Clipper Guard From Far East Hopes to Go Far
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Nomomania it isn’t. But for the Clippers, it constitutes a genuine break from the ordinary--an actual Clipper who puts fans in the seats and travels from Pond to Sports Arena with his own media entourage, his presence alone giving the people a reason to watch the Clippers, and write about the Clippers, if not necessarily believe in them.
No, not Antonio McDyess.
The Clippers had that one in their hands and flung it deep into the seats long ago.
Ma Jian is this season’s official Clipper drawing card.
Unless he gets cut in the next seven days.
Ma Jian could become the most popular Clipper since Danny Manning.
Provided he ever sees the light of a regular-season NBA game.
Ma Jian (pronounced “Maw Zhin”) is in many ways the Clippers’ man of the hour, or man of the almost-half-hour, seeing as how Ma has played 18 minutes this preseason. But the fact that he has played at all is history in itself--Ma is the first Chinese player to appear in an NBA exhibition game. Not counting Tom Meschery, the old San Francisco Warrior who was born in China.
Ma’s big moment came on the night of Oct. 15, Clippers vs. Sacramento, with 7,020 on hand at the Sports Arena. Ma was personally responsible for about one-third of the audience--”Two thousand Chinese people come to watch me play,” is how Ma puts--and Ma made the most of his eight minutes, scoring seven points on three-of-five shooting.
Many of the fans held up signs written in Mandarin--”Go Ma!” was the general loose translation--and cheered his every move, except his first one, which was to be whistled for a foul.
Boos rained upon the head of the unfortunate referee and after the game, Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said he told the official “he should plan on eating French cuisine tonight when he leaves, because I don’t think there is a Chinese restaurant in town that will serve him after a call like that.”
Ma made his Orange County debut Wednesday night, and maybe Ma-mania (as the Clippers word it in their press notes) doesn’t translate across county lines, because attendance was down at The Pond--no sellout, only 10,826. Or maybe they knew Ma would play one more minute than the number of letters on his back, going zero for one from the field and throwing the first ball he touched into the hands of Charles Barkley, who politely thanked the foreign visitor for his kindness with a tomahawk jam at the other end of the floor.
But afterward, Fitch held his routine interview session in one room and Ma had his in another. A half-dozen Asian reporters joined Ma there, continuing their city-to-city pursuit of the story until it is resolved, maybe by next Thursday.
“I think so far I am doing a good job,” Ma said. “I think the deal right now is that I have a two-year contract. I got to make the team first, but I have a two-year contract. Right now, the team has patience with me. I really believe I got talent. I really believe I can play in this league.”
Ma has been speaking English only three years--his difficulty with the language kept him out of UCLA, which recruited him after Ma played for the Chinese national team at the 1992 Olympics--and occasionally some the nuances elude him. Yes, the Clippers signed Ma to a two-year contract this month, but no, the contract is not guaranteed. Those two years are meaningless if Ma gets waived. How deep runs the Clippers’ patience? Well, cut-down day is Nov. 2.
When Ma failed the entrance exam at UCLA, Bruin Coach Jim Harrick used connections to land Ma, born and raised in Tianjin, China, at Utah Valley Community College. Ma, a 6-7 swingman, averaged 18 points and five rebounds at UVCC, catching the attention of Utah Coach Rick Majerus. Ma spent his junior and senior years at Utah, averaging 8.2 points the first season but only 3.4 the next.
Part of Ma’s problem as a senior was Utah’s recruitment of two new starters--Brandon Jessie and Keith Van Horn. But his trouble with the language, especially as it is bellowed from the sideline from a wise-cracking American coach, limited him to 72 minutes in 1994-95--only 50 after his ill-fated jump shot against Maryland in the Maui Invitational.
Utah trailed by six near the end of the first half and the Utes were instructed to work for “one good shot” by Majerus, meaning, one last shot. As soon as Ma got the ball, however, he rifled up a 15-footer--it looked good to him--which caromed out long to a Maryland player, who took it in for a layup, a foul and a nine-point halftime lead.
Ma rode the bench through the remainder of his scholarship. “I think Rick Majerus is a great coach,” Ma said Wednesday, “but you have to play exactly like he wants. Nobody is perfect. You do something wrong, he puts you on the bench. I think that’s what he did with me.”
Still, Ma has the frame and the jump shot to warrant a look-see at the Phoenix Suns’ mini-camp this summer. Sun assistant coach Donn Nelson looked, quickly saw Ma couldn’t play for his team, but, hey, the Clippers are always an available option.
Nelson sent practice films of Ma to Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor and, soon, Ma followed. Which is just as well with Ma. “I didn’t find good Chinese restaurants in Phoenix,” Ma said. “You got to eat first.”
Southern California, Ma says, “is the perfect place for me. They have real Chinese food here--not [he winces] American-Chinese . . .
“There are many Chinese people here rooting for me. After [the game at the Sports Arena], one old Chinese man, over 75 years old, shook my hand and said, ‘I am so proud of you--you show that Chinese people can play in this league. Feel free to call me and we can go to dinner.’
“All the Chinese people here respect me. They all care about me. If I play in this league, a lot of Chinese people here will make me feel like this is my home.”
If he makes it.
Short English words, but big ones, too.
Because of Pooh Richardson’s broken foot, Ma has an outside chance of making it to opening night as the Clippers’ fifth guard. Baylor readily admits Ma is a project. “It’s not going to be easy for him,” Baylor said. “He plays OK in practice, he shoots the ball well, but he has a lot to learn at this level. He has a lot to learn about the NBA, through no fault of his own.
“He works hard and he does whatever we ask him to do. If he’s given the opportunity and the chance . . . maybe.”
In the meantime, Ma continues to crack up teammates during practice by muttering “Bad rice” after each missed free throw and amusing American reporters with tales about China’s rough go in the 1992 Olympic basketball tournament: “We did not do such a good job. Chinese people are much shorter.”
How can the Clippers not find room for a guy like this?
Beats having Benoit Benjamin around. In any language.
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