It’s horse trading time in the NBA.
Thursday is the league’s trading deadline, and this All-Star weekend is far more than a meeting of the league’s best players. Top executives from every team are here, admiring the scenery . . . and rival players.
Among those players are All-Star Danny Manning and star-crossed Jim Jackson, the Dallas Mavericks’ unsigned No. 1 draft pick. They remain the two most coveted, or at least talked about, trade prospects in the league. That’s because first-time All-Star Manning says he’ll leave the Los Angeles Clippers as a free agent after next season and Jackson says he’ll re-enter the draft in June if he’s not traded by Thursday.
Indications are the Clippers will keep Manning, but they have been talking with the Charlotte Hornets about Kendall Gill, who threatens to leave as a free agent after next season. The Clippers also are talking with the Minnesota Timberwolves about Christian Laettner and are involved in possible three-way deals in which the Clippers may get Sam Perkins or Jackson.
The Los Angeles Lakers are aggressively marketing Perkins, and the Seattle SuperSonics are considering a swap for Benoit Benjamin.
The Lakers are dabbling in a three-way deal for Jackson, too, with Perkins going to the Golden State Warriors, who would send Sarunas Marciulionis and Chris Gatling to the Mavericks.
The New York Knicks also have talked about Manning, but the salary cap held up a possible swap for Charles Oakley and Hubert Davis, since the Knicks wanted to insert Tony Campbell for Davis.
Dallas might be closest to a Jackson deal with Minnesota, for the Timberwolves’ No. 1 pick this year and either Luc Longley or Felton Spencer. The Mavericks, though, want Doug West instead of one of the centers.
The Phoenix Suns continue to offer Negele Knight, Jerrod Mustaf and Cedric Ceballos for Jackson. They reportedly also rejected a multiple-player deal centered around Detroit’s Dennis Rodman and the Suns’ Richard Dumas.
Seattle long has been pushing Benjamin, but also has been working on a package for either Jackson or the Mavericks’ Derek Harper. The Sonics are offering the rights to Doug Christie, Dana Barros, Eddie Johnson and Rich King. Because the Mavs are so far below the cap, they can take on players in a deal.
The Indiana Pacers reportedly rejected a deal that would send Detlef Schrempf to Portland for Clyde Drexler, but are trying to trade George McCloud for the Clippers’ Ken Norman.
There continues to be talk about the Trail Blazers dealing Kevin Duckworth, most likely to Detroit. But it’s also rumored Duckworth might go to the Clippers, whose coach, Larry Brown, said adding Duckworth to John Williams, Stanley Roberts and Elmore Spencer “would give us a bigger front four than any NFL team.” And the New Jersey Nets have offered Sam Bowie, who began his career in Portland, for Duckworth.
The Hornets would like Michael Adams, to team with Muggsy Bogues, for a first-round pick if they can reduce their salary cap.
The Atlanta Hawks are trying to market Kevin Willis for a draft pick, while Charlotte and the Miami Heat seek the same for Johnny Newman and Kevin Edwards, respectively.
Notes former De Paul star Edwards, an unrestricted free agent who has sat out the last nine games after starting the first 30 and averaging 15 points: “I don’t think it was a coach’s decision. It has to do with management. I could understand the business aspects, but I’m upset. It’s not even close to being fair, but I think I can deal with it.”
Deal? Anyone say deal?
Whoa, Nellie: Was that Golden State coach Don Nelson in studded leather pants? Nelson, who has been coming under some heat for his team’s poor season (a local writer ripped Nelson last week in a column headlined, “Lack of Titles Shows Nelson is No Genius”), chased down two teenagers who stole a poster from a wheelchair-bound boy.
It seems the boy, Scott Brammeier, had gotten a poster autographed after the Warriors’ practice at the Oakland Coliseum. Two youths took it while the boy was talking on the telephone. Brammeier, familiar to the team, told Nelson, who blew up.
