Lakers Have ‘Who’s Who’: Dunleavy Gets ‘Who’s Left?’

Ohhhh, that’s right. The Clippers.

Kind of forgot about them, what with the Lakers putting together the greatest collection of talent this city has seen since the “We Are the World” recording session.

The Clippers held a news conference Friday. With the nice blue background, the name cards and everything.

On Friday, 130 days after the Clippers fired Alvin Gentry, 86 days after the end of the regular season, 15 days after the draft and one day after Karl Malone said he would be joining Gary Payton in Lakerland, the Clippers formally announced that Mike Dunleavy would be the new head coach.

Right move, wrong time.

The Clippers should have hired a coach of Dunleavy’s stature three years ago. Instead they hired Gentry, who was good enough to turn a 15-67 wreck of a club into a 31-51 squad that at least tried hard and made mediocrity look interesting. But Gentry wasn’t good enough to overcome the injuries and agendas of this year’s team.

Now it’s Dunleavy’s turn. He is the best coach the Clippers have had since Larry Brown left in 1993. (He’s also their 10th coach since 1990, but who’s counting?)

It would be easier to get excited by Dunleavy’s arrival if we knew which players he will be coaching. But with so many free agents possibly ticketed out of town, a coaching staff of Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Doc Rivers might not be good enough to produce victories. It’s too early to guess how much impact Dunleavy can have.

The Denver Nuggets could raid the Clipper roster, siphoning Southland players to the Rocky Mountains the same way the Colorado Avalanche did in hockey.

The Nuggets reportedly have offered Corey Maggette a six-year, $42-million contract and could make a play for Michael Olowokandi and Andre Miller.

Clipper officials are confident they will retain the players they want and say they won’t miss the players they lose.

A surprising number of Donald Defenders have been popping up to say that none of the previous free agents the Clippers lost went on to greater glory elsewhere. That isn’t the point. This is about the current group, the one that has potential if kept together.

Donald Sterling and the Clippers don’t get the benefit of the doubt. Even one overpayment to a player in the past would have gone a long way toward alleviating fears that this entire group will walk away.

Did you notice that while the Lakers are clipping coupons and buying Hall of Famers on the discount rack, the Clippers laid out $65 million to restricted free agent Elton Brand, only to be told, “We’ll get back to you.”

After only five questions for Dunleavy, reporters gravitated toward General Manager Elgin Baylor and Vice President Andy Roeser, who asked, “Why don’t you guys go talk to Mike?”

That’s because the story really is about what Dunleavy’s superiors do to retain Dunleavy’s players.

And, ultimately, that’s not up to Dunleavy, although he and the Clippers say he will have some say about the shape of the roster.

“Mike and Elgin and I will sit down pretty quick and kind of re-strategize and re-prioritize on the basis of his input,” Roeser said. “We like our players and we’d like to do what we can to keep the ones that will help us win.”

Without a financial commitment to the players, Dunleavy will be ineffective and it will be coaching change time again.

And next time, try to treat the interim coaches with a little more dignity.

Dennis Johnson didn’t have a chance to turn the team around last season after taking over the hopeless 19-39 squad. But he took the job, hoping to get a chance to show his stuff next season.

He worked out players for the draft and helped prepare the summer league team. As coaching jobs opened and closed around the league, with assistants falling into place, Johnson stayed in L.A. with the hopes of keeping his gig.

He stayed while Dunleavy held off on the Clippers’ initial, lowball offer. He stayed right up until he got the call from Baylor late Thursday saying that Dunleavy had been hired.

“I did want the job,” Johnson said. “I stated that many times. I knew what I had to do to get it. It’s just that, they said I was going to be evaluated by my summer league. We didn’t get into summer league to get into evaluation.”

Now Johnson’s stuck with an 8-16 record on his resume, making him a tough sell for the next head coach opening. The Clippers could have brought him back next season with little grumbling, but how would another team sell Johnson to the fans?

Some reward. After Johnson did the shopping and prepared the meal for the Clippers this off-season, they kicked him out before dinner.

“I talked to DJ,” Baylor said. “Right after Alvin, I talked to DJ about this coaching situation. And then I told him afterward, once I started talking to coaches, I told him what we were looking for. I told him we were looking for someone that was experienced, someone that had won, been successful. And I said, ‘You are still a candidate.’ But I also told DJ , ‘Any other opportunity, if you want to pursue, wonderful.’

“I kept him informed. I told him nothing happened. And when it did happen, I told DJ.”

What happened was the Atlanta Hawks’ ownership situation, which involved David McDavid buying the team from AOL Time Warner, became too murky and unattractive to Dunleavy. He finally settled on a four-year deal with the Clippers worth about $2.5 million per season.

“I really love all the guys on that team,” Johnson said. “I really like them. I really thought I was going to be the one that was going to pull them out of this doldrums they’re in. It looks like it’s going to be Mike. I wish him luck.”

As Johnson knows all too well, Dunleavy will need it.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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Coaching Changes

NBA teams that have changed coaches since the start of the 2002-03 season with former coach and replacement:

*--* Team Former Coach Replacement (Date Hired) ATLANTA Lon Kruger Terry Stotts (interim, Dec. 26) CLEVELAND John Lucas Keith Smart (interim, Jan. 20); Paul Silas (June 2) CLIPPERS Alvin Gentry Dennis Johnson (interim, March 3); Mike Dunleavy (July 11) DETROIT Rick Carlisle Larry Brown (July 2) HOUSTON Rudy Tomjanovich Jeff Van Gundy (June 11) MEMPHIS Sidney Lowe Hubie Brown (Nov. 13) NEW ORLEANS Paul Silas Tim Floyd (June 9) PHILADELPHIA Larry Brown Randy Ayers (June 20) TORONTO Lenny Wilkens Kevin O’Neill (June 18) WASHINGTON Doug Collins Eddie Jordan (June 19)

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Mike Dunleavy’s NBA Coaching Record

*--* Season Team Record Playoffs 1990-1991 Lakers 58-24 lost in NBA Finals 1991-1992 Lakers 43-39 eliminated in first round 1992-1993 Milwaukee 28-54 none (sixth in Central Division) 1993-1994 Milwaukee 20-62 none (sixth in Central Division) 1994-1995 Milwaukee 34-48 none (sixth in Central Division) 1995-1996 Milwaukee 25-57 none (seventh in Central Division) 1997-1998 Portland 46-36 eliminated in first round 1999* Portland 35-15 eliminated in Western Conference finals 1999-2000 Portland 59-23 eliminated in Western Conference finals 2000-2001 Portland 50-32 eliminated in first round *Lockout-shortene d season

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