a flight Sunday to Los Angeles and, 12 hours later, was a Clipper.

“This team is one of the teams I’ve been following all season,” said Overton, a veteran guard signed to a 10-day contract to bolster the team for the stretch drive. “I’ll bring some leadership and some survival skills.”

The Clippers, 30-30 and ninth in the Western Conference standings, could use some of each. This is Overton’s 10th NBA season and he will be replacing Keyon Dooling, a backup point guard who on Monday was put on the injured list. A sore left ankle has cut short Dooling’s second season.

“He doesn’t do anything great, but he does everything solid,” Coach Alvin Gentry said of Overton. “I like his energy. I like his knowledge of the game. I like him as a player. I like him as a person. He’s a good chemistry guy.”

Gentry plans to use Overton as a backup to point guard Jeff McInnis, which means the Clippers will have two players on 10-day contracts playing significant minutes. Tremaine Fowlkes assumed the starting spot at small forward when Corey Maggette dislocated two bones in his right hand and is expected to sign a second 10-day contract today.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be as dramatic as Tremaine, but, yeah, I do expect to get him into the games,” Gentry said of Overton, 32, who has played for Washington, Denver, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Orlando, Boston and Charlotte. “He’s a veteran guy. He’s been around the league and played a lot of minutes over the years. He knows what the situation is. He catches on quickly.”

Overton averaged 10.3 points in three games during his short stay with FC Barcelona. He also averaged 14.4 points and 6.5 assists in 16 games with Kansas City of the new American Basketball Assn. before leaving for Spain.