Smith Watches, Waits for Chance

Owner Donald Sterling isn’t sitting at Clipper games wearing an “I Like Charles” button.

Nor is anybody else.

While all the attention has been understandably focused on newly acquired center Isaac Austin, while the Clippers have designed “I Like Ike” buttons to show him how much they want him to stay after this season, rookie guard Charles Smith, the other player thrown in by the Miami Heat in last Thursday’s trade for Brent Barry, has been lost in the shadows.

He hasn’t played a minute for the Clippers and might not do so for awhile.

Does he feel overlooked?

“A little bit,” Smith admitted. “But he [Austin] has worked hard for it. It’s his time. Everything comes in time.”

Smith, a 6-foot-4, 194-pound rookie who played at New Mexico, has had his playing time in his first professional season limited because of tendinitis in his right leg.

Smith’s forte is defense, but he can provide offense as well. He finished at New Mexico as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,993 points and a 15.8-point average.

“[Miami] Coach [Pat] Riley talked a lot about defense,” Smith said. “He told us that everybody in this league can score--I can score--but if you can’t stop anybody, you can’t win.”

Smith will get a chance to show what he can do, according to Bill Fitch, his new coach.

“He knows he was the second man who was added to the deal,” Fitch said, “but we are not going to treat him as a throw-in.

“For now, we’ve got to get to know him better, and he’s got to get to know more about his position.”

Austin was able to leap right onto the court without the benefit of even a full practice, because he had the advantage of being in his fifth NBA season and playing a position at which the action revolves around him.

Smith has played in only 11 NBA games and is a guard, a position that requires a much more detailed knowledge of the offense.

He is not only willing to learn, but to do so as a Clipper.

“They are trying to rebuild here,” he said. “That can be an opportunity for me. Being with the Heat, they didn’t have too many rookies coming in. This gives me a chance to get my name out there.”

TONIGHT vs. Philadelphia

* 7:30

* Channel 9

Site--Sports Arena.

Radio--KEZY-FM (95.9), LITE-FM (92.7).

Records--Clippers 11-44, 76ers 18-35.

Record vs. 76ers (1996-97)--1-1.

Update--Finally, a team the Clippers can relate to. After playing three teams in a row with winning records, two of them division leaders, the Clippers, last in the Pacific Division, find themselves facing another division doormat. The Clippers have fared well against Philadelphia, having won four of the previous five games, and the last four in a row at home. The 76ers last won on the Clippers’ home court on Dec. 11, 1992, beating them, 125-110. The Clippers have lost seven in a row and 15 of 16.