The 1990–91 Los Angeles Clippers season was the 21st season for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association, and their seventh season in Los Angeles, California.
Season summary
Off-season The Clippers received the eighth overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Bo Kimble out of Loyola Marymount, and also selected power forward Loy Vaught from the University of Michigan with the 13th overall pick. During the off-season, the team hired Mike Schuler as their new head coach.
Regular season Under Schuler, and with the addition of Kimble and Vaught, the Clippers played around .500 in winning percentage with a 10–10 start to the regular season. However, the team continued to struggle losing 12 of their next 13 games, which included a seven-game losing streak between December and January, and later on held a 15–32 record at the All-Star break. Ron Harper only played just 39 games due to a knee injury. At mid-season, the team traded Benoit Benjamin to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Olden Polynice. The Clippers posted a six-game losing streak between January and February, but posted a five-game winning streak in late March, and then lost six of their final seven games of the season. The Clippers finished in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a 31–51 record; the team reached 50 losses for the tenth consecutive season, and also missed the NBA playoffs for the 15th consecutive year.
Charles D. Smith averaged 20.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, while Harper averaged 19.6 points, 5.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game, and Ken Norman provided the team with 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. In addition, Danny Manning provided with 15.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game, while Gary Grant contributed 8.7 points, 8.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and Winston Garland contributed 8.2 points, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Meanwhile, second-year guard Jeff Martin averaged 7.1 points per game, Kimble contributed 6.9 points per game, Vaught averaged 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and Tom Garrick contributed 3.9 points and 3.3 assists per game.
The Clippers finished 21st in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 522,111 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena during the regular season.
Aftermath Following the season, Garland was traded to the Denver Nuggets on draft day.
Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 8 Bo Kimble SG Loyola Marymount 1 13 Loy Vaught PF Michigan
Roster
Roster notes Center Mike Smrek became the 4th former Laker to play with the crosstown rival Clippers.
Regular season
Season standings
y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot
z - clinched division title y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot
Game log
Player statistics
PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG Charles Smith 74 74 36.5 46.9 0.0 79.3 8.2 1.8 1.1 2.020.0 Ron Harper 39 34 35.5 39.1 32.4 66.8 4.8 5.4 1.7 0.919.6 Ken Norman 70 45 33.0 50.1 18.8 62.9 7.1 2.3 0.9 0.917.4 Danny Manning 73 47 30.1 51.9 0.0 71.6 5.8 2.7 1.6 0.815.9 Benoit Benjamin 39 38 34.3 49.2 0.0 72.8 12.0 1.9 0.7 2.314.9 Olden Polynice 31 30 36.5 57.9 0.0 57.2 9.1 0.8 0.5 0.412.3 68 65 31.0 45.1 23.1 68.9 3.1 8.6 1.5 0.28.7 Winston Garland 69 26 24.7 42.6 15.4 75.2 2.9 4.6 1.4 0.18.2 Jeff Martin 74 26 18.0 42.2 30.7 68.0 1.8 0.9 0.5 0.47.1 Bo Kimble 62 22 16.2 38.0 29.2 77.3 1.9 1.2 0.5 0.16.9 Loy Vaught 73 0 16.1 48.7 0.0 66.2 4.8 0.5 0.3 0.35.5 Tom Garrick 67 0 14.2 42.4 0.0 75.9 1.9 3.3 0.9 0.03.9 Ken Bannister 47 3 7.2 53.1 0.0 38.5 2.0 0.2 0.1 0.12.4 Greg Butler 9 0 4.1 26.3 0.0 66.7 1.8 0.1 0.0 0.01.6 Cedric Ball 7 0 3.7 37.5 0.0 100.0 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.31.1 Mike Smrek 10 0 7.0 18.8 0.0 50.0 1.9 0.3 0.1 0.31.0
Player statistics citation:
Transactions The Clippers were involved in the following transactions during the 1990–91 season.
Trades February 20, 1991 To Los Angeles Clippers Olden Polynice & 1993 and 1994 first-round draft picks To Seattle SuperSonics Benoit Benjamin Player Transactions Citation:
See also 1990-91 NBA season
References