Hypothetical: Would you want to play for the Clippers?
by ClipperChuck on Mar 6, 2009 3:28 PM PST
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PrintSo you are at the draft, your family and friends are sitting at the table with you in the green room waiting for your name to be called. You've practice hard, dedicated countless hours honing your game and your minutes away from fulfilling your childhood dream. Then the commissioner calls our your name and you are now officially a professional basketball player. You are getting acclimated to your new situation when the analyst announce that you've been traded in a draft day trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. Do those tears of joy you experienced just minutes prior turn to tears of sadness? Did you win the lottery and then find out you have to split the prize with 12 other winner? Do you circle a date on the calendar when your rookie deal runs out? Of all the teams in the league, we have to be near dead last in player enthusiasm and that's tough to do when we are in Los Angeles. Thoughts?
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I Would Play
LOUD!
Ugh. I hate that commercial.
I don’t think any rookie wants to get cursed at by Sterling. Or cursed by having Sterling as your “boss”.
But in the end I think MOST rookies would love the chance to play for a team that could give them lots of minutes (or was forced by injuries to do so). So out of all the crappy teams a top draft pick could end up with I think LA’s not too bad just because of the weather & lifestyle…
My Order If I was A Rookie:
- - Washington (Just because I might have a chance to play with Agent Zero, Caron and Jamison – hey I could be the next Devean George!),
- - LA (Weather, Major Market, etc.)
- - Oklahoma (Good Crowd, College Atmosphere, Big Fish in Small Pond, Mansion for Cheap?)
- - Tied: Minnesota, Sacramento, Memphis – Twin Cities is cool but winters are death. Sactown might get you freebies in Vegas with the Maloofs. Memphis…I guess if you’re an Elvis fan….
Think back...
It would depend on who you are, I think. If I was a player that was good enough to be a role player in the NBA and that was the extent of my ability, then I would take refuge in the thought that I was making some money to play a game and try not to think about who I am playing for. But imagine you are an all-world talent drafted no.1 and you were put in a position to showcase your talents in one of the biggest stages in the NBA (Los Angeles, CA playing at Staples Center). I would relish the chance knowing that it could be worse: I could have been drafted Number One overall by one of the sorriest most futile franchises in East, playing for a poughdunk nowhere town like, say, Cleveland, Ohio… Oh wait…BronBron (and more competent management) made it work, didn’t they? Turnarounds happen. Think of the mess that WAS Portland. Think Sacramento prior to their run. Even the Knicks, who were just buried in horrific contracts look about ready to turn things around. The Celtics, the year prior, couldn’t even win that many games and had a roster full of players no one had heard of. Rajon who? Now look at them. I think we just need a special player who believes he is the difference. Roy was that guy in Portland. James was that guy in Cleveland. EJ is good enough to be THAT GUY…but is it in his personality to assert himself as top dog?
Yeah, but...
all of those franchises have had glory days in the past. All the Clippers have is getting to the second round of the playoffs in over two decades. This franchise has nothing right now, and probably won’t unless DTS sells the team.
"If a Clippers fan is reading a newspaper in his living room and the ceiling falls on him, he'll just shrug and move to another room." -Bill Simmons
by WestsideBrandon on Mar 6, 2009 5:58 PM PST up reply actions
@bystander
Well first off, Lebron is really a unique unique player. Heis from the OH area, so for him he gets to stay close to home. He also had huge marketing potential, he was already a well-known when he was a sophomore in high school. He was also a can’t miss prospect. In the last 20 years there have only been about 54of those (Lebron, Duncan, Shaq, Robinson) and he’s the most marketable of those can’t miss prospects.
Comparing anyone to Lebron is unfair, EJ can be a perennial all-star but more of a Ray Allen type of star, not a super duper mega star. Know what the Cavs ownership did after drafting Lebron a year or so later? Sold the team for double what the team was valued BEFORE they drafted Lebron, that’s how much money he made them,
Anyways, the point of this exercise is when a player gets drafted by the Clippers, they are probably counting down the days before they can leave. There is very little track history for them to feel that management will make the right decisions to add talent around them.
So I guess we are doomed to suck as long as Sterling is the owner UNLESS we get lucky one of these years and draft the can’t miss stud that will make losing an impossibility.
FA in 2010.
scary...
If we had drafted Granger instead of Korolev that one year… Would he still be the go to guy he turned out to be in Indiana? Scary how many players we’ve drafted over the years who may have been that ’can’t miss’ stud but management simply didn’t develop properly. Remember Odom his rookie season…? With his length, talent, and ability to practically be inserted in all 4 positions…? What would management have done with LeBron had we gotten him? Maybe Sterling would have done what we all wish he would do…sell the team at the chance at getting twice what he paid for…LOL.
I was pondering this as well.
Like would D-Wade be the flash if he was playing for us.
"This kid is the best new talent in the league right now, and I don't care who else you mention." -Suns Coach, Alvin Gentry, on Clippers rookie sensation, Eric Gordon.
Good point
Players can turnaround franchises. But the front office has a lot to do with it. Portland would be stuck with Zach Randolph, Darius Miles, and Sebastian Telfair instead of Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden if it wasn’t for Kevin Pritchard.
Karma
Uh.....yes, how can you even ask this?
Asking this question is the equivalent of asking if someone wants to play basketball for one season at a rate of at 350K minumum one season, with per diem also. The answer is “Of course”. What basketball player doesn’t want to NBA? (Yes, i used NBA as a verb) Everyone does. It’s the life, and you are getting paid a salary greater than 99% of Americans.
I think this whole “Sterling get’s angry” situation has thrown everyone out of commonsense. In the draft, you are going to a crappy team most likely, if you are a lottery pick, but I’m sure a few million will soothe any ill-will. As fans, we always care more about a team than the players. The Players know it’s a business and they are employees. As long as the checks go thru, what’s the issue? Take Johnny Damon, Red Sox Nation icon. He then signs with the Yankees, breaking the hearts of Sox Nation. You think he really cares? Of course not. He’s going to go to the highest bidder. So DTS called Al Thornton selfish. Who cares? He pays the guy millions a year, it’s his right. If i remember correctly, people on this board have been calling Al selfish for months. I think the guy paying his salary has a right also.
This is going to be my team, and we're going to rise together.
-Clipper Darrell
sure, why not?
If I was an elite player on the level of Lebron, I’d want to be that transcending player that makes this team relevant. I’d relish the challenge. I have no idea how long that mentality would last though.
If I am merely a developing player, I’d be happy to play in a team that’s located in LA and gives me a lot of playing time.
But that’s assuming I was drafted into that situation. I don’t think there are any superstar players that are crazy enough to come here willingly to do that, but that’s a different topic.
Doesn't really matter
All those teams got in the Lottery b/c of their own personal problems.
Other than for the money
I don’t think I’d do it. I used to think (daydream) that I would’ve but now, I probably won’t. The front office is like TO (Terrel Owens) x10
"This kid is the best new talent in the league right now, and I don't care who else you mention." -Suns Coach, Alvin Gentry, on Clippers rookie sensation, Eric Gordon.
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