“I had my motorcycle out there by my office,” said the 52-year-old coach, “so I went looking for these punks.”
He found them being detained by a security officer because they were hanging around the empty Coliseum. Nelson grabbed them with the poster.
“I go over there,” he related, “and I say, `How could you steal this poster from a crippled kid?’ “
What’s goin’ on? Not that there’s a pattern, but all this happened in a two-day span last week: The Blazers fined veteran Jerome Kersey and suspended Tracy Murray and Reggie Smith because of an incident with teenage girls in Salt Lake City. Dennis Rodman was found by police with a loaded gun in his car trying to get into the Pistons’ arena at 4 a.m. Mavericks General Manager Norm Sonju likened the possible loss of Jim Jackson to the drug-related death of Len Bias (“I shake to even say this,” said Sonju, “but for the good of the Mavericks, it might be better to consider this our Lenny Bias”). And Robert Parish was charged with marijuana possession.
The aftermath: Murray’s family sent a letter to the media protesting the decision. It read: “It’s inexplicable the Trail Blazers have set themselves up as investigator, judge, jury and executioner by penalizing our son after he was exonerated in Salt Lake City.” The NBA Players Association has filed a grievance.
Rodman played for the Pistons against Miami on Wednesday, but spent considerable time with Heat coach Kevin Loughery, asking Loughery to trade for him.
Dallas owner Don Carter says he won’t give Jackson a six-year deal because of the failure of recent draft picks. Jackson responded: “Do something about management. I should not be made to suffer for what management has done in past.”
And Parish has had to take much ribbing for his arrest. Said one teammate: “When he comes through the door, they now strike up the band and play `Inhale to the Chief.”
Said Parish: “If I were using it all the time, I think my play would have suffered by now. I don’t think I’d still be able to play. I hope my performance speaks for itself.”
Teammates were nonplussed by the charge, with Kevin McHale likening marijuana to alcohol. Said McHale: “I can’t picture a single doctor on earth saying, `This stuff (alcohol) is good for you, so we’re going to put it in bottles and sell it in stores.’ If the old settlers in New England were smoking reefer instead of drinking, that would probably be legal, too.”
Around the league: Look for the referees at their All-Star weekend meeting to offer a “policy” to deal with Charles Barkley and his postgame tirades with racial overtones against referees. . . . Former Pacer Steve Stipanovich, who retired in 1988 because of knee problems, was in Indianapolis for a physical last week in hopes of making a comeback. Doctors weren’t optimistic. “It’s iffy, but what the heck,” says Pacers President Donnie Walsh. “We’ll take a shot and see where it goes. ” Stipanovich was the No. 2 pick in the 1983 draft. The No. 1 pick, Ralph Sampson, also wants to make a comeback. . . . Timberwolves GM Jack McCloskey, formerly with Detroit, on Chuck Person, who’s shooting a career-low 44 percent while averaging 17.8 points: “When you’ve lived with the Pistons for 10 years, you’re not going to be afraid of anything. He’s been a delight. He’ll jump on people and himself. I couldn’t be more pleased.” . . . The Mavericks continue to wait for Quinn Buckner to become their coach, but will go for the Bob Weiss if he is fired by the Hawks.
No fun in Philadelphia, where backup center Eddie Lee Wilkins was fined for saying, among other things: “This is the first team I’ve been on where everyone wants out. We have no plays; we’re not prepared; there are no scouting reports, no practice; people laugh at us.” Said Coach Doug Moe: “If somebody wants him, we won’t stand in their way.” . . . Knicks coach Pat Riley wishes he could start Patrick Ewing in the All-Star Game. “It’s ridiculous (for Shaquille O’Neal to start) with what Patrick has accomplished in his career and this year,” Riley said. Responded O’Neal: “For the next six years, if a rookie beats me out, you won’t hear me cry about it, and you won’t hear my coach cry about it. I’ll just congratulate him. It’s not like I won by two votes. I won by 500,000 (248,399, actually).”
