Maggette Is Not Defensive About Playing Defense

Corey Maggette has shown that he can put the ball in the basket.

The Clipper forward has increased his scoring average in each of the four seasons since he averaged 8.4 points as an Orlando Magic rookie in the 1999-2000 season, topping out last season at a team-high 20.7.

His frequent forays to the rim often result in trips to the foul line. Last season, only Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics shot more free throws than Maggette, and nobody made more.

Now the Clippers want to see if he can play defense with equal gusto.

“What I saw last year was a very good offensive player and an OK defensive player in a great defensive player’s body,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said of the chiseled Maggette. “We’re asking him to become a great defensive player. The main thing I’ve challenged Corey with is, I think he’s got the ability to be an All-Star in this league, and in order for him to be an All-Star in this league he’s got to become a better, more consistent defender....

“I asked him when we had our exit meeting last year, ‘Do I have too high an opinion of you? Is that the player I should strive to make you?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely, that’s the player I want to be.’ ”

He seems willing.

“Hey, whatever the coach wants me to do, I can do it,” he said. “If he wants me to be a better defender, if he wants me to be an all-around player -- whatever he wants -- I can do it. The sky’s the limit for myself.”

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Maggette, his sprained right pinkie in a splint, sat out Friday’s early practice at Santa Barbara City College but was relieved that X-rays of the finger were negative and that he might be held out of contact work for only about a week.

If he’d broken the finger, jammed when he deflected a pass Thursday, the right-hander probably would have been sidelined six to eight weeks.

“I’m just glad ain’t nothing broken,” he said. “I just need to get the feeling back in it, the strength back in it. The only bad thing about it, it’s my shooting hand so there’s nothing I can do except get the proper treatment because I can’t shoot.”

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Dunleavy said he probably would make his first cuts Monday in advance of Wednesday night’s exhibition opener at Phoenix.... Owner Donald Sterling showed up, attended the morning practice, and was expected to stay through the weekend.... Said Dunleavy of a hard fall by center Chris Kaman: “I was worried about what got hit, and as soon as I heard it was his head, I was relieved.”