FINALLY, IT'S HIP TO BE A CLIP

Still think L.A.'s other team is a joke? A savvy G.M. (with help from David Stern) made the Clippers instant contenders. More impressive: Now stars want to join the club, not flee -- by Lee Jenkins

Pretty awesome article from Sports Illustrated.

4 months ago FlyByKnight 21 comments 0 recs |

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i thought we were hip to clip

when the players were fist-bumping their heads back in 2000?

by ekker3 on Jan 28, 2012 1:06 PM PST reply actions

Back then, we were hipsters...

now we’re just plain hip.

Clippers // Chargers // Rays // Boise State
"The Lakers do win games. But things can change." - Blake Griffin

by 82-0 on Jan 28, 2012 5:46 PM PST up reply actions

Awww yeeeaaa! I will never forget the days of Q-Rich and D-Miles

and these guys!

No, it's the Clip Show!

by dan73962 on Jan 28, 2012 10:12 PM PST up reply actions

How do you read this without being a subscriber?

"Great Balls Of Fire, Reggie's Back!"

by PV Mike on Jan 28, 2012 1:09 PM PST reply actions

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194180/index.htm

same article.

by hans007 on Jan 28, 2012 1:21 PM PST reply actions

Oops, sorry. I’ll edit it.

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by FlyByKnight on Jan 28, 2012 1:30 PM PST up reply actions

Free agency

I knew it at one time of course, but I had forgotten about free agency compensation. The Bill Walton thing was a double whammy — they lost good players, and then Walton got hurt.

Of course, that one thing doesn’t explain 30 years of subsequent futility, but it might have been the single most franchise damaging transaction in NBA history (though there are many contenders).

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Jan 28, 2012 1:42 PM PST reply actions

So, now I’m thinking about franchise damaging transactions. What are some other candidates? Think bad trades, bad draft picks, bad free agency signings, particularly when combined with injuries or other factors.

I’m blank on anything the really rivals Walton to the Clippers. The Sam Bowie draft pick? The Len Bias draft pick? The Kareem Abdul Jabbar trade? The Grant Hill signing?

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Jan 28, 2012 1:46 PM PST reply actions

Outside of NBA

you have Bonds leaving the Pirates, the death sentence on SMU football, the plane crash carrying the Marshall football team, and back to the NBA you could probably put the bad referring in the Kings vs Lakers playoff series which led to the Lakers winning the series and the championship while the Kings never truly recovered.

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Jan 28, 2012 1:58 PM PST up reply actions

edit refereeing

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Jan 28, 2012 1:59 PM PST up reply actions

Football is easy

the Hershel Walker trade that set up the Cowboys mid 90’s dynasty.

Help us Altered Beast you're our only hope.

by ClipperChuck on Jan 28, 2012 3:00 PM PST up reply actions

The death penalty wasn't really a transaction...

but every slush-fund payment to an SMU player that helped bring on the death penalty was.

Clippers // Chargers // Rays // Boise State
"The Lakers do win games. But things can change." - Blake Griffin

by 82-0 on Jan 28, 2012 6:10 PM PST up reply actions

Yeah I wasn't viewing it as transactions

and more as moments that changed a franchise/team.

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Jan 28, 2012 8:26 PM PST up reply actions

Walton one is looking bad

The Blazers eventually made it to the Finals twice with the same core. The Celtics were already really good without Bias (though once their HoFs retired they sucked for years without the infusion of young talent). Even Kareem got traded after a 38-44 season and the Bucks had the same record the next year (they also got Elmore Smith and Brian Winters who were good players, and Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman were the 2nd and 8th overall picks from that year’s draft).

I think the Cavs trade of Ron Harper for Danny Manning hurt them badly, they had a core of Harper, Mark Price, Daugherty, Nance and Ehlo.

So the worst transaction has to be the Cleveland Cavaliers letting Lebron James go without getting any compensation (late future 1st rounders aside) and going from 61-21 to 19-63.

Help us Altered Beast you're our only hope.

by ClipperChuck on Jan 28, 2012 3:09 PM PST up reply actions

Losing free agents

I’m not sure if it counts to lose a free agent. There’s no always anything you can do about that. But maybe.

The Gail Goodrich signing by the New Orleans Jazz thing was a disaster. Dude was 33, the won 35, 39 and 26 games in the three seasons before he retired, and it cost them the number one pick that became Magic Johnson. That trade probably cost the city of New Orleans the Jazz. They moved to Utah when Goodrich retired.

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Jan 28, 2012 3:28 PM PST up reply actions

The Bucks losing Kareem wasn't as bad as some may think..

Milwaukee was a still playoff contender for years after Kareem was traded, including winning 11 straight divisional titles. The Bucks’ problem in those proceeding years running into Bird and Dr. J every years in the playoffs. Once Don Nelson left for Golden State in ‘87, there began the string of mediocity, with Del Harris, Frank Hamblen, Mike Dunleavy, and Chris Ford. Except for the George Karl years, the Bucks hadn’t experience a sustained period of competitiveness since the Nelson years.

by Shawn H on Jan 30, 2012 4:15 PM PST up reply actions

GSW trading Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to BOS for Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown?

SEA trading Scottie Pippen to CHI for Olden Polynice?

NYK signing Allen Houston for $100M?

STL trading Bill Russell to BOS for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley?

MIL trading Dirk Nowitzki to DAL for Robert Traylor?

I could also say the Kobe-Vlade trade but Kobe never wanted to play in Charlotte anyways.

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by FlyByKnight on Jan 28, 2012 3:31 PM PST up reply actions

Those are some good ones

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Jan 28, 2012 4:03 PM PST up reply actions

Great article

everyone forgets that the clippers were really something when they first got to San Diego, but then the NBA blew up the team (which makes the NBA’s intervention in the Laker trade all the more poetic). That was the start of the clippers curse which dare I say it my finally be ending (knock on wood).

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Jan 28, 2012 1:47 PM PST reply actions