In his seven NBA seasons, Bingham High's Fred Roberts has done a little of everything. He was traded for draft choices, a coach and exhibition games and taken in an expansion draft. He's played regularly for average teams and a little for a conference champion.
And after once playing about 20 miles from where he grew up, Roberts has finally found a home - in Milwaukee.With Larry Krystkowiak out until at least after the All-Star break, Roberts is starting at forward and averaging 12 points in his second season with the Bucks. That means Roberts has a great chance to last more than two years with the same team - longer than he stayed in San Antonio, Utah and Boston.
"After a year and a half with the same team, I start getting bored," Roberts joked.
The Bucks like Roberts so much that he's untouchable - well, as untouchable as a Fred Roberts could ever be - in trade talks. Except for a slump that ended abruptly Wednesday when he scored 27 points at Cleveland, Roberts has stepped up this season.
"This is a team that is counting on me somewhat and giving me an opportunity to establish myself," the 29-year-old Roberts noted. "I'm still the kind of player where they're not running a lot of plays for me, so my scoring will vary from night to night. I went through a difficult time when I wasn't doing anything right - hopefully, I'm past that."
At least, Roberts is past the stage of wondering where he'll be playing next season.
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MAILMAN'S LOAD: Maybe it's just the Christmas rush, but the Jazz's Karl Malone is fighting all kinds of traffic inside. The Mailman figures he's encountered an extra defender for every two years he's played in the league, partly explaining why he's close to the NBA lead in turnovers. "I've got three or four guys on me sometimes," he said. "I'm not adjusting quick enough. I'm having some turnovers I shouldn't have because I'm trying to rush the issue."
If Malone starts wandering away from the lane in a game, he's probably tired of all the attention. "When you see one (defender), you can't believe it," he says. "At times, it gets pathetic. You still have to put up the numbers, because everybody's counting on you. Every night."
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ADD ROBERTS: The last time Roberts was a starter was during the '87-88 season in Boston, in place of the injured Kevin McHale. In his new book, "Drive," Larry Bird observes, "Fred Roberts started off well and he was a valuable player while Kevin was out. But Fred played consistently better as a starter than as a reserve, and he wasn't a good player for us after Kevin returned and he had to sit on the bench."
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AT RANDOM: Ainge, on life with the Celtics: "We were so successful, expected so much of ourselves, that anything less than a world championship was a disappointment. Winning was no big deal. If we lost, there would be a team meeting to find out why we'd lost. In time, it took a lot of the fun out of it for me." . . . Wednesday at Minnesota, Dallas' Rolando Blackman failed to foul out for the 649th straight game - in other words, his whole career. He moved ahead of Don Buse into second place, behind Wilt Chamberlain (1,045), according to Manley's Basketball Heaven 1990, the hoops version of the Baseball Abstract.
With the NBA draft down to two rounds, 54 players are taken. The only No. 54 pick since 1977 who survived was the Jazz's Bobby Hansen . . . The Spurs are much improved, but they could have won many more games last season. They lost 32 road games by six or less points . . . Last season, the Jazz were 23-13 without Hansen - but they were also 19-6 when he took at least seven shots.
John Stockton's NBA-leading games-played streak ended at 418, but Thurl Bailey (204) is sixth and Mark Eaton (199) seventh among active players. New York's Charles Oakley (324) leads . . . Knicks Coach Stu Jackson played for Charlotte's Dick Harter in college at Oregon. "Stu was not an easy guy to coach," Harter said. "He was always wanting to know why. In fact, he demanded to know why."