A SHORT LAUNDRY LIST OF CLIPPERS NECESSITIES : RE-SIGNING WILLIAMS SHOULD BE KEY GOAL.Byline: Scott Wolf Scott Richard Wolf (born June 4, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts to Steven Wolf and Susan Enowitch, Wolf was raised in West Orange, New Jersey. He graduated in 1986 from West Orange High School. Daily News Staff Writer It's a mid-May basketball tradition. The ever-popular NBA playoffs The NBA Playoffs is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion. dominate television screens nightly as a cable staple. There isn't a paper Clip in sight. Until May 19, anyway, when the league holds its annual lottery party, and one of its most familiar guests, the Clippers, cross their fingers for a little of the luck that eluded them most of last season. So far, May has been kind to the Clippers. They even had a better week than the Lakers. Because of an earlier miscalculation mis·cal·cu·late tr. & intr.v. mis·cal·cu·lat·ed, mis·cal·cu·lat·ing, mis·cal·cu·lates To count or estimate incorrectly. mis·cal by the league office, the Clippers' odds of landing the draft's No. 1 pick improved from 4.4 to 7.42 percent in the lottery. A miniscule min·is·cule adj. Variant of minuscule. Adj. 1. miniscule - very small; "a minuscule kitchen"; "a minuscule amount of rain fell" minuscule step forward but the Clippers will take it. It's the first bit of good news they received since losing to lowly Vancouver in the season finale. That said, the lottery is only the first step in the Clippers' most important summer in several years. With a few good decisions, they could easily make the playoffs. But if they stumble, it could be another lottery-bound season. Here then, are the three areas that demand quick resolution for the Clippers to make next year's postseason: I. HOME IMPROVEMENT The continuing saga of where the Clippers will play next season sends a muddled message to fans, players and the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= . Whether they stay in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. or move to Anaheim next season, the Clippers need to find a home and stay there. Their current L.A. prospects appear dim. They are much farther away from getting a new arena in Los Angeles than the Lakers. No one believes a new Los Angeles arena can be built without two sports tenants, and although owner Donald Sterling Donald T. Sterling is an American real estate mogul, attorney, and the current owner of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Clippers. Sterling acquired the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5 million, and today the team is valued at more than $240 million by Forbes magazine. recently met with Kings owners Michael Anschutz and Edward Roski, the hockey pair is much closer to making a deal with the Lakers to share an arena. Wondering about a refurbished or brand new Sports Arena? The Coliseum Commission is a little preoccupied at the moment, determining the seismic safety of its football press box. This leaves a receptive Anaheim Arena as the best alternative. Executive vice president Andy Roeser has worked feverishly to secure a move to Anaheim, but no one has convinced the only man who counts in the organization, Sterling. Even an offer from Ogden Entertainment Services, which runs Anaheim Arena, to lease the team for $4 million a year and bring in Disney to market or operate the Clippers has apparently had little effect on Sterling. The result has been a vacillating position regarding the franchise's future. This situation created further embarrassment for the Clippers at the NBA's Board of Governors meeting on April 24. The league rejected their plan to play eight regular-season games in Anaheim and reduced it to six. Although some team officials secretly hoped the league would lobby for a full-time move to Anaheim, the Board of Governors was unable to sway Sterling. So instead, the league postponed any announcement, allowing the Clippers to drag out their decision on where they will play next season. The solution: Sterling commits a small part of his billion-dollar plus fortune to secure financing for the Los Angeles arena he covets. II. BE KIND TO BRIAN Every stride the Clippers made this season, including their much-ballyhooed 12-game improvement in victories, disappears if the club fails to re-sign charismatic center Brian Williams This article is about the American journalist. For other uses, see Brian Williams (disambiguation). Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the flagship evening news program of the NBC television network. . Williams has plenty of reasons to stay with the Clippers, who gave him the chance to become an impact player. But other teams are expected to offer anything from $5-7 million per season to lure him away. Williams' desire to re-sign will probably be influenced by any trades the Clippers pull off before the free-agent signing period begins (July 1) to convince him they are serious about winning. