I feel bad for Lenny Wilkens. He's lost his biggest excuse.

	Lenny Wilkens can't say he doesn't have a star player these days with Vinsanity around.

"You know, I've never had a great player," Wilkens was fond of saying in the seven years he coached the Hawks.

"You know, I coached a lot more bad players than Red did," he said when he surpassed Red Auerbach's old NBA record of 938 coaching victories.

That must be why Red won nine titles in Boston while Lenny grabbed only one with Seattle, in 1979.

In Cleveland with Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty and Mark Price, Wilkens could not get past Michael Jordan and Chicago. Mikey got him in '88 and again in '89 in the first round, in '92 in the Eastern finals -- the only time a Wilkens team got that far in 14 years with the Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks. Mike and the Bulls took him out in the second round in '93. He was knocked out in the second round four times with the Hawks. Mike was involved with one of those.

"You know, I've never had a great player." If he said it once he said a thousand times. It was his mantra.

Now, Wilkens needs another excuse. He's got Vince Carter. For anyone who didn't already know, Vince the Prince rained 37 points on Portland and 48 on Milwaukee to underline the point this past weekend. Maybe Mike still doesn't see him measuring up to his own mirror image but you look around the NBA and start counting the great ones of this generation, Vince Carter, age 23, is in the front rank.

Carter is so good, Tracy McGrady ran away to Florida so he wouldn't get lost in his cousin's shadow.

Carter is so good, he enlivens a Toronto team that is very old, from the head coach to the core lineup.

Accidentally, Wilkens may have stumbled into something Saturday night when he inserted Alvin Williams as a backcourt partner to Mark Jackson, swinging Carter to small forward. That touched off the run that beat the Bucks and put the Raptors over .500. Of course, that was Ray Allen trying to defend against Carter. Ray Allen couldn't hold you and me under 20 a game.

	Carter

If you follow a domino theory, Williams' performance may eliminate another Wilkens' excuse: he doesn't have a center in Toronto. If Carter can swing back to wing, the Raptors may be able to pull off the deal that's brewing with Denver: Corliss Williamson and Michael Stewart for Keon Clark and Tracy Murray That would in turn take some of the heat off Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis.

As Steve Smith, Mookie Blaylock and Dikembe Mutombo well know, Wilkens rides his horses harder than the Pony Express. Saturday night, Carter went 45 minutes, Davis 42, Jackson 40, Oakley 39. That will happen when the games are close or the stakes more than minimal.

	Mutombo

	S. Smith

Smith said a week ago that the Hawks blundered badly when they broke up what was considered an old team that lacked speed. It was suggested that Wilkens had a lot to do with that because he refused to let his young bench develop over the years. Smith could not argue.

The facts are there. Jon Barry and Scot Pollard are in Sacramento because they could not get on the court in Atlanta. Shammond Williams is in Seattle for the same reason. There are others. Wilkens didn't like them any more than he liked the kids who rotted on the Hawks bench.

Of course, Lenny had nothing to do with the 1999 trade that sent Smith to Portland for Isaiah Rider. He says as much in a new book. "Funny, there are three guys in the room who agreed to do it," Hawks president Stan Kasten said. "Me, [GM] Pete Babcock and another guy. I wonder who the other guy was?"

The other day Oakley sounded a little nostalgic for Butch Carter. He complained that Wilkens' practices aren't hard enough. Get used to it, Oak. The coach figures an hour and 15, an hour 30 is quite enough. If you want to stay longer, that's your prerogative. He won't. Nobody gets off the practice court more quickly than Lenny Wilkens, unless it's his top assistant, Stan Albeck. If you need help Charles, go to somebody else.

Meanwhile, Lenny is building up that supply of excuses.

"I don't like to make excuses, but I don't like four days off," he said after the well-rested Raptors lost to Portland.

Wait 'til the back-to-backs pile up. That will change.

And, Lenny, if you haven't come up with this one, yet, here's a freebie: No wonder we can't win on the road (they're 1-2), we're the only team that has to clear customs every time we travel.

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