Michael Cage Is Thankful to Be an Ex-Clipper

SAN DIEGO —  When Michael Cage stepped on the floor at the San Diego Sports Arena recently, he gazed into the rafters and saw his college jersey hanging prominently. He glanced toward the stands and saw friends, lots of friends. Then, he looked across the court and saw his former teammates, the Clippers.

It was an emotional time, he says, for although it was only a National Basketball Assn. exhibition game between the Seattle SuperSonics, Cage’s team now, and the Clippers, it might as well have been a 48-minute reel of “This is Your Life, Michael Cage.”

This is where a 17-year-old kid began a new life after leaving his home in West Memphis, Ark.

This is where he became the most prolific scorer in the basketball history of San Diego State University.

This is where he thought he was going to be playing professionally for the Clippers until they abandoned San Diego for Los Angeles.

It has been six years since the Clippers bolted 100 miles north for Los Angeles, leaving the city’s fans without an NBA team.

“In a way, I feel sorry for (the Clippers),” Cage said. “They think what they are doing is so right, but it’s always so wrong. That organization is just so screwed up.

“As a player, time after time, I just wanted to stomp my feet and scream out, ‘When is it ever going to end? When? When is this madness going to stop?’

“I wanted to believe in their concept. I really did. But I couldn’t. I wanted to say something, but I always bit my lip. I didn’t want to be known as a rebel or a malcontent.

“It was a four-year nightmare for me. It was embarrassing to be part of that organization. But you know what, by going through all that makes me stronger.

“By going through that, I now know I can conquer anything.

“Anything.”

Cage, who last month signed a contract extension through the 1993-1994 season that should secure him financially for life, fights back the tears, remembering what he has overcome.

It seems just like the other day, certainly not nine years ago, that the kid with the huge Afro fled from the back roads of Arkansas to San Diego.

The youngest of four children, Cage was the first to attend college. No matter. His hometown was bitter about his denying them the opportunity to see him play basketball at home. Even his parents turned on him. They refused to sign the national letter of intent with San Diego State.

So Cage, a hard-headed 17-year-old, took off on his own and signed that letter of intent on his 18th birthday, when he no longer needed his parents’ permission.

“Man, I never realized the magnitude of that decision,” he said. “I teed off a whole lot of people. I mean, parents, coaches, teachers, aunts, uncles . . . It felt like the whole world was mad at me.

“There were a lot of times I had my doubts. There were times when I had my head in my hands, trying not to panic, telling myself not to do anything crazy, like catch a late bus home.

“I think back now, and if I hadn’t gone through that, I never would have survived the Clippers. No way. I would have given up after two years. They would have broken me down.”

Ah yes, the Clippers.

Taken hostage by them in the first round of the 1984 draft, Cage suffered four long years before he was given his freedom on June 28, 1988, when he was traded to the SuperSonics.

“Things were bitter the entire time I was there. Whenever I saw someone from management, it just made me sick. The sad part was that the franchise took a lot of good people down with them, guys that just couldn’t handle it.

“It wasn’t the physical part, it was the mental part. You look at a guy like Lancaster Gordon, it must have eaten him up. His game deteriorated each year. There were lots of those guys.

“Even when you’re practicing, guys wondered if they’d be here next year or the next day. Guys just gave up. They were surrounded by mediocrity, so they just gave in to it.”

It was tough enough losing night after night. It was embarrassing watching your checks bounce, and being delayed in hotel lobbies while management checked to see if the Clippers’ credit was good. But it was more than Cage could stand, being a Clipper in the Lakers’ town.

“All of those championships, all of those parades, it was just too much to take,” Cage said. “I was there four years, and the Lakers won the championship three years. Do you know how hard it is to say you play on the Clippers and have people laugh in your face?

“The Clippers were losers. I didn’t want to be a loser. I didn’t want to be a part of them at all. I just wanted to get away.

“I always told myself, ‘(Never mind) the direction this team is headed. Play with pride. Play like you’re a champion.’

“You know, this is all something I’ve never been able to say before. But now I can. The timing is right. You’re talking to a guy who saw it all. I was there four years, and it felt like 40. What they’re doing just isn’t right.

“One of the best things they’ve got going is that they have Don Casey as their coach. This is a guy who’s been through it all. He’s one guy who will try to erase the stigma of being a loser.

“But you wonder how long it will last? How long will they give him? Will they be patient, or will they abandon him at a time of storm, just like everyone else?

“What a hopeless feeling.”

This is a vital time in Cage’s career. Although there are guards in the NBA as tall, 6-feet-9, the SuperSonics are asking him to be their center this season. He is vying with Olden Polynice for the starting job.

Considering that he has finished among the league’s top 10 rebounders for three consecutive seasons anyway, why not give him a shot at the job while Xavier McDaniel moves into the power-forward spot?

“I’m basically a power forward,” said Cage, who averaged 10.3 points and 9.6 rebounds a game last year. “But playing center actually is an advantage for me. I’m quicker than most centers, so I can either hit the outside shot or pull them away from the basket and drive right past them. I’m not picky.

“You know it’s funny, there’s a time when you have an uneasy feeling about which way your career will go. I don’t have that feeling anymore. I feel the best I ever have about my future, and I’m proud to be where I am.

“It took a long time, but I think I can finally say I made it.”