Or, How I Came Up With a Plan to Spend Forty Million Dollars Of Someone Else’s Money.

The NBA’s trade deadline has passed, and it’s now officially buyout season. Despite a quiet Thursday, the Clippers did well for themselves–they were big winners in a trade for Norman Powell and Robert Covington that our 213Hoops staff graded quite highly, and they made a minor but necessary move to offload Serge Ibaka, bringing back Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye. Early indications from The Athletic’s Law Murray are that the Clippers plan to keep the two newcomers…

… but with all love and respect to Law, who does fantastic work covering the team at The Athletic, I’m skeptical. To be fair, it seems like Law is too:

I can’t claim to have inside knowledge of what LAC plans to do at the end of their roster in the next couple of weeks, but just based on the team’s situation common sense would appear to dictate that the Clippers would let both guys go to make room for a free agent point guard signing and a promotion to the 15-man roster for Amir Coffey. Both Hood and Ojeleye have had very poor seasons for Milwaukee, and both play at positions where LAC already has very strong depth. That said, there’s not necessarily a reason why the Clippers have to act immediately. They can wait to strike a deal with a point guard before clearing a roster spot for him, and there is no deadline on converting Coffey’s two-way contract–it just has to be done by the last day of the regular season in order for him to be eligible to play in postseason contests. For a Clippers team missing four players with long-term injuries, Hood and Ojeleye could give the team short-term garbage-time options to spare key rotation guys’ legs in blowouts in the coming weeks.

Really, though, the Clippers should priotize Coffey’s conversion as soon as possible. He’s substantially better than both Hood and Ojeleye and has gone far, far beyond earning a promotion to the full-time team. If the team just needs another garbage time body, they can sign another guy to a two-way contract to replace Amir once he’s on a full deal. Waiting until after the deadline to convert Amir made sense, as the Clippers needed their open roster spot to execute a deal like the one they made. Waiting longer doesn’t make much sense. Sometimes, doing the right thing really is the right thing. Reward Amir. It will be good for team morale and good for his relationship with the organization when it comes time to negotiate a longer-term deal with him this summer.

Once that’s handled, the Clippers’ last roster spot should go to a veteran point guard. There are a number of options, including Goran Dragic, who the Clippers are interested in but who is likely to sign with Dallas; D.J. Augustin, who was waived by Houston today; and Dennis Schröder, who is a likely buyout candidate after being traded to Houston today (those last two links go to the same article). Others could shake free, in addition to current free agents like Jeremy Lin and Jeff Teague, but as long as Dragic to Dallas is basically a done deal (the Clippers will know better than I do if they have a realistic shot at him), Augustin would be at the top of my list.

As a player, there isn’t a ton to rave about with D.J.–he’s a 5’11” 34-year-old who just got cut by one of the worst teams in basketball, and he hasn’t really impressed for a few years now. But he’s steady and experienced, and for a small (even part-time) role he likely has a high floor without much drama or maintenance. I don’t really think the Clippers need to get ambitious here with someone who will expect touches or minutes, just someone stable and competent to help keep the trains running on time for some second unit shifts in the next couple of months. D.J. is that guy.

I mentioned above that Augustin was already waived by Houston today as part of the Rockets needing to create roster space to facilitate their deadline deals, so as long as he clears waivers, the Clippers could move quickly to add him to their roster in the coming days. But what if instead of signing him once he cleared waivers, the Clippers placed a waiver claim for Augustin? To claim a waived contract, a team needs to be able to absorb the existing deal using either cap room, a salary cap exception, or a traded player exception. Augustin would fit into the $8.25M traded player exception the Clippers have from when they traded Rajon Rondo last off-season.

If you’re a long-time reader, please be aware that we are now entering The Lucas Zone. Listen, okay, I know, why would you willingly take on Augustin’s contract, which pays him $7,000,000, instead of simply getting him on a pro-rated minimum for the rest of the season. Frankly, it’s a painful pill for the Clippers to swallow when it comes to the luxury tax, but the true benefit comes in how Augustin’s deal is structured for next season. He’s set to make $7,333,333, but only $333,333 is guaranteed. That means that he can be traded on draft day for $7M worth of salary matching, and the team that receives him can cut him before July 1st and only have $333,333 in dead cap for next year.

