Advice Is the Only Thing Free to Sterling

Donald T. Sterling

Sterling World Plaza

Beverly Hills, CA

Dear Donald,

What can I say but congratulations! You told me you could do it and you did, even if it did take a while.

Those are your Clippers, suddenly the NBA’s hot story with their own weekly MTV-like show on ESPN, in between segments on your cheerleader who’s still a Vegas chorus girl (on stage, of course) and Jimmy Goldstein’s wardrobe.

Talk about your dream seasons. Forget the playoffs, no one thought you’d make it anyway. It’s nice you’re even in the race and nicer that you came on late.

How about a season-ending 16-game sellout streak? That didn’t happen even in your Larry Brown Interlude in the ‘90s, which, until this season, was your only finish above .500 since you bought the team in the ‘80s.

What could go wrong now?

Well, of course, there’s the usual. Unfortunately, as Clipper fans know, you’re going to have a part to play in this.

You, personally, haven’t actually done anything. Your new fortune flows from 1) Elgin Baylor’s calls, 2) the rules changes that gave you control of rookies for five years instead of three, and 3) luck.

Two summers ago, Orlando gave you Corey Maggette and Keyon Dooling to take Derek Strong’s $3-million salary off its hands. Last spring, you had the eighth worst record, drew the No. 2 pick and the Bulls gave you Elton Brand to get Tyson Chandler.

With the talent on hand--Lamar Odom, Michael Olowokandi, Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson--you were no longer the 66-loss wretches of 1999. (Remember when you waited till after the lockout to hire Chris Ford to save salary? How about Jim Todd?)

Nor was a vast outlay required. Your payroll is still the NBA’s lowest at $34.2 million, $8.3 million under the cap, but those days are coming to an end, fast.

This summer, Olowokandi is a restricted free agent and, unless secured, he’ll be free in 2003 (kind of has a ring to it, doesn’t it?)

Jeff McInnis, your point guard, is through in ’02.

Brand, Odom and Maggette are eligible for extensions this summer and could go out the door in ’04.

The Miles-Richardson tandem will be eligible for extensions in ’03 and could find new lives in ’05. To paraphrase Paul Simon, there must be 50 million ways to leave the Clippers.

The other general managers are saying you won’t sign them all, which is why they’re looking at your roster as if it’s a smorgasbord. I know, people can be so mean. You’ve always said you’d pay for the real deal, why doesn’t anyone believe you?

But I know this won’t be easy for you, or fun, or perhaps possible, so, as always, I’m willing to help:

* Brand. Better re-sign him if you intend to keep showing your face around here.

This is like having an All-Star power forward with a halo and wings. He gets 18-12 every night, is a stand-up guy with the media, says the right things, plays hard, practices hard, stays after to work. You name it, he does it.

, he says he won’t commit to staying now, not even if you put the maximum $100 million on the table. He wants to see what happens with Olowokandi and McInnis.

In other words, he wants to know if these are your New Clippers or still your Old Clippers. This raises a point you never got: These negotiations are linked. Mess up the wrong one and the whole thing can go.

* Olowokandi. You have to re-sign him too, and he’ll cost almost as much as Brand.

At 7 feet, 270 pounds and 27 years of age, there aren’t any more of him coming on the market. Several teams with cap room will be seeking centers in ‘03, Orlando and Detroit to name two. Says one insider: “If he doesn’t get the max, he’s going to be close.”

Happily for you, he says he wants to stay and might even take less money.

“I would like to stay, obviously, within reason,” Olowokandi says. “I enjoy playing here and I’ve made that known, so it’s now for them to show me how much they do want me to stay here....

“If it’s close, that’s fine.”

Unhappily for you, Don, you’re you. I know it’s not personal. You’re perfectly egalitarian; you don’t like the idea of committing tens of millions to anyone, regardless of race, creed, national origin or species.

Unfortunately, your players don’t have the benefit of your years in business. Instead, they have a discrete window of opportunity and lots of suitors.

Your front office and Olowokandi’s agent waltzed to nowhere last summer, although for once, it doesn’t look as if it got unpleasant and messed things up.

Or as Olowokandi notes, “At least not yet, anyway.”

* McInnis. I’m sorry, you’d better sign him too, if you want to make the playoffs next season.

Early on, it looked as though he was gone, his cocky motor-mouth persona detracting from his play. Baylor has visions of Odom or Miles running the team, but there’s a difference between a guy who can play the point and an NBA point guard.

Your late push dates from Alvin Gentry’s my-way-or-the-highway talk with McInnis. Not that McInnis is going to turn into Little Lord Fauntleroy, but he makes too many big plays to leave without being missed.

* Maggette. You should keep him too. He hasn’t happened yet, but he has incredible gifts and fits in nicely as gung-ho role player. He was so raw his first two years, his coaches had to spot him. Now he’s one of Gentry’s favorites. Two years from now, he’ll be better.

* Odom. Ooh, here’s the tough one.

Everyone in Clipperdom loves him, but he has unresolved growing-up problems. Even if he turns it around, he doesn’t fit the way he used to.

Until this season, this was his team. Now they sock the ball in to Brand and Olowokandi and need more shooters to complement them. As Laker Coach Phil Jackson suggested, it’s no coincidence they moved up with key players out. And every minute Odom plays is a minute that Miles, your other phenom, doesn’t.

If Lamar works out, great. If not, he’s a blue chip you can trade. Not to get too far ahead of myself, but there are valentines going back and forth between your guys and Baron Davis, local kid, monster talent and another ’03 free agent.

Amazing as it is, after a slow start--17 years!--you now have this budding powerhouse, stocked to the brim with talent, camaraderie and, rarest of all, all the size you need.

Your players used to climb the walls. These guys are friends and happy as a bunch of 8-year-olds at Chuck E. Cheese.

Plus, you’ll have cap room in ‘03, so if you find you’re missing a piece, you can go get one.

You could max out Brand and Olowokandi to $10 million per year, give McInnis and Maggette $4 million, keep Odom, Miles, Richardson, Dooling and Eric Piatkowski at their current levels, add on an additional $2 million for three bench guys--and still be at $36 million next season, $6.5 million under the cap.

And happily, for you anyway, since you get to keep the profits, there have been some recently.

Your net was reportedly in the NBA’s top five last season and attendance just went up 3,000 a game. Going without a TV deal worked out wonderfully; this summer the broadcast environment should be better and you have a hot attraction--with teen-saturated demographics--to sell, assuming, of course, you show advertisers that you’re going to keep it.

So here it is, crunch time for vous. In two years, you could have a title contender ... or you could be back to what you’ve always had.

This could be the Next Big Thing or it could vanish so fast, you’ll barely be able to remember it was here.

“I was on this team when the team wasn’t very good,” Olowokandi said last week, “and I’ve seen them develop and I can see where teams can be a year from now, two years from now.

“It would be a shame. It would probably be the worst screw-up in the history of screw-ups to dismantle the team.”

It would even be your worst screw-up, so do your fans a favor, for once, while you’ve got some.

Of course, whatever happens, I’ll be here for you.

As ever,

Mark Heisler