ALLAS - It was the spring of 1999 and Rick Pitino already was looking forward to the upcoming free agent crop. Several names intrigued him, including the Los Angeles Clippers' Rodney Rogers.

''What I'm looking for,'' Pitino said then, ''is someone who is a little down in his luck or someone who, for whatever reason, may have underachieved and needs a new start.'' He mentioned Rogers by name.

That was because Rogers was a Clipper and, back then, being a Clipper usually meant you either underachieved or were down in the dumps. It also almost inevitably meant you'd go elsewhere when your contract expired, which is exactly what Rogers did.