PHILADELPHIA -- The clues were strewn everywhere. I just missed them.
I mean, I asked Scott Skiles Friday in the lobby of the Philadelphia 76ers' Vancouver hotel headquarters whether he might have some interview time before that night's game.
Skiles, insightful, quotable, cooperative, smiled thinly and asked about the nature of the questions. He never does that.
I mean, there I was in the Sixers' locker room in General Motors Place, 90 minutes before tipoff against the Grizzlies, and Skiles was still wearing the same light blue suit he had been wearing in the hotel. There was no sign of his uniform or warmup gear.
The concept of his retiring was just beginning to jiggle in to focus. There had been a long, earnest one-on-one conversation between Skiles and coach-general manager John Lucas in Oakland two days earlier. There had been back-to-back games in which Skiles not only didn't score but looked painfully slow and heavy legged. Next to him, guards Trevor Ruffin and Vernon Maxwell were virtual blurs.
But this was too bizarre, I told myself. Skiles, in his 10th season with his fifth different team, wouldn't call off his career right before the last game of a six-game Western swing. Not a guy who was already fourth in league history in free-throw percentage, who had handed out nearly 4,000 assists, who held the record for the most assists in a game (30).
COULDN'T BE, I INSISTED. I still didn't get it.
So we talked about the Orlando Magic, his team for five seasons, the Sixers first opponent when they returned home. How was I to know it was a game that wouldn't get played, that Philadelphia would be rocked by a record snowfall, dropping up to 30 inches in some areas? The Magic players are something special in the NBA, but in those weather conditions, they were just another set of weary, stranded travellers.
Still, had the game gone on, would there have been any way -- any way -- for the poor, lottery-locked Sixers to beat the Magic? And don't just say the Sixers would be better off with two feet of snow.
"Play mistake free, shoot a high percentage, hope they shoot a low percentage," Skiles had said. "Don't think about trying to stop Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) and Penny (Anfernee Hardaway). Nobody else does.
"Then you've got to rebound because they really hurt teams on second shots. They're really confident, feel like they can -- and will -- beat everybody. Mix that attitude with that talent, that's dangerous.
"They go in knowing they'll win. If they don't, they're disappointed as hell for the rest of the night, but the next night they know they're going to win again.
"I've seen that before. Kevin McHale said when he was with Boston, their goal was to never lose two in a row. Lose one, the next game's a must. The Magic thinks that way. Chicago thinks that way."
Terrific. The Magic, with O'Neal (strained left quadriceps) and Nick Anderson (sprained right big toe) out, lost 105-94 in Cleveland. And they wouldn't be Skiles' problem anyway. He announced his retirement 45 minutes before the Sixers faced the Grizzlies.
"Those guys are so confident, it's almost a surprise when they lose," Skiles said. "A fluke. They look at the stats, look for reasons, then say it won't happen again."
The Sixers, on the other hand, seem almost startled when they win. They were 3-16 when Skiles arrived, 6-24 when he left. Sixers coach-general manager John Lucas didn't flinch when a Western Conference executive told him any victory during the remainder of the season should be considered an upset.
That perception probably contributed heavily to Skiles' decision. He said when he signed that, if he thought he was going to have his lunch handed to him every night, he wouldn't have come.
Pass the Rolaids. This isn't a team as much as it is a curious selection of collectibles. Give you two Mike Browns for an Elmer Bennett. How about a mint condition Greg Grant for a hard-to-get Trevor Wilson? Before this is over, either the Sixers, the Grizzlies or the Minnesota Timberwolves will emerge as the NBA's worst team.
SKILES SAW THE REVOLVING DOOR, through which 20 different Sixers had already passed this season. He saw veteran Jeff Malone on the outside looking in, saw Malone and Brown being told they had been waived after they had boarded a charter flight in Oakland, and hwe knew it was no place for him. Made sense to me. Who was coming next, Rumeal Robinson? LaSalle Thompson? Tim Kempton? Any minute, I half expect Darryl Dawkins to be knocking on their door.
Skiles, to his credit, seemed to understand that he'd be knocking himself out for no good reason. He could offer nuggets of wisdom to heady veterans focusing on doing some postseason damage. But what could he tell headstrong Derrick Coleman, Vernon Maxwell and Richard Dumas as they were getting hammered? What could he suggest to Sharone Wright and Clarence Weatherspoon as they were getting mercilessly spun around in the paint?
Skiles would fill that role someday as a coach, but not with this team, not now.
