DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180604

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   86 lines

WILL GOLDEN STATE COME UP WITH ENOUGH GOLD FOR SMITH? WITH FREE AGENCY ON THE HORIZON, TEAM AND PLAYER WILL HAVE A LOT TO PROVE THIS YEAR.

The Golden State Warriors practiced Friday at Old Dominion University, just a long 3-point shot from where Joe Smith grew up, in a modest house on 41st Street.

Smith, who will lead the Warriors against the Philadelphia 76ers in an exhibition game tonight at Scope, has long since left that neighborhood, both geographically and economically. Picked first in the 1995 NBA draft, the former Maury High and the University of Maryland star signed a three-year, $8.3 million contract, the maximum allowable under a new rookie salary cap.

Good money if you can get it. But by this time next year, Smith likely will have a new contract that will put him in an even more exclusive neighborhood: that of the young, hyper-rich NBA free agent.

``Joe is in a commanding position,'' said his agent, Eric Fleisher. ``He'll have many options as of next July 1.''

That's the date Smith can become a free agent, able to sign with any club. If contract extensions signed recently by several members of the class of `95 are in indication, the bidding will start at $10 million per year.

Or more.

``If you go by everybody else's numbers, ($10 million) is very low,'' Smith told the San Francisco Examiner recently.

It's certainly low compared to the six-year, $121 million deal signed by Minnesota's Kevin Garnett and the six-year, $80 million deal signed by Portland's Rasheed Wallace.

The 22-year-old Smith was selected ahead of both those players. Little wonder he and Fleisher were content to let the Oct. 1 deadline for extending Smith's contract with Golden State pass.

``We kind of sat back, observed, and let the market establish itself,'' Fleisher said. ``Which it clearly did with Kevin Garnett's contract.''

But if Smith was content to sit back, so was Golden State. Fleisher, who is also Garnett's agent, said the Warriors ``played at'' trading Smith, ``for appearances' sake.'' They were not serious about it.

``I think because of the changes they've gone through in management, they were looking to kind of further evaluate the situation, to convince Joe that Golden State is a place he is going to want to be in the long-term,'' Fleisher said.

The Warriors are under completely new management, and much of the upcoming season will be about finding whether Smith and the new crew are compatible.

Smith has said money will not be the main consideration in deciding whether to re-sign with Golden State. Rather, he's looking for signs the team is committed to improving. Golden State has averaged just 33 wins in Smith's two years.

``If we're showing that we're making strides in the right direction and next year we have a good season and make the playoffs, I'd love to stay out there,'' Smith said in a visit home this summer.

Golden State will have to woo Smith not just with money, but by sending the right vibes.

``It's important for Joe to feel good about our program, our franchise, where we're at now and where we see it being in the future,'' coach P.J. Carlesimo said.

The feeling has to be mutual, of course, and in that respect, Smith also has something to prove.

While Smith's scoring was up last year, his rebounding, blocked shots and free-throw attempts were down. Signs, some said, that Smith was playing soft.

Smith chalked up some of his problems to turmoil in the organization. With Oakland Coliseum under renovation, the Warriors played in San Jose, 90 minutes from Smith's house. The team was forced to use a local health club to lift weights.

Smith acknowledged that he tailed off as the season wore on. He said he's eager to prove that he deserved to be the No. 1 pick.

Carlesimo, who coached in Portland last year, heard talk that Smith had a bad season. He's skeptical.

``You read about all the other young players in the league and none of them have his numbers,'' Carlesimo said. ``I don't know what people want him to do.''

Smith will find out soon enough how he's regarded around the league. If the Warriors don't think they can re-sign him, or if they're not convinced he's the player they want to build around, they could trade him before the Feb. 19 deadline. Otherwise, they risk losing him and getting nothing in return.

``If logic were to prevail, some time prior to the trading deadline there will be very serious negotiations,'' Fleisher said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Joe Smith gets into the game - a video game he played Friday with

Leon Chisum, 10, at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

Smith's Golden State Warriors play Philadelphia tonight at Scope.

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