Nice Guy Gentry Doesn’t Finish

Alvin Gentry’s “season from hell” is over.

The Clippers fired him Monday and named assistant Dennis Johnson to coach the team for the remainder of the season. Gentry’s tenure as coach ended with the team having lost 14 of its last 17 games, including five consecutive. His overall record was 89-133, including 19-39 this season.

Injuries and uncertainty over pending contract negotiations torpedoed a once-promising season. Gentry couldn’t alter the Clippers’ steady course toward the bottom of the league’s standings.

“At times, I think Alvin was too nice,” General Manager Elgin Baylor said during an afternoon news conference at Staples Center. “Dennis is more aggressive. I told him he’s got to go kick butt and do what’s necessary.”

Johnson, born in San Pedro, played 14 seasons in the NBA, most notably with the great Boston Celtic teams of the 1980s. He also was the most valuable player in the 1979 NBA Finals while with the Seattle SuperSonics. He last was a head coach with the La Crosse (Wis.) Bobcats of the Continental Basketball Assn., in 1999-2000.

“I’m going to react to situations,” he said. “I can’t tell you I’m going to jump in somebody’s face. I can’t tell you I’m not going to jump in somebody’s face. I would like to sit here and promise you everyone on the floor is going to work hard. I’m going to be pushing and prodding. I’m not going to be afraid to yell.”

The Clippers, projected to be a playoff contender, were in last place in the Pacific Division going into Monday’s game against the New Orleans Hornets at Staples Center.

Given the team’s disappointing record, it seemed to be only a matter of time before a move was made. This was Gentry’s final season on his three-year contract, and although the team held an option for 2003-04, it did not appear he would return to coach a fourth season.

More than once, as the injuries and losses mounted, Gentry referred to 2002-03 as the “season from hell.” Baylor said he gave Gentry every opportunity to turn around a season gone wrong.

“I do believe we have good people and good players on this team,” Gentry said in prepared statement. “I think the players must try to make something positive out of the remainder of the season.”

Baylor said he decided to fire Gentry on Sunday, after watching the team’s uninspired play during a stretch of four losses in five nights last week. He phoned owner Donald T. Sterling to tell him of his decision. Sterling was not available for comment Monday, a team official said.

Johnson directed the team at its morning shoot-around, and will have the season’s final 24 games to influence the decision on whether he will continue next season or step aside as Baylor searches for new coaching candidates during the off-season.

“No one expected this,” Baylor said of the Clippers’ poor record. “We looked at our team and felt we had a playoff-caliber team. I think Dennis will do a good job. I think he’ll get the players to play hard.”

Baylor said he was Gentry’s harshest critic and biggest supporter, warning him “a while ago” that the team needed to play with more energy and to begin winning games for Gentry to last the season. The team failed on both counts.

“For the most part, it’s the players’ faults,” guard Eric Piatkowski said.

Said Corey Maggette: “Everybody has put it on the coach. We’re the ones out there playing. We need to come together as a team. You can’t blame the coach.”

Under Gentry the prior two seasons, the Clippers’ popularity soared to new heights -- locally and nationally -- as fans embraced a group of exciting young players.

The Clippers won 31 games during Gentry’s first season, an improvement of 16 victories over 1999-2000. Last season, the Clippers had a 39-43 record and were only five games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the franchise’s best finish in a decade.

But the failure of management to secure new contracts for center Michael Olowokandi and power forward Elton Brand cast doubts among the players and their fans about the franchise’s commitment to building a winning team.

Olowokandi will be an unrestricted free agent July 1, free to sign with any other team, although the Clippers can pay him more money and for a longer term if he re-signs with them. Brand, Maggette, Andre Miller and Lamar Odom are eligible to become restricted free agents next summer, with the Clippers holding the right to match outside offers.

“The players didn’t get extensions,” Baylor said, “but they still have a job to do. In talking to Alvin, we felt the same way. When we talked about the situation, we both said the players have to block these things out. There are a lot of players in the NBA who don’t have a contract for next year and they’re still playing. [Milwaukee’s] Gary Payton doesn’t have one and he’s still playing pretty good.”

Injuries played a part in the team’s unraveling.

Brand, Odom, Olowokandi and Quentin Richardson sat out most of training camp because of injuries. Brand, Maggette and Olowokandi underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and sat out at least a month.

“Everybody has to be accountable,” Johnson said when asked if the players had tuned out Gentry as the team’s hopes for a winning season faded.

“When you have guys fighting for contracts, they think numbers are going to get it for them. They were selfish to a point. When a team is winning and everything is OK, it’s different than if they’re losing.... I want to get the guys to be aggressive. That’s what I want to accomplish.”

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Clipper Coaches

Alvin Gentry was fired after going 89-133 in almost three seasons. Ranking L.A. Clipper coaches by win percentage:

*--* COACH YEAR W-L PCT Larry Brown 1992-93 64-53 547 Mack Calvin 1992 1-1 500 Mike Schuler 1990-92 52-75 409 Alvin Gentry 2000-03 89-133 401 Jim Lynam 1984-85 22-39 361 Bob Weiss 1993-94 27-55 329 Don Casey 1988-90 41-85 325 Bill Fitch 1994-98 99-229 302 Don Chaney 1985-87 53-132 286 Gene Shue 1987-89 27-93 225 Chris Ford 1998-00 20-75 211 Jim Todd 2000 4-33 108

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Note: The Clippers have made the playoffs three times since moving to Los Angeles from San Diego for the 1984-85 season -- Lost first-round series, 3-0, to Utah in 1997; Lost first-round series, 3-2, to Houston in 1993; Lost first-round series, 3-2, to Utah in 1992.