"I'm not in a position to tell them about winning," he said. "I'm a player, not in control of the mindset of others.
"But this isn't a downtrodden, depressed group. They just haven't been together long enough. As the season goes on, guys might start to wonder about things, but that's just human nature.
"Vernon, Derrick, (rookie) Jerry Stackhouse, those are confident guys. It would take a lot to make them feel they aren't good players any more.
"You have to focus every night on what you have to do, the double-teams, the rotations. Don't get caught up in who the opponent is or the situation. Just lock in on that night.
"The really good teams even go beyond that. They lock in on every play."
Skiles was a rookie in Milwaukee in 1986-87 (with Lucas as a teammate) when the Bucks won 50 games and used 22 different players. He was with the Magic in its first season, when it won 18. He was allowed to become a free agent so the Magic could sign Horace Grant. He left Washington last season with a bitter taste in his mouth, having had a wrist injury he felt hadn't been properly diagnosed.
Could he have played out the season? Could he have asked for his release, then searched for a contender, spot minutes and a playoff share?
"There's always a perfect fit out there for every player," he said. "Some guys, you see them on one team, they look like an also-ran. Then you see them on another team, they look great.
"Is there a team like that out there for me? Probably. But where? And how could I be sure? Everybody says the grass is always greener elsewhere, but you don't know that. I'm just going home to Orlando to get on with my life. It's time to stop."
You could argue that he should have worn his uniform against the Grizzlies in case too many guys fouled out or got hurt. You could say he should have stayed until Lucas could locate a replacement, but I like his style. I had all sorts of clues in front of me, and I didn't put them together. He had his own set of clues and knew exactly what they meant.
The Sixers, if they're lucky, might win 20 games this season. (Are you listening, Tim Duncan?) Scott Skiles will read all about it from a safe and insulated distance.
Good choice.
Why would Chicago try to win a record 70 games unless it meant fighting off Orlando for the No. 1 playoff seed in the East? "That's not something (Bulls coach Phil Jackson) would aim for," said Charlotte assistant John Bach, a former assistant in Chicago. "Phil knows his role as coach is to be well prepared for the playoffs ... not to stagger in and lose." ... Cleveland VP Wayne Embry doesn't mind campaigning for Cavaliers guard Terrell Brandon as an All-Star, pencilling him in behind Chicago's Michael Jordan, Orlando's Anfernee Hardaway and Indiana's Reggie Miller. "I look at the guards in the East, and Terrell is certainly having a better year than most," Embry said. "I don't know who else is ahead of Terrell." Still, count on Toronto's Damon Stoudamire, Philadelphia's Jerry Stackhouse, New York's Derek Harper and perhaps Washington's Robert Pack to spread out the voting. ...
Golden State's Rony Seikaly overslept and missed practice New Year's Day, but teammate Tim Hardaway had no problem getting there. "I went out New Year's Eve and partied like everyone else," Hardaway said. "Had fun. Didn't need no alarm clock. I got kids." ... Nick Van Exel whined about the Los Angeles Lakers' offense, but coach Del Harris showed him some film and suggested he be more aggressive and creative. "With Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler and Vlade Divac, those are three guys Nick counts as targets," Harris said. "If a quarterback's receivers aren't being used, he's not as good a quarterback." ...
Minnesota's Tom Gugliotta says the Timberwolves have been conscious of keeping an eye on 19-year-old rookie Kevin Garnett. "We tried to take him out in Utah, and it happened to be a bar," Gugliotta said. "He wasn't looking to drink; he just wanted to get something to eat. And they wouldn't even let him eat with us. We had to get up and leave. He felt a little uncomfortable, that he was imposing on us. We ended up at a Denny's." ... The Wolves aren't exactly enjoying losing. "I hope 1996 is better for us," said Doug West, the last player remaining from the original expansion roster. "Please ... I'm begging ... somebody." ...
Want to know which players were fined the most money last season? Which guys won the most opening taps? Who has been hit with the most technical fouls since 1970? All of that is available in a 128-page Potpourri guide put together by ageless Harvey Pollack, the Sixers' director of media information and bon vivant. Want a copy? Check with Pollack or Sixers publicist Joe Favorito.
In addition to writing this exclusive column for SportsLine USA, Phil Jasner covers the NBA for the Philadelphia Daily News.
Agree or disagree with this column? Send feedback to Sportsline USA.
Return to the Opinions & Editorials
Copyright © 1996 Sportsline USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved