I'm not an NBA general manager, but I play one on my computer. And here is one of the first things I noticed this year: The Los Angeles Clippers should not -- repeat NOT -- give center Michael Olowokandi a big contract extension.

	Olowokandi was once the top pick, but hasn't performed well.

I keep reading that Donald Sterling is ready to change, that Donald Sterling is going to keep this young group of talent together, and that starts with paying Olowokandi.

Well, first, I am not so sure that Sterling is going to pay anybody, and secondly, if he pays Olowokandi big coin, he is making a big mistake. A big, big, big, huge mistake.

I saw Kandi Man the other night, and in all honesty, he looks as if he has regressed.

He would grab a rebound about six feet from the basket, and look completely baffled about what to do next. He had difficulty getting his shot off, and when he did, he missed badly, even from a few feet out. He was OK on defense, but at 7-1, he did not have any blocked shots, and he was guarding Calvin Booth, so it's not like he couldn't leave him and help out on the weak side, particularly with the new zone defenses.

The best that could be said about Kandi Man is he has a big body, and that might be just what this team needs given the fact that other players are going to get the majority of the shots.

My biggest concern, though, is that Sterling decides to pay out some dough, so he gives it to Kandi. Kandi plays like a dog, Sterling says to himself, "See, I knew I shouldn't have paid him," and then he closes his wallet when it's time to pay the guys who really are deserving -- i.e. Elton Brand, Lamar Odom and, way down the line, Darius Miles.

	Brand

But just because the Clippers have those three youngsters, don't coronate their run to the playoffs just yet.

Granted, it is way too early to make snap judgments, but those three clearly have a lot of work to do together. The team is so young, not only has it not figured out how to play together, it has not completely learned how to play the game, period.

That's why head coach Alvin Gentry is putting the brakes on all the talk about the Clippers sliding in as a seventh or eighth seed in the West.

"I don't understand why we are going to go from a 31-win team to the playoffs when you look at all the teams in the West," Gentry said. "Our goal is to make the playoffs. If we don't make the playoffs, I am not going to consider this season a failure. I just think it is important for us to make that next step in becoming a real consistent basketball team. If that is making the playoffs, great. If that is winning a few more close games, a few more overtime games so we know we are headed in the right direction, then I think that is fine, too."

Gentry must be taking lessons from his cross-town rival, Phil Jackson, in the ways to successfully lower expectations so you always look better and never, ever look worse. When was the last time you heard a Clippers coach trying to talk down expectations?

"That's a good question," Gentry laughed. "I would imagine Larry (Brown). Larry never thinks his team is any good. When I talked to him before last season, he thought Philly was going to win 10 games."

The reason the Clippers suddenly are the "other reason" to be scared to go to Los Angeles is the acquisition of Brand, whom the Clippers got in a draft-day trade for Tyson Chandler, a deal orchestrated by agent David Falk.

"It was tough being on Chicago," Brand said. "They were a young team, and we didn't feel like we were improving at all. This is a young, talented team that it is going to be great to be a part of."

	Maggette

Brand, who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in each of his first two seasons, gives the Clippers a legitimate low-post presence that complements the athleticism of Miles and the perimeter game of Odom. Quentin Richardson also looks like he is ready to have a break-out year, and Corey Maggette's game may finally be catching up to his NBA body, which arrived much earlier than his talent.

"I couldn't believe we got him," Gentry said. "I think Tyson Chandler is going to be a good player, but I think it is going to take a while. Any coach in the NBA will tell you, they don't want to wait three years. Usually when you have to wait three years, it turns out somebody else is coaching him.

"For us to get a player that was as good as he was, that had proven himself right away, I thought it was really kind of a no-brainer."

Speaking of no brain, we take you back to Sterling.

Now, you would think that when he sees the 6,000 season tickets sold this summer, and when he sees the stands at the Staples Center full of people cheering for HIS team, that he would want to keep that intact.

But Gentry is treading lightly where that is concerned. He knows all too well the history of his owner, and in exactly the same way he does not want to create lofty expectations for the team's success, Gentry also does not want to play the fool and predict that this team has a decent future, only to turn around and find out Sterling is stuffing that money in a mattress, then suing the mattress company for selling him a faulty product.

"There is no way of knowing that until it actually comes about and happens," Gentry said diplomatically. "We've talked about keeping the team together, or at least the core players together, But there is no way of knowing until it comes time to re-sign them. I happen to think we will re-sign them this time. We've got a good thing here, and I think everybody wants to try and keep it going."

It almost sounds like a plea.

Around The League