Let me give you an example. Say the Clippers are interested in Malcolm Brogdon, who the Pacers couldn’t move at the deadline due to his recent contract extension but are likely to shop this summer after launching a rebuild. Brogdon makes $21.7M this season, so salary matching becomes difficult for the Clippers. Luke Kennard and Marcus Morris together would work, but why would the Pacers want Morris’ contract? Combining Kennard and Augustin would make the trade math work while still saving Indiana substantial money and allowing the Clippers to hold on to an overpaid veteran in Morris who has value in LA but none in Indiana. We can haggle about if Brogdon is the right guy and what combination of sweetener/picks the Clippers should or shouldn’t be willing to give up when we get there in June, but you get the point–Augustin’s 7M ghost contract for next season is a really useful tool in facilitating draft-day trades (less so in free agency because at that point he’d be a fully guaranteed one-year expiring and not offer the same immediate savings). Sometimes the best move you can make at the trade deadline is to hold on to your cards for the off-season, and turning Luke Kennard, a future 1st, and the claimed contract of Augustin into Brogdon would be an excellent example of that.

But these things come at a cost. The Clippers are deep in the NBA’s luxury tax, currently 29.4M over. I don’t like to get bogged down in luxury tax details because I’m not really ever interested in defending owners for saving money, but just for a quick run-through, the way the tax works is that once your team salary crosses a certain threshold ($145M), you pay a penalty to the NBA for every dollar over you go. That penalty is determined by a) whether or not you are a “repeater” (a team that is consistently over the luxury tax) and b) how far over the tax you are on an incremental scale. The Clippers, thanks to their lull between Lob City and acquiring Kawhi, won’t have to worry about the repeater rate for a while, but that doesn’t stop things from getting pricey. Here’s the incremental tax scale that Steve Ballmer is looking at for this season:

Right now, the Clippers are $29.4M over the luxury tax, which means their bill has all of the first five incremental maximums and the bulk of the 25-30 penalty too. That’s a lot of money, but it’s a big improvement over earlier in the day, when Serge Ibaka was still on the roster and the Clippers hadn’t yet cut $6.4M in salary by flipping him for two much cheaper players in Hood and Ojeleye. Claiming Augustin’s $7M deal on waivers would lift the Clippers right back up–and actually above–the threshold they were at this morning. In a second, we’ll compare the Clippers’ tax bills in these different scenarios, but first we need to account for the rest-of-season contracts the Clippers will sign guys to. Rest-of-season minimum deals are pro-rated daily, so while we won’t know the exact salary until we know the exact day someone puts pen to paper, just take my word for it that $500,000 is a reasonable placeholder. If the Clippers cut Ojeleye and Hood to sign Coffey and a point guard, that adds a million to team salary (there’s no tax penalty for the new two-way contract player that would take Amir’s current spot). If they were to claim Augustin, then it would only be one additional $500k rest-of-season deal.

Would Steve Ballmer pay $40M in extra team salary plus tax penalty this season just to have a useful contract to help facilitate a trade this summer, when the Clippers could otherwise just wait for Augustin to clear waivers and have the same player without that flexible contract? He’s never said no to spending before, but basically no owner in NBA history has ever had an appetite for this big of a price tag for that minor of an asset. We’re talking massive costs for marginal gains here, but as far as the on-court product is concerned, there’s no opportunity cost for the Clippers in terms of assets or flexibility. Claiming D.J. instead of signing him to a rest-of-season deal only opens doors for moves that could significantly help the team next summer, with no downside outside of dipping a little further into Ballmer’s fifty-billion-dollar fortune. I won’t blame Ballmer if they don’t go for it–he’ll still be the best owner in the NBA with the strongest stomach for paying whatever it takes to win, but we may have just finally found the tipping point.

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Should the Clippers Claim D.J. Augustin off Waivers?
Lucas Hann

As the team looks to replace Doc Rivers, the Clippers should look to hire coach Jay Wright from Villanova. Wright, one of the most respected coaches in college basketball, has been with the Wildcats since 2001, posting a stellar 471-182 (.721) record with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. As the program has improved under his leadership, they’ve emerged as one of the most dominant college basketball teams in recent years: 215-38 (0.850) in the last 7 seasons, with two national championships in 2016 and 2018.

Wright has never coached in the NBA before, but not for lack of opportunity–he simply has his choice of jobs and has always chosen to keep the one he has, just down the road from where he grew up in Pennsylvania. It’s hard to knock Wright’s gig at Nova: building a Hall of Fame resume by winning titles as a hometown hero with essentially a lifetime contract and boosters, administrators, and fans who adore him. If he stays in the Philadelphia suburbs, Nova will only keep adding wins and titles (national championships can be elusive, but the Wildcats are the gold standard of the Big East and were head-and-shoulders above the rest of the conference when I was working at St. John’s).

