NBA Notes : Knicks Will See Just How Smart MacLeod Is

New York Knicks General Manager Al Bianchi respects John MacLeod because, among other reasons, Bianchi says MacLeod is smart. He also likes him because he says MacLeod is careful and reserved.

Those traits were in evidence the day after MacLeod became the favorite to succeed Rick Pitino, who has left for the University of Kentucky, as coach of the Knicks. MacLeod was not turning cartwheels because he might be offered the Knicks job. He did not tell anyone that he thought the job had great potential and that it would be an honor to coach in New York.

MacLeod was saying all the right things. He said he was flattered, but he had a commitment in Dallas. He said, “I’m going to talk to Al because Al is a very good friend of mine. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to New York to take a coaching job.”

For MacLeod, the situation was simple. He was employed by the Mavericks and he had not been offered the Knicks job. As far as he was concerned, he had to believe he was going to be in Dallas next season and he was not going to make any dumb, outrageous statements.

If MacLeod is offered the Knicks job, we’ll see how smart he really is. For MacLeod, these are the facts:

1. He never has been a favorite of Mavericks owner Donald Carter. Carter was a close personal friend of former Mavericks coach Dick Motta and thought MacLeod was not in Motta’s league as a coach. Carter reluctantly accepted the advice of other Mavericks executives when he hired MacLeod in 1987, but Carter later admitted that even after he interviewed MacLeod, he was considering other candidates.

2. In February, when Roy Tarpley was in a drug rehabilitation clinic and Mark Aguirre was pouting and defiantly loafing on the court, the Mavericks were not winning often. Several close associates of Carter said he wanted to fire MacLeod.

3. In New York, MacLeod would work for Bianchi, who was his assistant coach for 12 years in Phoenix. MacLeod obviously would be supported by Bianchi in a way he never will be supported in Dallas.

4. The Knicks won 52 games last season. The Mavericks won 38. Tarpley, who is as important to the Mavericks as Patrick Ewing is to the Knicks, has two strikes in the anti-drug program. The Knicks have the potential to win a championship before the Mavericks.

5. MacLeod says he does not want to uproot his wife and his children, aged 14 and 11, for the second time in less than three years. But if the Mavericks struggle at the beginning of next season, MacLeod probably will be fired and will be forced to uproot his family anyway.

MacLeod is being careful not to offend anyone in Dallas or New York as he decides whether he wants to listen to a job offer from Bianchi. But it is obvious that the Knicks job is a better one than the Mavericks.

Because the Los Angeles Lakers are facing an inactive stretch of at least eight days, while they wait to find out who they will play in the championship series, Coach Pat Riley has decided to take them to Santa Barbara, Calif., for a three-day minicamp through Saturday. Riley has said the Lakers might have two-a-days, but he has said that before and not followed through.

But regardless of the number of practices, Riley said, “Our goal is to go there and work hard. This is an opportunity if our players use it to prepare properly. We can get honed and replenish.”

The Miami Heat seems to be in great position in the college draft. The Sacramento Kings apparently are leaning toward taking Danny Ferry with the No. 1 pick. The Los Angeles Clippers probably would follow by taking Sean Elliott, and then the San Antonio Spurs probably would take Pervis Ellison with the third pick.

The Heat then could take Glen Rice with the fourth pick, and Rice would be perfect. Last season, the Heat averaged only 97.8 points, worst in the league. The Heat also scored the fewest points in a quarter (nine), half (26) and game (65). The team needs points, and Rice will score big in the NBA. He would get a lot of shots with the Heat, enough maybe to finish in the top 10 next season.

Late in the Western Conference finals, reporters looking for new Laker angles began writing about how well the bench was playing. Phoenix Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons acknowledged that Mychal Thompson, Michael Cooper and Orlando Woolridge were playing well, but he said don’t forget that the team revolves around Magic Johnson.

“If Michael or Orlando had to carry a team,” Fitzsimmons said, “you people would be writing nasty things about them.”

The bad timing award of the week unfortunately went to Alvin Robertson, who was traded Sunday from the Spurs to the Milwaukee Bucks. The trade came three weeks after Robertson’s second child was born and only two days after Robertson signed closing papers on an $800,000 house in San Antonio. Robertson said the trade was “like a death in the family.”

Greg “Cadillac” Anderson, who will go with Robertson to Milwaukee in exchange for Terry Cummings, said he understood, then delivered a unique assessment. Anderson said that for the Spurs, Robertson was “the shoelace to the tennis shoe.” Cadillac apparently has taken mega-doses of Dick Vitale.