Gentry Finally Has Some Good News

A day after expressing his frustration over the Clippers’ many injuries, Coach Alvin Gentry said he would have all but small forward Lamar Odom, backup forward Melvin Ely and backup guard Bryant Stith available for Wednesday’s season-opening game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Gentry said Wednesday a sprained right ankle probably would sideline Odom until Christmas. The status of Ely (sore toe) and Stith (knee surgery) is less certain, but it means the Clippers won’t be at full strength for perhaps the season’s first two months.

It also remains to be seen how effective recently recovered Clippers such as power forward Elton Brand, center Michael Olowokandi and guard Quentin Richardson will be early on.

Brand and Olowokandi missed all eight exhibitions, including Wednesday’s 115-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Staples Center. Richardson played for the first time, scoring 12 points in 30 minutes. Wang Zhizhi, in his Clipper debut, had three points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.

“What’s been tough is that we didn’t have the opportunity for all our guys to play major minutes in preseason,” Gentry said. “All our guys haven’t had a chance to play with Andre [Miller, the Clippers’ new point guard]. After the second day of camp, we didn’t get a lot done. We didn’t have the guys available who are going to be playing because of all the injuries.”

With Miller at the point, “we’ve changed things,” Gentry said. “It won’t be hard to pick up for Elton and for Michael. But it’s the timing of it. Your timing is going to be off if you’re not out there right from the start.”

Gentry has said repeatedly that he doesn’t put much stock in exhibition records, but that he also doesn’t discount all that happens in October.

“It’s good to play against competition,” he said. “You get a gauge of where you are. It’s good for the guys to have someone else to look at.”