Moving to the NBA, on the other hand, is a risk. Of the NBA’s 30 head coach jobs, just 9 are occupied by coaches who have been with their team for 4 or more seasons. Four coaches have been hired (meaning their predecessor fired) in 2020; six more jobs remain vacant. Wright, at 58 years old, has a lot of seasons ahead of him, and walking away from a paradise of a collegiate job at Villanova for an unsuccessful 3-year stint in the pros would be a tremendous loss. That scenario isn’t unheard of: Billy Donovan left a similarly iconic legacy at Florida to take the highly attractive Oklahoma City Thunder job in 2015, only for Kevin Durant to depart in free agency next summer and Donovan and OKC to ultimately part ways this off-season. Just last summer, John Beilein left the University of Michigan after an extremely successful decade in Ann Arbor to take the Cleveland Cavaliers job, and he didn’t even make it through his first season.

Even the legendary John Calipari struggled in the pros: after a stellar opening to his career at UMass, he jumped to the Brooklyn Nets and was fired 20 games into his third season before going on to have his spectacular runs at Memphis and now Kentucky.

So, if things are so perfect for him in Pennsylvania, and the transition to the NBA is so perilous, how can Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank, and Jerry West convince Jay Wright to coach the Clippers?

Because it’s one of the most appealing job openings in NBA history.

How often does a head coach have an opportunity to walk onto a job with superstars the caliber of Paul George and especially Kawhi Leonard, who has won two NBA Finals MVP awards? The Clippers’ disappointing finish in the 2020 NBA Playoffs aside, they remain among top contenders for the 2021 title chase, backed by an organization so deep with respected staff and executives that it is unrecognizable from the Clippers of a decade ago.

Jay Wright has often talked about loving his job at Villanova and not wanting to leave–but he’s also talked about the urge to coach in the NBA someday. The door appears to be open, albeit narrowly, for Wright to be sold on the right landing spot in the league, with Jeff Goodman speculating that he could be a likely prominent collegiate coach to make the jump. For coaches who make the switch, life in the NBA is a relief from the hassles of recruiting and academics that take up most of someone’s time when they’re running an NCAA program. Count Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan among the successful college coaches who enjoyed only having to focus on basketball when they moved to the NBA, according to this Gary Parrish piece that lays out the case for a coach like Wright to make the jump. And while Wright is well-compensated at Villanova and has turned down higher-paying offers before, perhaps nobody in professional sports is as willing to pay whatever it takes as Steve Ballmer.

Leaving Nova would be heart-wrenching and risky, but if Wright wants to try his hand in the pros he will never get an opportunity better than this one.

If the Clippers want him, it will be up to Ballmer, West, and Frank to convince him of that. Jay Wright is not a mercenary coach. Coaching a winner–and potential championship squad–is certainly important to him, and I don’t doubt an eight-figure salary’s potential to persuade anyone to take a gig, but the Clippers will need to sell him on his role in a larger organizational vision. In order to convince Wright to walk away from a rest-of-his-life utopia in Villanova, the Clippers will need to convince him that there is a potential for the same kind of longevity and fulfillment in LA. A big number next to a dollar sign and the draw of Leonard and George in 2021 (and potentially for a few years beyond) will hopefully get Wright to take the meeting, but in order to get him to take the job it will be up to Ballmer and co. to convince him that the organization is both committed to sustained excellence and capable of living up to that commitment. He’ll need to be impressed with the team’s basketball operations staff–and what happens to the decision-making structure when Jerry West inevitably retires. It probably wouldn’t hurt to use the Clippers’ new arena, expected to open in 2024, as a talking point to demonstrate Ballmer’s commitment to excellence throughout the organization.

In the end, it may not be enough. I can’t say what Wright will choose, and I don’t really know what the right choice would be, either. Leaving Villanova could wind up being one of the biggest regrets of his career–but passing on this Clippers gig would likely be his career’s biggest “what-if” moment. A job offer from the Clippers would force Wright into an excruciating decision.

For LA, there’s no harm in trying. There are two coaches with championship pedigree on the market right now, and both were on the Clippers’ bench last season. With Rivers gone and Lue taking interviews around the league, the Clippers may have to get creative in their hiring search. Wright would be more than an outside-the-box solution; he’d be a paradigm-shifting high-profile addition. From bringing Jerry West on board to trading Blake Griffin to recruiting Kawhi Leonard to trading for Paul George to pushing through the new arena deal to firing Doc Rivers, Steve Ballmer has been nothing in his brief tenure as Clippers owner if not unafraid to take drastic action and make improbably things happen once he has decided it’s in the team’s best interests.

If Ballmer sets his heart on Wright, my money’s on Steve.

