CLIPPERS NOTEBOOK: MAGGETTE SURE HE'LL HAVE A PLACE ON THE COURT.

Byline: Joe Stevens Staff Writer

PALM DESERT - ``What me worry?''

Corey Maggette sounded like Alfred E. Neuman Thursday when he assessed his expectations for playing time.

Maggette said, ``I'm not going to worry about it. I know I'm going to play. I need to play. That's what it boils down to.''

With the season four days away, Maggette isn't mad at the possibility of not getting much time on the court. He expects to get it, but perhaps he should hope the same rotations from the exhibitions aren't used.

Maggette got extended minutes in the exhibitions. But when the Clippers had their final exhibition game, Maggette played only 15 minutes. He was used as Lamar Odom's replacement at small forward and never played the same time as Odom.

``(Coach Alvin Gentry) hasn't really had a set rotation,'' Maggette said. ``At the beginning, he was trying to have a feel of the guys who were trying out of the team and had the starters play eight or nine minutes. There was never a set time that me and Lamar played.''

Gentry is not against Maggette playing shooting guard but prefers him at small forward. Ultimately, Gentry will have to balance the playing time of Maggette, Quentin Richardson and Eric Piatkowski and not be concerned with the name of the position the players are filling.

``Guys know that some nights Quentin will get the short end of the stick with playing time,'' Gentry said. ``Other nights, it will be other players.''

--Olowokandi's help: Gentry said the team worked most on the pick-and- roll and double teams in the post Tuesday. With the addition of Elton Brand, the Clippers have more to work with underneath, and Michael Olowokandi sees a better rebounding team.

``We have more rebounding talent, whereas before I was just the only one inside and everybody else was on the loose,'' Olowokandi said.

Another big thing that Olowokandi is working on is his spacing with Brand. They both need to understand where to go on offense when the other gets the ball.

``I don't really think anything is tougher for me with him in the middle,'' Olowokandi said. ``We have to pick and choose when to be there, know when to stay in the paint and know when to step out. The better we get at reading the situations, the more space we are going to have.''

--Barren desert: The players weren't keen on returning to the College of the Desert for the final few days before the season. In fact, some of them thought it could be a practical joke when they were told they'd be returning here for two-a-day practices after playing six of their seven exhibitions on the road.

Maggette said, ``At the time when you're about to start the season, most of the people wanted to see their families. Some of the guys on the team have kids and things like that. I don't think guys really expected to come down here. We treated it like, 'Oh that has to be a joke.' But we're really here.''