PHILADELPHIA -- Clarence Weatherspoon is the Philadelphia 76ers' best player.
Got that?
Never mind that coach John Lucas says he's going to "be on Spoon all year." Lucas knows what he wants, and he's going to do whatever it takes to get it.
The 6-foot-6 Weatherspoon, miscast as a small forward last season, is back at the power spot playing the best basketball of his career. He averaged 17.3 points through eight preseason games, then contributed 22 and 20 points in the first two regular-season games before going down with a small tear in his right quadriceps muscle.
But he won't be out long.
"I'm going to be on Spoon, and he isn't liking it," Lucas said. "He can average 13 rebounds. He can do more than 18 (points) and nine (rebounds). I'm determined to get the governor off Spoon. I'm going to get him to stop complaining and get it done."
The governor? Lucas meant a control that limits a vehicle's speed. That's the coach's inimitable way of motivating Weatherspoon.
"He doesn't bother me," Weatherspoon said. "I'm not scared of hard work. I'm a basketball player. If he thinks he has to push, let him. If he thinks there's a governor on my back, tell him to work it off."
Weatherspoon, the No. 9 pick in the 1992 NBA draft, should profit from the attention attracted by centerpiece rookie Jerry Stackhouse. While the media -- and fans -- concentrate on Stackhouse's impressive beginning, Weatherspoon and third-year 7-6 center Shawn Bradley should flourish.
But Weatherspoon, who has played his way through the coaching tenures of Doug Moe and Fred Carter to get to the Lucas era, was prepared to flourish anyway.
He came in to training camp fierce and has stayed that way, weary of the questions about which frontcourt position better suited him, tired of people asking whether he could deal on even terms with tall, rangy power forwards, fed up with what he perceived as "disrespect or no respect."
"We're making strides as a team, getting better talent," Weatherspoon said, pleased with the additions of Stackhouse and veteran free agents Vernon Maxwell and Richard Dumas. "But I can't worry about the pieces they're bringing in. I just hope we can put it all together because if we don't it's going to be a long season."
Spoon has credentials: 4,159 points through his first three seasons, a total surpassed in the first three seasons of a Sixers career only by Hersey Hawkins (4,478) and Charles Barkley (4,315). Last season, when he averaged 18.1 points, he had 13 games of five assists or more. In his first two seasons, he had more than five assists just nine times.
But he couldn't find himself listed prominently among the leaders in the All-Star balloting, couldn't get people to accept he had a strong year.
But, really, he didn't come in any angrier this season than in others.
"I always come in fighting mad," he said. "I'm always going to be aggressive. That's just how it is. This shouldn't be about what my role will be or 'Is he this or is he that?' I've been productive, that should be the thing.
"But instead of hearing that I had a solid season, I hear 'Is he a three or a four? Can he do this? Can he do that? When is it going to be just that I had a solid season? Everybody else gets credit. I don't.
"So don't ask whether I can do better or what my role is. Ask me about performance. It's not my job to decide how I fit."
Still, Lucas began last season by saying he wanted to "give the team" to Weatherspoon, to make him the leader. It quickly became clear it was a role in which Weatherspoon was uncomfortable, particularly around a relatively passive group that did not seem to want to be led.
In fairness, several of his more productive teammates, including Hawkins, Dana Barros and Orlando Woolridge, have changed teams or left the league.
Weatherspoon, now a co-captain with Jeff Malone, bristles at the suggestion that he can't be a leader.
"I'm going to be one of the keys to the team," he said. "But I get tired of some of the questions. The first question I heard this season was whether I wanted to be traded. Don't ask me that question. Ask (the Sixers).
"What I need is somebody being supportive of me. I mean, look at Tyrone Hill (of Cleveland) and Vin Baker (of Milwaukee) last season. They had solid seasons, made the All-Star Game. I had a solid second season (averaging 18.4 points and 10.1 rebounds in 1993-94), but did I make it? I don't think it's right, the way I'm perceived.
"Last season, we didn't have Jeff (who missed 63 games with a bruised right heel), and that left us with me and Dana (now with the Boston Celtics) as the scorers. Willie Burton (now playing in Italy) came aboard and helped us, but didn't sustain it.
"I'll bet right now that if Stackhouse has a solid rookie season, even if we don't win a lot of games, it'll blow up for him in terms of recognition. Everybody's pulling for him.
"When I came in, I was the No. 9 pick. But I was from Southern Mississippi; nobody knew me. I thought I had a good season, but I barely made second-team All-Rookie. It's either disrespect or no respect. Add up my double-doubles in three seasons (75). No one else (currently on the roster) has done that here."
Just saying it to a group of reporters seemed to have a cathartic effect.
"I want us to be a winning team; I don't care who does the scoring," Weatherspoon said. "And who scores the most shouldn't matter. But if you're productive, you should be recognized for it. If you're productive, you should be looked at as 'The Man.' I don't even like that term because I believe that if you get the job done, you should be recognized that way."
One last item on Spoon's agenda: The only thing he dislikes more than the early comparisons to Charles Barkley is when people ask which of the veterans will help ease the way for Stackhouse.
"When I came in, who counseled me?" Weatherspoon said. "I was there, by myself. I was being compared with Barkley (who had just been traded to Phoenix), and a young player shouldn't have been faced with that.
"They helped Shawn when he came in. They helped Sharone (Wright) and B.J. (Tyler) last year. Me? There was nothing there for Spoon.
"I had to earn it."
In addition to writing this exclusive column for SportsLine USA, Phil Jasner covers the NBA for the Philadelphia Daily News.
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