Clippers Post Mortem

Will we see this next year?


I don't really have a favorite NBA team since the Hornets left Charlotte for New Orleans. The closest I guess has been the Spurs.  Actually, I have resisted adopting an NBA team as a fan because I don't need the emotional baggage that I have invested in the Steelers, Cubs, and to a lesser extent, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Being a native of Los Angeles, I have never rooted for any of the LA teams-against them would be a more accurate description. The Lakers, for example, I have always found annoying. Even this year, with Kobe Bryant not playing and the Lakers not contending for the playoffs, you still get Laker talk ad nausea on the radio sports talk shows.

Which brings me to the Clippers. Ever since they moved to LA from San Diego, they have been largely ignored and treated as "the other team" as contrasted with the glitzy Lakers with their tradition of great players and NBA championships. Indeed, under the dysfunctional leadership of their now-infamous owner, Donald Sterling, the Clippers have basically occupied the cellar of their division. They were the Cubs of the NBA-an object of jokes from Jay Leno on his late night talk show.

Somewhere along the line, the Clippers managed to draft Blake Griffin, sign Chris Paul, and surround them with a talented supporting cast. It all came together this year as the Clippers won their division and sailed into the playoffs as a legitimate contender to win it all.

Then Donald Sterling got taped by a 30-something bimbo who turned it over to the media.

It is hard to measure how much the Sterling revelations hurt the play of the Clippers on the court. They were clearly stunned and hurt by the taped comments of Sterling referring to blacks. They seemed to stumble against the Warriors, but managed to win the "interrupted" series in 7 games. For awhile it looked like they might beat the favored Thunder, but a last minute monumental meltdown cost them the pivotal game five. They led most of game six in LA, but in the 4th quarter, they wilted as Oklahoma City's two stars, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook took over.

Beyond the obvious racial undertones of this story, which the NBA must deal with as its highest priority, I also find it sad to see the Clippers season end this way. They were in the process of supplanting the high and mighty Lakers as the number one basketball team in LA. How great would it have been had they won it all. Instead of celebrating the success of the players, all the talk in LA (and elsewhere) has been about their owner

Furthermore, it is not even clear that we will see the Clippers back next year as an obvious contender given the talented players they have. Sterling is not going away quietly. He has refused to pay the $2.5 million dollar fine levied on him by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and he is not willing to sell the team. Further complicating the issue is Sterling's estranged wife, Shellie, who appears ready to go to court to maintain her share of the team. This is a legal mess that could last years. In the meantime, how do the Clippers players react? They clearly do not want to play for a Sterling-owned team. What will they do next year?

Given the way this is going, I envision the NBA dissolving the Clippers as a team and declaring the players free agents. I suppose it is also possible that the Sterling team will find a judge willing to block that action or suspend it pending a legal hearing. What a mess.

Wouldn't it be ironic (and sad) if next year the Lakers find themselves as the only NBA team in LA?