Clippers Get Short With Benjamin : They Want to Sign Center for a Maximum of Two Years

There’s only one bald, 7-foot big fella of a National Basketball Assn. center in this town now, or at least will be as soon as free agent Benoit Benjamin and the Clippers agree on a contract. But for how long remains to be seen.

Only a few months ago, the Clippers had hoped to lock their fifth-year team captain into a long-term deal. But now, so fed up are they over what they say is Benjamin’s continuing lack of maturity, they refuse to negotiate anything for longer than two seasons.

In fact, they would prefer just one more season, choosing the gamble of losing the right of first refusal when Benjamin would become an unrestricted free agent next summer, over giving him another multimillion-dollar deal and getting a replay of his last four years.

“I haven’t figured out what motivates Benoit, but it’s certainly not a contract staring him in the face,” general counsel Alan Rothenberg said Friday, when the Clippers opened training camp at Cal Poly Pomona, minus holdout Benjamin.

“I’m scared to death that he’ll sign for several million dollars, and then (we’ll) get more of the same. We want to see him play 82 games and practice hard in between, and we’ll take the risk.”

Rarely has any Clipper official been so outspoken about Benjamin, who for years has been accused by coaches in and out of the organization of, among other things, loafing during games and practices. Events over the summer apparently served as the final straw for several Clipper staff members, among them Rothenberg, who had been one of Benjamin’s strongest supporters.

Benjamin has known since April, when Larry Fleisher died, that he would need a new agent. A three-man team consisting of lawyers Henry Holmes, Barry Mallen and personal manager James Casey was not put together until last week.

One member of the Clipper staff said he saw Benjamin about two weeks ago and that the center looked about 15 pounds over his season-ending playing weight of 250. Benjamin was at his best in the last 45 days of the 1988-89 season and said his reduced weight had made a difference.

Benjamin’s association with boxing promoter Don King, who is still hoping to be certified as an NBA agent, and his joining Mike Tyson’s entourage for a fight in Atlantic City, N.J., struck the Clippers as something less than serious dedication to basketball. They figure Benjamin needs maturity and not the sideshow of a King promotion.

“Seeing a glimmer of hope at season’s end, I feel disappointed at what transpired during the summer,” Rothenberg said.

Thus, the Clippers are concerned with giving Benjamin too much security.

“I’m fearful that he’ll go back on his merry business and do the same thing for another four years,” the former club president continued.

“It’s a disappointment. I had really hoped--maybe I didn’t believe it--that his excellent performance in the last 25 games was a sign that he was maturing, that one day he would grow up and everything would be fine. But watching his actions this summer, it’s been something different.”

Still, the Clippers know they need Benjamin this season. Barring a trade--crank up the Danny Ferry rumors?--it will be Ken Bannister and Martin Nessley at center in camp. Charles Smith, an all-rookie selection last season at forward, has added 11 pounds of muscle, mostly to his upper body, and would play center at 238 if asked, but it’s not his natural position.

That means they plan to keep Benjamin, still officially Clipper property, for 1989-90, even if it’s at a steep asking price. Whether they would match an unexpected offer sheet is not such a sure thing anymore.

Holmes said he is not averse to a one-year deal, but the initial $1.25-million offer, tendered last spring to retain rights to the restricted free agent, does not come close to cutting it. He refused to say how much Benjamin, who could not be reached for comment, wants to accept the one-year agreement.

Said Holmes, insisting that Benjamin has been working out and is in fine shape: “Ben’s feeling is that this is going to be a long haul.”

Clipper Notes

Danny Manning, who had knee surgery last season, will commute to camp about three times a week while living in his new $2.9-million home in Hermosa Beach and continuing rehabilitation at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood. His status for joining preseason workouts with the Clippers is doubtful, his due date for a return to game action even more uncertain. “I would like to be back by December,” Manning said. “That’s me. But with an injury like this, you really can’t pinpoint a date.”

Derrick Dowell and Torgeir Bryn, free agents expected to be in camp, were no-shows. Dowell failed his physical examination because of a knee problem, and Bryn could not get out of his contract in Belgium. No roster replacements are forthcoming. . . . The Clippers briefly looked into moving training camp to UC San Diego before returning to Cal Poly Pomona. The two-a-day practice schedule will normally be 10 a.m. to noon and 5 to 7 p.m., with the evening session open to the public.