A Former Clipper’s Redemption

SEATTLE â€”  So this is life as a parolee. Starting in the same backcourt as Michael Jordan. Two wins away from a championship ring. Pulling down $3.12 million this season for his troubles.

That’s some work-release program Ron Harper found. Not only riding the wave that is the Chicago Bulls, 72-10 in the regular season and 13-1 in the playoffs heading into Game 3 of the NBA finals today against the Seattle SuperSonics, but actually doing some of the paddling.

If the end of the line with the Clippers in 1993-94 was, in his memorable words, like being in jail, what does that make this? Heaven?

Harper has been reincarnated as, of all things, a defensive factor. Next, he’ll be inviting Clipper owner Donald Sterling over to the house, just to hang out.

“Man, I was a good defensive player in high school,� he says. “I was a defensive player in college. It’s just that when I came into this league in ’86 in Cleveland, my coach [Lenny Wilkens] told me to score and let Brad Daugherty worry about the defensive aspect of the game. Then when I got to Los Angeles, out on the West Coast nobody played defense, so I didn’t have to.�

Come the spring of 1995, he had to. Harper’s standing as a $19.2-million free-agent bust for the Bulls was in concrete, he had shot 42.6%, and Jordan was back, if not back in form. He had always envisioned himself as the poor man’s Jordan, but this was worse.

Then Chicago’s downfall--the Orlando Magic in the second round of the playoffs--became the branch for Harper to grab.

“At some point during the playoffs last year, I started using Ron when the [Penny] Hardaway, big-guard matchup against B.J. Armstrong was difficult for us,� Coach Phil Jackson said. “We realized that Ron gave us a positive effect on the court. You can always feel that as a coach. I saw that and saw what could happen with this ballclub if Scottie [Pippen], Michael and Ron were on the floor together.

“So when the postseason interviews came around, I asked Ronny what he saw for himself in the future. And he said, ‘Well, I see you guys trading me,’ or something like that, some off-the-cuff answer. I laughed at him. I said, ‘With the year you’ve had, Ron, no one’s going to pick up your contract and you know that as well as I do. Personally, I don’t want you to go. I think you can really help us.’

“He said, ‘I have to fulfill a role. Scottie and Michael are going to be the scorers out there. I can play with them and do the defensive things and play a part.’ I’ve never had to ask him to do that again. He’s just gone out knowing, intuitively, he’s going to take the tough guy at times and work real hard for 25 minutes and that’s all he may play. He may play for six minutes in a quarter to start the game, he may play the whole quarter, but at some point he knows Steve Kerr is going to come in and balance it out and we’re going to have a different look.�

His play against all-star Gary Payton in the finals is one reason the Bulls have a 2-0 lead, just after Payton had worked over John Stockton in the conference finals. Now, Payton is shooting 37.5% with only nine total assists.

“I felt that I could be a very good defensive ballplayer,� said Harper, who averaged 20.1 points in his final season with the Clippers but only 7.4 this season. “You’ve got to understand, I’m playing with MJ. This guy’s God to the game of basketball. He’s done everything on the basketball court, and once he came back last season everybody was saying, ‘Well, what is Ron Harper going to do now?’ I had to change some. So I changed my role.�

And his future.