Clippers May Take Chandler in a Second

If the Washington Wizards select Kwame Brown with the No. 1 pick in today’s NBA draft, as expected, the Clippers figure to follow by taking another high school player with the No. 2 pick: Tyson Chandler of Compton Dominguez.

In doing so, Elgin Baylor would become the first general manager in league history to select players who went straight to the pros from high school in successive years. Last year, the Clippers selected Darius Miles with the No. 3 pick.

“Nobody is going to know until they call your name,” Chandler said Tuesday. “I’m not going to put myself in a situation of hoping to go No. 1 . . . I think I have it figured out in my head [who the pick will be].”

But as Baylor knows from his 16 years with the Clippers, everything is a gamble with the NBA draft.

Over the years, Baylor has been criticized for selecting suspect players in the first round who became franchise failures. Bo Kimble, LeRon Ellis, Randy Woods and Terry Dehere are four examples.

But Baylor isn’t the only executive in the league who has guessed wrong on draft day. It wasn’t Baylor who selected Robert Traylor No. 5 overall in 1998, or Adonal Foyle No. 8 in 1997, or Ed O’Bannon No. 9 in 1995.

“The pitfalls of this is that you can’t open anyone’s chest and look at their heart,” Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry said. “Guys can have ability, but you can’t separate them by desire. There’s no way of really reading that. You can’t tell if somebody has the drive of a Michael Jordan. You just can’t know that.”

Instead, Gentry said, Baylor should be judged by what he has done lately: his selection of Miles, who helped the Clippers improve from 15-67 in 1999-2000 to 31-51 last season.

Today’s group of prep standouts--Chandler, Brown, Eddy Curry and DeSagana Diop--are expected to be among the first 10 picks. Their lofty status can be attributed to the NBA successes of former high school draftees Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady.

But the player who may have the most impact on this year’s crop of coveted high school players is Miles, and the league can thank Baylor for taking a chance on him.

“I don’t think anyone had Darius coming in and playing like he did as a rookie,” said Brown, who played against Miles in high school. “People thought that it would take a while for him to make the adjustment to the NBA because he was so skinny and didn’t have a strong offensive game.”

Miles became the first player drafted out of high school to earn first-team all-rookie honors.

Not only did he encourage more high school players to skip college with his strong first season, Miles also helped change the opinions of many NBA executives who hope to duplicate the Clippers’ draft success of last year.

But Baylor understands that drafting any player, especially one without college experience, is a gamble.

“You can’t say just because Darius did so well, the next guy will too, because they are totally different players,” said Baylor, who has been scouting and drafting players for the Clippers since 1986. “There are going to be certain skills they have that Darius didn’t have and vice versa. That makes it hard.

“You can’t just take one high school kid and put him next to another high school kid and say that’s what he is going to be . . . Character, personality and everything else is totally different. You don’t look at a guy and expect him to be like Darius. You hope that he can, but right now they’re different.”

Baylor, who has been high on Chandler since he began playing for Dominguez High, said it would be difficult to pass on the 7-footer in the draft.

“You try to go for the guy who might have the best upside in the long run, but you never know,” Baylor said of Chandler, who weighs about 228 pounds.

“The other guys may be bigger physically than him, but I don’t know if they are any stronger. He passes the ball well and has good hands . . . He’s already put on about 17 or 18 pounds. I’m sure he’s going to get bigger naturally. He’ll get heavier and stronger.”

But if Chandler is selected No. 1 overall, the Clippers will have a difficult decision to make between Brown and Curry.

“They [all] have something different to bring to the table,” said Clipper assistant coach Dennis Johnson, who helped work out draft prospects. “They each stand out in their certain areas, that’s what got them to this point.”

Baylor said the elite high school players all have the potential to star in the NBA, but he doesn’t believe any of them will make immediate impacts.

“There are a lot of things they have to learn,” said Baylor, who traded the Clippers’ second-round pick (37th overall) to Philadelphia on Tuesday for an undisclosed amount of money.

Last season, the Clippers had five players 21 or younger on their roster. They realize that taking another high school player could be a risk, but they are willing to take it.

“We’re going to get a good player, but it may be a guy who may not play a ton for us next [season],” Gentry said. “But who knows, it could be a player who plays a lot. No one expected Darius to play a lot for us last season.

“That’s why I hate to compare players. Either a kid is mature or he’s not . . . I know of some players who have stayed in college four years and they were immature coming out. Then, there’s a kid like Darius, who I think was very mature even though he didn’t go to college at all.”

For the Clippers, it has been easy to break down each player’s talent level. The difficult part is always judging their passion for the game. Frequently it doesn’t matter if the player went to college or not.

Which Baylor should be well aware of based on his previous draft experiences.

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CLIPPER PICKS

* No. 2 overall. Traded No. 37 overall pick (second round) to Philadelphia on Tuesday for cash.

LAKER PICKS

* None. Lakers’ first-round pick dealt to Vancouver via New York as part of the Glen Rice trade in 2000. Second-round pick sent to San Antonio last year for rights to Corey Hightower.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

First Things First

The Clippers’ first draft picks each year since Elgin Baylor took over as their general manager/vice president of basketball operations in 1986:

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2000 3rd overall selection DARIUS MILES, East St. Louis HS

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All-rookie first team selection. Averaged 9.4 points.

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1999 4th overall selection LAMAR ODOM, Rhode Island

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All-rookie first team selection. Led Clippers in scoring last season with 17.7 average.

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1998 1st overall selection MICHAEL OLOWOKANDI, Pacific

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Still waiting to live up to No. 1 billing. Averaging 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds in three seasons.

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1997 14th overall selection MAURICE TAYLOR, Michigan

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Averaged 14.9 points in three Clipper seasons. Averaged 13 points last season with Rockets.

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1996 7th overall selection LORENZEN WRIGHT, Memphis

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Traded to Atlanta after three mediocre seasons with Clippers in which he averaged about seven points and seven rebounds.

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1995 2nd overall selection ANTONIO McDYESS, Alabama

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Traded on draft day to Denver for Rodney Rogers and Brent Barry. McDyess has averaged 20.8 points and 12.1 rebounds in his career.

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1994 7th overall selection LAMOND MURRAY, California

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Traded to Cleveland after five seasons with Clippers in which he averaged more than 11 points.

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1993 13th overall TERRY DEHERE, Seton Hall

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Shot 37.7% in first season. It was all downhill from there.

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1992 16th overall selection RANDY WOODS, La Salle

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Listed as 6-feet, but wasn’t that tall. Out of the league in one season after averaging 2.4 points a game.

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1991 22nd overall selection LeRON ELLIS, Syracuse

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Played 29 games for Clippers, averaging 1.5 points.

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1990 8th overall selection BO KIMBLE, Loyola Marymount

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Out of the league after three seasons. Averaged 5.5 points.

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1989 2nd overall selection DANNY FERRY, Duke

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Went to Italy rather than play for Clippers. Eventually traded to Cleveland. Has averaged 7.6 points and three rebounds in his career.

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1988 1st overall selection DANNY MANNING, Kansas

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Led Clippers to two playoff appearances and was an NBA all-star before suffering career-altering knee injury. Traded in 1993-94 for Dominique Wilkins.

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1987 4th overall selection REGGIE WILLIAMS, Georgetown

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Shot poorly, averaged 10.3 points before being traded to Cleveland in third season. Retired after 1996-97 season.

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1986 54th overall selection DWAYNE POLEE, Pepperdine

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Here’s his career--one game, six minutes, two points, three fouls.