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For years, the Clippers never made the playoffs. When they did play against the Lakers, the game always went one way. Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal against the likes of…wait, who did the Clippers have in the past decade? Yes, the team was horrendous. Reggie Miller shot threes against Clippers as it were practice. Jordan dunked over every Clipper like he was using them as a tool in the Spring Dunk contest. Fans looked at the Clippers like we, in India, look at the likes of Kenya, Namibia and the Netherlands in cricket – we wanted teams to play them to improve statistics. Remember Herschelle Gibbs smacking a Netherlands bowler for 6 sixes? That is precisely what happened when any top team played against the Clippers in the 1990s and 2000s. If relegation was a reality in the NBA, Los Angeles would have only had the Lakers 20 years ago.
Gone are the days when Reggie Miller stepped foot on the court or Shaquille O’Neal actually jumped. Jordan sits on the sidelines in the Charlotte arena whereas Kobe is battling to salvage a playoff spot for the Lakers. The year is 2013 and the Clippers are on a 17 game winning streak. Few seasons ago, winning 17 games in a season was an achievement for this franchise. Today, it is a mere winning streak. The questions arise – are the Clippers for real? Who owns LA? Are Chris Paul and Blake Griffin greater than Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard?
While the answers to those questions are insinuated to be straightforward, the attention needs to shift to the Clippers’ boardroom. No deserves greater praise than Donald Sterling, the owner of the Clippers. Since 1981, the real estate mogul has owned the franchise which he purchased for 12 million USD. Till two years ago, the Clippers were barely making ends meet unlike their counterparts in LA such as the Lakers and the Dodgers. Today, the franchise is worth 285 million USD according to Forbes. Sterling stuck to the team through thick and thin – didn’t sell the team, didn’t bankrupt it (knowing he’s capable of doing both). The team went years boasting the worst record in the NBA, hardly holding any fan base to brag and inability to attract stars to play for the Red, Royal Blue and White. Now, it is whole new ball game. Sterling isn’t a controversy free man – he was reported to have consulted prostitutes for making trades, lost a court battle for nearly 20 million between game 10 and 11 of the streak and has been constantly under the media radar. Very few news with the Sterling label is good. Be it off-court or on-court, Sterling is a man of wrong interest. That is another reason why this streak means so much – it grabs attention for the game of basketball in the NBA – a league which is governed by an equally controversial David Stern.
Coach Vinny Del Negro doesn’t deserve any fewer accolades either. Fired at Chicago, Del Negro came to the Clippers and was received with some fervour. Fans were mad at the organization for hiring Del Negro, who couldn’t make do with Derrick Rose’s talents or the dexterous Chicago bench, out of all the options. When the Clippers did reach the second round of the players in the Western Conference after slipping past Grizzlies, fans rose in adulation of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Caron Butler. Yet, very few saw what Vinny Del Negro did for this team. In fact, they blamed him for hampering the playoff run. And in the midst of the 17 game streaks, Negro isn’t the center of focus. Neither is Sterling. And undeservingly, neither is Neil Olshey. Who is Neil Olshey?
Neil Olshey – the shrewd dealer
Olshey is the reason the Clippers traded for Chris Paul. A shrewd dealer, Olshey, the GM at the beginning of the 2011-12 season, stole Paul from the clutches of the Lakers. The Clippers weren’t even in the reckoning to bag Paul, yet Olshey managed to convince Paul to don the Red, Royal Blue and White. A year later, his contract wasn’t extended and nobody has heard of him except a select few. Remember the time when everyone thought the Clippers were fooling themselves by drafting an injury prone Blake Griffin as the number 1 overall pick? One year out and the Clippers were believed to be doomed. The NBA’s wrath comes from its horrible draft picks. Be it Detroit, Portland or possibly the Clippers, draft picks can go either way and prove crucial to a team’s title run – fruitfully like Oklahoma or painfully like the Troll Blazers.
Coming back to the main man of the team, Chris Paul, it’s high time that he wins that elusive NBA title. But be patient; nobody means to say that the Clippers are title worthy already. The Thunder could still be the clutch playoff team and only the dumbest of the dummies will write off the Spurs from the race. Wait, who can forget the Heat from the Eastern Conference? But the Clippers will have a shot – maybe,this season or maybe the next. When the chance does come, they need to grab it like a seagull eyeing her aquatic prey from the skies. Paul has been the league’s best point guard for quite some time now. He shoots the ball exceptionally well, is an assist machine and grabs rebounds like a 7 foot tall center. His defensive prowess – steals, blocks, man marking and zone play – is second to none. Last season saw LeBron win his first NBA title, the year before belonged to Dirk. It has to happen soon for Chris Paul, doesn’t it? How long will the league’s best point guard go without winning his first NBA title? No, he’s not an overly eager three point shooting Steve Nash or foul troubled Jason Kidd. Moreover, he does have Blake Griffin, Grant Hill, Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups and Jamal Crawford to aide him. If anyone body deserves a title in this team, it’s Chris Paul.
2013 has arrived. LeBron is still putting up record numbers and Dwight Howard is still blocking guards like nobody’s business. While the city of Los Angeles recuperates to the rejuvenated Clippers show time, Staples Center beckons for the franchise to continue its run. 17 games and counting – the city of Los Angeles has its new contender. No it isn’t the perennial Lakers, it is a rather less known Clippers. Yes, the Clippers are here to prove their worth – to the NBA, to us, to everyone and more importantly, to Hollywood city.
