Wolf’s Slump Continues in Another Loss : Clippers: The 1987 first-round pick has only two points in 14 minutes against Portland.

A season, and maybe a Clipper career, winds down for Joe Wolf, quietly fading into anonymity on the same team that once made him the 13th pick in the draft.

That was in 1987, when, along with Reggie Williams and Ken Norman, he was at the start of a building process. An injury-filled rookie season, sub-par-shooting second year, and he came to camp in 1989 as starting center-elect, until Benoit Benjamin signed.

Now, with the season ending Saturday and Wolf having played forward and center this season, but very little of anything recently, he is set to become a restricted free agent. The future is as uncertain as his past has been a struggle.

This doesn’t exactly qualify as a graceful exit, if Wolf does sign elsewhere. Heading into Monday night’s game against Portland at the Sports Arena, a 93-85 victory for the Trail Blazers, he had averaged 8.5 minutes, 1.7 points and shot 28% from the field in the previous 11 outings, and that doesn’t include the Minnesota game he sat out on a coach’s decision.

What makes it difficult for Wolf to figure is that the game before the slide started, he played 23 minutes at Denver and hit seven of nine attempts for 17 points, just two below his season high. From there, his minutes went 18, 19, 9, did not play, 1, 7, 4, 8, 11, 3, 6 and 8. That’s more than nine minutes only once in the nine games before Monday.

“It’s difficult to get into the flow like that when you’re an outside shooter,” said Wolf, who had two points on one-for-four shooting in 14 minutes against the Trail Blazers. “You need about eight or 10 minutes and three jumpers to help you get into the rhythm. For somebody who shoots 15 or 20 footers, ideally that’s what you want to do. But since that is not happening, I’ve got to make the best of it.”

It’s not happening, Coach Don Casey said, because Wolf is trapped in a numbers game: Too many other big men, and Catch-22. He needs minutes to stay sharp, he doesn’t play well enough at times to get minutes.

The only thing Wolf can control at this point is the future, and then only to an extent. Other teams showed interest during trade talks, so, he figures, there will be offer sheets. It will then be up to the Clippers to match or let him go, the wait-and-see approach their most likely course.

“This is a good young team and I like the players,” he said. “Then again, I’d like to be someplace where I could play some minutes. I think what I have to decide is to stay with this young team with a real good future or go somewhere I could play 30 or 35 minutes.

“I can’t be discouraged. I play in the best league in the world and with the best players in the world. Maybe next year I’ll get a lot of minutes and things will work out.”

It’s just a matter of where.

The Clippers will remain in sixth place in the seven-team Pacific Division the rest of the season, but against the Trail Blazers they continued to be anything but representative of the standings.

Second-place Portland trailed at halftime, 43-39, and the Clippers were in contention the whole way despite scoring a combined 28 points in the second and third quarters.

The Clippers (30-49) led 81-80 with 3:13 remaining, when Jerome Kersey made two free throws to put Portland ahead for good.

Kersey led all scorers with 23 points. Charles Smith topped the Clippers with 21, and Benjamin had 15 rebounds and 13 points.

Clipper Notes

Ron Harper, rehabilitating his injured knee near his home in Ohio, returned to Los Angeles Sunday and attended Monday’s game. The visit is to be with teammates before the end of the season, a check-up by Dr. Tony Daly and the opening of negotiations on a new contract. Harper, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, said he the comeback is going well, but declined to target a return date. . . . With six days left in the regular season, the Clippers remain in contention for a second lottery pick, via Cleveland. Heading into play Monday, the Cavaliers were a half-game ahead of Atlanta for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and two games behind Indiana for the seventh position. The Pacers, however, could be in for a dip with a schedule that included Chicago Monday and Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington ahead. Cleveland finishes with Milwaukee, New Jersey, Orlando and New York. Atlanta gets New Jersey, New York and Miami. The non-playoff teams make the lottery, but the Clippers acquired the Cavaliers’ in the Harper trade. . . . Ken Norman sprained the right side of his neck after colliding with teammate Charles Smith in the fourth quarter and did not return for the final 9:44. He was taken for precautionary X-rays, though results were not immediately available.