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , Williams has been understandably non-committal about his plans. ``I'll tell you what I'm going to do,'' Williams said. ``I'm going to write the names of those teams on the balls of my pool table, and play some nine ball. The last ball left, that's where I'll go. ``I'll give the Clippers a chance. I'll write their name on three balls a pawnbroker's sign or shop. See also: Ball . How's that?'' Past history has demonstrated the Clippers are reluctant to spend big bucks to retain a player. There already are rumors they question whether Williams will command $5 million per season on the open market. He's worth almost any price to the center-starved Clippers, who will be forced to rely on injury-plagued Stanley Roberts Stanley Corvet Roberts (born February 7 1970, in Hopkins, South Carolina) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Orlando Magic in the 1st round (23rd overall) of the 1991 NBA Draft. . Another problem is the new collective-bargaining agreement, which eliminated the ability of the Clippers to match an offer from another team. That means if the Clippers delay or are unsure about what to offer Williams, he could just sign with someone else. At best, it's 50-50 he will re-sign. A bad omen could be if they draft Mississippi State's Erick Dampier Erick Travez[1] Dampier (born July 14, 1975, in New Hebron, Mississippi) is an American professional basketball player. He is a 6 ft 11 in / 265 lb. center who currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. as insurance. Should Williams depart, the Clippers will have just Rodney Rogers Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who last played power forward for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Rogers played college basketball at Wake Forest University from 1990 until 1993. and Brent Barry Brent Robert Barry (born December 31, 1971 in Hempstead, New York) is an American professional basketball player currently with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs. He is known by his nickname, "Bones", and stands 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m). left to show from last year's Antonio McDyess Antonio Keithflen McDyess (born September 7 1974, in Quitman, Mississippi) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA. MyDyess is listed at 6'9" (2.06 m), 245 lb. (111 kg) and is the starting power forward for the Detroit Pistons. deal. III. WHAT'S YOUR POINT? If the Clippers want to become a serious playoff contender, this is the position that deserves immediate attention. Three players shared the role this season - Pooh Richardson Jerome "Pooh" Richardson (born May 14 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. The 6'1" point guard was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the tenth overall pick of the 1989 NBA Draft out of UCLA. , Terry Dehere Lennox Dominique "Terry" Dehere (born September 12 1971 in New York City, New York) is an American Democratic Party politician, restauranteur and former NBA basketball player. Dehere grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, New Jersey and attended St. and Barry - but none enjoyed the prospect of splitting minutes. During the second half of the season, Barry appeared more comfortable at shooting guard. Dehere blossomed into a legitimate backup, but aspires to be a starter. There are also signs the organization is not confident with Richardson as its No. 1 point guard. If the Clippers don't get lucky at the lottery, they will probably have to trade up to acquire either Georgetown's Allen Iverson or Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury. If they don't want to rely on a rookie, they might make a trade. A quality free-agent signing is unlikely, with only $1 to 3 million available under salary-cap restrictions. The dilemma is how to improve the point-guard position and acquire the go-to guy coach Bill Fitch said he wanted at the end of the season. Either way, the Clippers are eager to deal, and may even be willing to dangle dangle Nursing A popular term for the first movement a Pt is allowed, either after surgery under general anesthesia, or 'under local', where the recuperee allows his/her feet to dangle over the side of the bed Loy Vaught (16.2 points, 10.1 rebounds) to acquire the necessary missing parts. It might be Mission: Impossible to make all these decisions in a few months, but the Clippers need to be aggressive if they want more in May than lottery reservations. CAPTION(S): 14 Photos, 1 Box PHOTO (1) Clippers coach Bill Fitch enters thi s offseason like the last - in search of impact at the point. Daily News File Photo (2) Brent Barry Long-suffering fans' reason for hope (3) Pooh Richardson Contract length makes trade unlikely (4) Stanley Roberts As usual, shaky health is key (5) Rodney Rogers Must improve after unimpressive season (6) Loy Vaught Closest thing to a franchise player Who's on the bubble: (7) Terry Dehere Nice sixth man, but at deepest position (8) Antonio Harvey Someone will want cheap free agent (9) Lamond Murray Unhappy with role, candidate for trade (10) Charles Outlaw 44 percent FT percentage hurts cause (11) Eric Piatkowski Best view of season from bench (12) Malik Sealy Still looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. outside jump shot (13) Keith Tower Clips will decide his future (14) Brian Williams Will next stop be Dallas? Box: In the Cellar |
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