Brand Starts Over, Again

Elton Brand might be the unluckiest player in the NBA.

The top pick in the 1999 draft, he joined the post-Michael Jordan, post-Phil Jackson, post-Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls, who were predictably horrible for two seasons before inexplicably trading Brand to the Clippers.

His new team at least didn’t have to live in the shadow of legends or face the pressure of reclaiming past glories, the Clippers having produced none.

But it was equally inefficient.

After Brand led the Clippers to a 39-43 record in his first season, their best in nearly a decade, management slowly started running off his teammates.

Two last-place seasons later, all that remains from the team that threatened to steal the hearts of Southland NBA fans from the Lakers, drawing a club-record 25 sellouts to Staples Center, are Brand and Corey Maggette.

Quentin Richardson, their third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder last season, was the latest to leave. The Clippers in July declined to match the six-year, $45-million offer sheet he signed with the Phoenix Suns. The Clippers gave up their rights to Richardson after trading for shooting guard Kerry Kittles, who came over from the New Jersey Nets dragging a bum right knee.

Caught up in yet another rebuilding phase, the Clippers aren’t expected to fare much better this season, with no one forecasting an end to their seven-season playoff drought.

They tried to hasten their rebuilding efforts in July, making a well-publicized pitch for Kobe Bryant that came up short.

A year after they’d been spurned by free-agent point guard Gilbert Arenas, they also tried to lure a veteran center, Vlade Divac, and a long-range shooting specialist, Fred Hoi- berg, only to lose out to lesser offers from better teams.

The diplomatic Brand has never complained.

But if the Clippers fail to make the playoffs for the 18th time in their 21 seasons in Los Angeles, Brand would become the first No. 1 overall pick in NBA history to make it through his first six seasons without reaching the playoffs.

Not that anybody would blame Brand, the NBA’s answer to Ernie Banks. Victim of circumstance, he has established his credentials with career averages of 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds.

“It’s somewhat disheartening,” he said of the Clippers’ inability to attract top-drawer free agents. “You want the best team you can have. But we’ve got a group of guys here that’s going to fight hard and is going to play hard every night.”

With six of the top seven players back from last season, it’s basically the same group that mostly played hard but was 28-54 in 2003-04. The Clippers were 6-25 after the All-Star break, when a rash of injuries exposed their lack of depth and doomed them to 14 losses in their last 15 games.

Brand and Maggette are the anchors, highly productive forwards who in a different setting might be All-Stars. Brand averaged 20 points and 10.3 rebounds last season, the fifth consecutive season in which he has averaged at least 18 points and 10 rebounds. The hard-charging Maggette made more free throws than any other NBA player and averaged 20.7 points, the fourth season in a row he increased his scoring average.

Kittles, a starter in each of his seven seasons with the Nets, is expected to provide veteran leadership, strong perimeter defense and steady outside shooting once his knee is healed from arthroscopic surgery.

The problem is, nobody seems to know when that might be.

Beyond those three, the Clippers are mostly young and still developing under Coach Mike Dunleavy, with second-year center Chris Kaman and third-year point guard Marko Jaric slotted into the starting lineup. Kaman, more committed defensively during the exhibition season, is on crutches, though, after suffering a sprained left ankle. He was put on the injured list Monday and will be sidelined at least the first five games.

The top reserves again are Bobby Simmons and Chris Wilcox, the former a versatile swingman in his fourth season and the latter a gifted, high-flying power forward two seasons removed from an NCAA title at Maryland.

The wild card could be 19-year-old Shaun Livingston, the first true point guard to jump directly from high school to the NBA and the fourth pick in the June draft. He’ll learn as he goes and could be starting by season’s end.

Livingston is one of eight newcomers to the roster after the Clippers cleared out space under the salary cap last summer in a bid to lure Bryant.

Two others are rookie guards (Lionel Chalmers and Quinton Ross), three are 7-foot reserve centers (Mikki Moore, Zeljko Rebraca and Mamadou N’Diaye), one is a journeyman guard (Rick Brunson) and the other is Kittles.

Out West especially, it’s hardly a formidable group.

Conceded Brand: “We’re not the most talented team in the West. We’re going to have to make up for that in will and desire and heart.”

A similar approach helped the Clippers to a 22-25 start last season before the roof caved in. They never won consecutive games over the season’s last two months, ending last in the West with only one more victory than in the previous season. Their defense ranked among the NBA’s worst, in terms of points given up and opponents’ field-goal percentage.

Kittles is supposed to help in that department, as are the big bodies that were brought in over the summer. But with Kittles’ availability in question and Livingston still in his teens, nobody is predicting a playoff run, or even a .500 record.

Brand will have to wait.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

BREAKDOWN

* 2003-04 record: 28-54, seventh place in Pacific Division.

* Coach: Mike Dunleavy, second season (426-444 in 11 NBA seasons).

* Who’s gone: Quentin Richardson, Eddie House, Predrag Drobnjak, Keyon Dooling, Matt Barnes, Melvin Ely, Doug Overton.

* Who’s new: Kerry Kittles, Shaun Livingston, Lionel Chalmers, Mikki Moore, Mamadou N’Diaye, Quinton Ross, Zeljko Rebraca, Rick Brunson.

* Projected starting lineup: Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman, Kittles, Marko Jaric.

* Projected bench rotation: Bobby Simmons, Chris Wilcox, Moore, Livingston, Rebraca.

* Keys to the season: More than most teams, the young and talent-thin Clippers need to keep their best players on the floor and out of the trainer’s room. Their defense needs to improve dramatically, and, until injured shooting guard Kittles is ready to play, they need to find a reliable scoring option other than Brand and Maggette. They must take advantage of a favorable early schedule, because the second half, including eight- and seven-game trips, is a nightmare.

* Outlook: Finishing among the top 10 in the West would be a major step

forward for the Clippers, who will fall short of the playoffs for the eighth season in a row and the 18th time in 21 seasons since moving from San Diego.

* Tickets: (800) 462-2849.

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ROSTER

GUARDS

*--* No. Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Comment 0 LIONEL R 6-0 180 NBA is big jump from Atlantic 10 CHALMERS Conference 9 RICK 8 6-4 190 Journeyman provides wealth of BRUNSON experience 13 QUINTON R 6-6 193 Nice story, but new Q falls short of ROSS old Q 14 SHAUN R 6-7 182 Another Magic? Early reviews positive LIVINGSTON 20 MARKO JARIC 3 6-7 217 It’s time for personable Serb to step up 30 KERRY 8 6-5 185 Clippers would love to see what he KITTLES* brings

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FORWARDS

*--* No. Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Comment 21 BOBBY 4 6-6 228 Team’s most reliable reserve last SIMMONS season 34 MAMADOU 4 7-0 255 Senegal native fluent in three N’DIAYE languages 42 ELTON BRAND 6 6-8 272 Double-doubles, game in, game out 50 COREY 6 6-6 225 Coach wants equal effort on defense MAGGETTE 54 CHRIS 3 6-10 235 Spectacular dunks bring fans out of WILCOX seats

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CENTERS

*--* No. Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Comment 11 ZELJKO 4 7-0 265 European star still finding way in REBRACA NBA 33 MIKKI MOORE 7 7-0 223 Playing for fifth team in three seasons 35 CHRIS KAMAN* 2 7-0 265 Slow down, you move too fast

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*Will start season on injured list

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SEASON OPENER

CLIPPERS vs. SEATTLE

At Staples Center

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., FSNW2