Pouting Fans Miss the Point of Clipper Deal

Darius Miles has been the high-haired, rim-rattling, ceiling-scrapping symbol of the young and fun Clippers.

Which makes it only right that he be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andre Miller.

It’s time for the organization to go from young and fun to smart and serious.

It’s time to trade dunks for defense, aerials for assists, flash for focus.

Last week, the Clippers were cult heroes.

Today, they are contenders.

It should be difficult for even their most trendy fans to argue with the merits of such a transformation, although many will understandably try.

Miles was a favorite. He was the future. He was flying into the stands, dancing on the press table, blocking shots, drawing crowds. All this, and he wasn’t yet old enough to purchase the sort of beverage with which he was frequently toasted.

Many today will clench their fists and pat their headbands and wonder, how could the Clippers do this?

Easy. Ordinary. Like trading frappachino for Folgers.

Enough of the cute, the Clippers said. It’s time for something more solid.

Miles may never be strong enough to play effectively inside, and hasn’t worked hard enough to make an impact outside.

If he becomes a superstar, it will only be with a drastic change in body type or work habits. By the time that happens, the Clipper momentum here could be lost.

Push aside the bobble head doll long enough to check out these statistics.

The Clippers didn’t beat a playoff team in the final 30 days of the season. They were 5-12 against the Western Conference in April.

They collapsed despite having a hot center, one of the game’s best young power forwards, and one of its best sixth men.

They collapsed because, quite simply, nobody held them together.

By many accounts, Miller is that person.

He played for a team that couldn’t shoot straight, yet led the league in assists. He looks to pass first, score second, yet still averaged more points--16.5--than all but one Clipper.

The best thing about his game was oddly illustrated during the Rookie All-Star game in 2000. While completing a layup, he banked the ball instead of dunking it. The crowd booed.

Clipper fans should cheer.

A team in need of a fundamentals role model has one. A team that needs more local flavor will be led down the court by a kid who grew up in Watts and led Verbum Dei High to a state championship before leading Utah to the national championship game.

There are some kinks, of course. With the Clippers, aren’t there always?

Last year Miller, who averaged 37 minutes per game, allegedly complained about playing so much.

Considering Elton Brand also averaged 37 minutes, let’s hope that Miller was misunderstood.

There was also talk that Miller was not critical enough with his slacker teammates, another charge which will hopefully prove lame. The Clippers need a vocal leader in his position, although perhaps somebody not quite as vocal as his predecessor.

Indeed, some would say that the best thing about Miller is that he is not Jeff McInnis, who draped himself over the team like a burlap sheet.

McInnis, for all his ability, was sharp-tongued and annoying both in the locker room and on the court. If nothing else, Miller’s influence will be more like a down comforter.

Who knows, maybe he can even get some consistency out of Lamar Odom.

Yeah, yeah, the Clippers know. You wanted them to trade Odom, not Miles.

And, yeah, that trade perhaps could have been done on draft day.

But then it would have cost the Clippers a draft pick. This trade did not cost them a draft pick, allowing the Clippers to keep big guys Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely.

With Odom’s history of off-court problems, trading him is not going to be as easy as trading Miles.

The Clipper fans are just going to have to hope he stays straight.

Just as they must hope that a contract is settled soon with Michael Olowokandi.

With Miller, the Clippers may not be as hip, but their future has more hop.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.