Miller Time Is Also Odom’s Time

It was supposed to be Dre Day at Staples Center, the time to meet new Clipper point guard Andre Miller. Then an unexpected, quite welcome guest joined the party and it reminded you that the Clippers won’t only add Miller for next season, they’ll add Lamar Odom.

Alvin Gentry was so happy to see Odom he grabbed his head and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Welcome back. It was good to see him, even if he still had a soft brace on his right wrist. Odom basically wasn’t a part of the team last season, when injuries and a drug-policy suspension kept him out of the lineup for all but 29 games. The Clippers still won 39 games and made a run at the playoffs.

Next year’s squad will add Miller, the 2002 league leader in assists, and it only cost them their seventh man, Darius Miles. They’ll add Odom, who has career averages of 16.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists, and it won’t cost them a thing--for now.

With Miller, Odom, Elton Brand, Michael Olowokandi, Quentin Richardson, Eric Piatkowski, Corey Maggette, Keyon Dooling plus draft picks Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely and European import Marko Jaric, this is the best Clipper roster ever. It’s the result of three consecutive great summers for General Manager Elgin Baylor. Team executives are talking second round of the playoffs, a place this franchise hasn’t seen since it was in Buffalo in 1976.

Now comes the scary part: It might be the only time you’ll see this group together. Unless the Clippers move to lock up some or all of them to contract extensions, Miller, Odom, Brand and Olowokandi could all be free agents next summer. It could take $240 million to $300 million to keep them all here. And it would require Donald Sterling to spend it. (Keep an eye on the temperature readings in hell).

A year ago, Odom’s contract was the top priority. Now it’s probably fourth.

When someone asked Baylor how contract talks are progressing, he mentioned that he feels confident. The feeling is that Miller will show what he can do this season, then ask for a big contract next season. So, as Baylor said, the immediate focus is trying to get Olowokandi and Brand signed this summer.

He didn’t mention Odom, and Odom’s head sagged. It was as if he had been forgotten.

It has been that kind of gradual slide for him. The Clippers took him fourth in the 1999 draft, four spots before Cleveland took Miller. (Baylor has made a hobby of amassing players from that draft, like a sports memorabilia collector going after rookie baseball cards. He also has the No. 1 pick from ‘99, Brand, and No. 13 pick Maggette).

Early in his rookie year, Odom looked like the best of them all, a group that also included Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Wally Szczerbiak, Richard Hamilton and Shawn Marion.

Francis and Brand passed him that year, and Odom eventually dropped below many others as the worst pre-draft fears about him came to light and he couldn’t stay away from marijuana.

Some people, including yours truly, thought he should be the one traded, and not the more popular Miles with all of his high-flying potential.

I’ve come around, apparently as Sterling did in OKing the Miller trade. Odom is more versatile and further along in his development than Miles. And he has this magical charming quality, which makes you want to believe so badly that he’ll get it right.

Odom can be emotionally fragile, but he said he understood the rationale that it could happen to people much bigger than him.

“Joe Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs,” Odom said. “Joe Montana, man. Wayne Gretzky. Somebody had the nerve to trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Bucks to the Lakers.”

If they could be moved, why not him?

“I’m not being too blunt right now,” Odom said.

(Uh, Lamar, please refrain from using the word blunt.)

“I got suspended twice,” he said. “I had a hurt wrist, I had a hurt ankle. I started hearing it. But that’s all I was doing, was hearing it. In this league, you’ve got to go on what’s in front of you. You can’t go with he-said, she-said. I wasn’t going to work myself up or get a negative attitude.

“People around me, even my family members were like, ‘They’re trying to trade you? What’s wrong with them?’ I was kind of laid back about the situation.”

Odom’s still here. Instead of leaving, he was welcoming the newest Clipper.

“Andre, that’s my new family member,” Odom said. “That’s my new boy. I just wanted to let him know that we’re going to be friends as well as teammates.

“We’re cool with him. It’s good to let him know that, because, you know, he did get traded for Darius Miles. I’m sure he knew how we all felt about each other. Everybody knew that it’s a close-knit group. It was important for me to come down here and let him know that we accept him, that he’s part of the group.”

Odom could be the face of this team again if he wants to. They say Miles sold the most jerseys, but I’ve seen more of Odom’s No. 7--from coast to coast.

Miller might be from L.A., but he won’t own the town. He’ll be too busy hiding from ticket-seeking relatives. And he’s too quiet. Odom probably said more responding to one question than Miller did answering five during the news conference. He did say he was happy to be in his hometown and looked forward to playing an up-tempo style.

“One thing you guys are going to find out: Andre is a man of few words,” Gentry said.

Miller’s presence means the Clippers are getting down to serious business. He looks prepared for the part. He shaved off his Afro on Tuesday and donned a sharp black suit and gold tie Wednesday so he’d be presentable for the news conference.

Odom wore a Seanjohn shirt. But at least it had a collar, which is more than you could say about his news conference attire in the past.

If Odom can leave his problems in the past as well, he can be a part of the Clippers’ future ... which is looking better than ever.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at ja.adande@latimes.com.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* New Look Potential Clipper roster for 2002-03: Player Pos Ht Age Marko Jaric PG 6-7 23 Andre Miller PG 6-2 26 Keyon Dooling SG 6-3 22 Eric Piatkowski SG 6-6 31 Quentin Richardson SG 6-6 22 Bryant Stith SG 6-5 31 Corey Maggette SF 6-6 22 Lamar Odom SF 6-10 22 Elton Brand PF 6-8 23 Melvin Ely PF 6-10 24 Chris Wilcox PF 6-10 19 Michael Olowokandi C 7-0 27 Sean Rooks C 6-10 32

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