CLIPPERS HAPPY TO BE HOME TRIP TO RUSSIA WAS FUN, BUT ALSO PHYSICALLY TAXING.

Byline: JOE STEVENS Staff Writer

SANTA BARBARA -- When the Clippers selected Yaroslav Korolev with the 12th overall pick in last year's NBA draft, the Russian immediately said something about Los Angeles that shocked some Angelenos.

``You have a lot of space, no traffic, nothing, not like in Moscow,'' Korolev said on the day he was drafted.

This past week, the Clippers learned what Korolev was talking about when they visited Russia for an eight-day jaunt to begin training camp. While the players and coach Mike Dunleavy came back enthused about Russian culture, the team repeatedly found itself in extraordinary traffic that hindered its practice schedule.

Instead of using their Russian trip for two-a-day practices, the Clippers found themselves snarled in traffic, adjusting to the 11-hour time difference and partaking in various public-relations events sponsored by the NBA.

``We didn't have our two-a-days over there,'' Dunleavy said. ``We couldn't. The traffic was so bad that for the most part, we just went one-a-day. The traffic got progressively worse. It went from being about a 40, 45-minute ride to practice to one day that was an hour, 58 minutes.''

Exactly how bad was this traffic?

``It was L.A. plus Times Square times five,'' said Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor.

Back in Southern California, the Clippers are adjusting to Pacific time. The team landed in L.A. at about 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. Elton Brand said he planned to stick it out and not go to bed, but ended up falling asleep at 5 p.m. and waking up at 3 a.m. Monday.

Taking into account all of these adjustments, the good news for the Clippers is that they started their domestic training camp Tuesday with a good idea of what their rotation will be. Perhaps the biggest question mark is who will back up Brand and Chris Kaman at power forward and center.

Both Brand and Kaman are expected to log in a lot of minutes, so there might be room for only one other player to get significant minutes at their positions. At the start of last year's training camp, that player stood to be Zeljko Rebraca. But this training camp, Rebraca wasn't in Santa Barbara as he stayed in L.A. to undergo treatment on a lower back problem.

Free-agent forward Tim Thomas appears to be the favorite to play behind Brand and Kaman, even though he also plays small forward. The Clippers also have veteran big man Aaron Williams, so he also could get in the mix.

Off the court, the Clippers do not appear to have major pressing issues, although Dunleavy is in the final year of a four-year, $10 million contract. Clippers executive vice president Andy Roeser recently said he was confident a deal would be worked out. But with training camp having started and no extension in place, it appears that negotiations may take some time.

With the Clippers coming off a trip to the Western Conference semifinals and their best record in team history, the big story remains whether the Clippers can improve upon last season. And in training camp, the early story is simply whether they can adjust to those new expectations and their travels.

``I guess there's an NBA rule where you can only do your two-a-days in the first six days of camp,'' Kaman said. He paused then joked, ``Which is awesome.''

Also: The Clippers signed former Clipper Lamond Murray to a non- guaranteed contract. The 33-year-old Murray played with the Clippers for five seasons, from 1994-99, and appears to be a longshot to make the squad because the team already has 14 players with guaranteed contracts and plans to keep 14 players.

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