CLIPPERS' FUTURE IS . . . TAYLOR MADE; THAT IS, IF L.A. DECIDES TO PAY FOR IT.

Byline: Randy Hill

The Clippers representative to ``SportsCenter'' is moving through a hallway connecting the dressing room and the basketball court.

``Mo, Mo,'' call out his young fans, who are not separated by any entourage. The 6-foot-8, 260-pound power forward accommodates the crowd, scribbling ``Maurice Taylor'' over and over.

That signature, in the future, could be worth a lot. The Clippers, hoping to keep their young star, could be asking for his signature on a new contract.

``This is going to be a very big summer for this team,'' says the 22-year-old Taylor, who has a season remaining on the three-year contract he signed after leaving Michigan as a junior. ``I would love to stay here, but that's for them to decide.''

Never fear; those in charge of the Clipper ship have decided. If they had absolute control of the payroll, Taylor would be offered the league's maximum contract extension of six years for $70 million.

But until team owner Donald T. Sterling endorses that decision, anything can happen. With a dread constructed by history, Clippers fans realize their emerging go-to guy could go to another city.

For now, the go-to guy wouldn't mind staying put.

``The way we've been playing shows promise for next year,'' Taylor said about the Clippers' strong April. ``Things are falling into place. Now management has to step up to the plate.''

And if Sterling refuses to part with the money, there will be no shortage of teams eager to throw some at Taylor, whose first hoop deal was worth a cool $100.

The offer was made seven years ago by his grandfather, Leroy Taylor.

Maurice had been a football player who stood 6-1 as a freshman at Detroit's Henry Ford High, but was pushing 6-8 midway through his sophomore year. Taylor winces at the recollection of his personal growth: ``My knees were killin' me all the time.''

In his own opinion, he was a ``pretty good'' basketball player but just on the playground. But Leroy Taylor wouldn't be impressed until Maurice made his mark in organized ball.

``My grandfather bet me $100 that I couldn't hang with the guys on the high school team,'' Taylor says. ``A little reverse psychology. So I played the last eight games.''

Grandfather paid up. After he died in 1993, his grandson paid him back.

You may have noticed Maurice Taylor tapping his right fist on the No. 23 stitched to his Clippers jersey. What you probably haven't seen is the picture of Leroy Taylor tattooed on Mo's chest, or the letters spelling out ``Leroy Taylor'' on each heel of his Nikes.

``I did it,'' Maurice explains, ``to have him with me, because he wouldn't be able to see me play anymore.''

And play he has, although his decision to play in the NBA - and leave Michigan with one year of eligibility remaining - did not inspire absolute joy in the NBA. Marty Blake, the league's scouting guru, announced that Taylor's choice was a tactical blunder.

The Clippers disagreed. They were stunned when he was available at No. 14 of the 1997 NBA draft, so they wadded up their point-guard shopping list and selected Taylor.

After averaging 11.5 points as a rookie, Taylor is up to 17 this season.

``He's not a good player,'' Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said after Taylor scored a career-high 29 points against the Rockets. ``He's a great player.''

Plus, Taylor seems to be great when it counts. Witness his 14 consecutive points to rally the Clippers - the same 0-17 bunch that threatened to have its own chump chapter in the NBA record book - to victory over the Trail Blazers . . . in Portland.

``Mo's just been playing great basketball,'' first-year Clippers coach Chris Ford says. ``He has the potential to be an outstanding player.''

Hopefully, Donald T. Sterling thinks that, too.

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PHOTO Maurice Taylor has converted critics who said he left college too quickly. Now, he hopes to convince the Clippers he's worth keeping.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News