The Clippers should pursue Villanova coach Jay Wright
Lucas Hann

On May 29th, 2014, Steve Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers from Donald Sterling for $2 billion. The purchase came after weeks of agony for not just the Clippers and their fans, but the entirety of the NBA. Donald Sterling’s inept, entitled, racist, and hateful persona had finally been completely exposed. His legacy was a stain on the league, and his ineptitude was evident in his franchise’s historical lack of success. Undoing 33 years of mismanagement was a job that was never going to be completed overnight, but Steve Ballmer came about as close as anyone could to accomplishing just that.

Mismanagement is a generous description for the Donald Sterling era that defined the Clippers for more than three decades. During this time, the Clippers weren’t just bad, they were the worst. In Sterling’s 33 years as owner, the Clippers had just a .371 winning percentage which was dead last in the NBA by a considerable margin. The idea that nobody wanted to play for the Clippers was more true during this time than ever.

A few sporadic bright spots graced this dark period, but none were sustainable or dominant enough to shed the label of league’s worst franchise. It’s that public perception from both fans and media that has been the biggest contrast between the Sterling era and the ever-ascending Ballmer era.

In 2015, not long after Ballmer took over as chairman, Michael Jordan used the transformation of the Clippers to describe what he hoped to accomplish as owner of the Charlotte Hornets. The great Michael Jordan looked to the Clippers as a goal to strive towards. While the arrival of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were the driving forces of the newfound on-court success, league-wide respectability has grown as a product of Ballmer’s professionalism and passion.

When comparing the on-court success of the Clippers from Sterling’s 33 seasons to the last five that Ballmer has been the head of, the contrast could not be more apparent. In Sterling’s 33 seasons, the Clippers finished above .500 in just five of them. Since Ballmer’s arrival, the Clippers have already matched that mark with a winning season in each of the five seasons since Sterling’s departure. However, this is the NBA. They don’t give out banners for consecutive winning seasons. With the Clippers stuck in the realm of basketball purgatory, Ballmer made it his goal to ascend them into contention.

In this era of the NBA, championships are only being won by a handful of superstars. Since 2012, there has not been a championship won without one of LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry, or Kevin Durant. It is almost certain that unless a team has one of these players, or they’re Golden State and have two of the four, they will not be NBA champions. For a team like the Clippers, who have been historically unable to attract talent, how does one of these four championship caliber players end up on their roster? The answer: It starts at the top.

Regardless of the lack of publicity Donald Sterling’s racism and ineptitude had amongst the general public, both of these were well known facts throughout the NBA and their players. In an article for The Players’ Tribune, former Clipper Darius Miles shares a story of a pre-season game from his rookie season that perfectly encapsulates the league-wide disdain for Donald Sterling.

“Then we played against Houston, and Moe Taylor had just left the Clippers to go there in the offseason, and this man is looking like he just escaped from a kidnapping or something. He drops like a 30-clip on us, and after every bucket, he’s running past Donald Sterling’s seat, grabbing his damn nuts. We’re like, Bruh. This is not normal. That’s when we knew: Something is going on here” Miles said.

Miles continued by sharing some of his own stories about Sterling, when he would come into the locker room and make dehumanizing comments about the players. According to Miles, and many Clippers both before and after him, this type of occurrence was not unusual. Players talk, word spreads, and Donald Sterling’s racism was far from a secret.

With all that was going on, Sterling still lucked his way into the Lob City era. Blake Griffin became an instant sensation, and Chris Paul fell into their lap as well, igniting the most exciting era in Clippers’ history. However, as previously mentioned, the titles in this era of the NBA are being won by four guys. As great as CP and Blake were, neither were a tier-1 star in their time with the Clippers. By the time Ballmer arrived, the championship window was nearly slammed shut. With the collapse in 2015, and the injury misfortune in 2016, Lob City had ran its course.

As everyone knows, the dismantling of that era started the next year. By 2018, not a single member of the Lob City big-3 was on the roster. It is now 2020, and the Clippers are widely considered the favorites to win the championship. In this era of the NBA, that is only possible one way: Players want to play for you. As an owner of a franchise, if you can’t get LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry, or Kevin Durant to want to play for you, there’s an extremely minimal chance you can win an NBA championship. Being the owner of the Clippers, there isn’t the historic benefit that the Lakers have. If a player wants to be a Clipper, it is because they truly believe in what they’ve built. That is what Steve Ballmer has done.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would have never teamed up to play for Sterling’s Clippers. The contrast between the two eras could not be more drastic. Ballmer has a legitimate passion for his team, and would not be stopped until they were revered as one of the league’s most respectable franchises. Five seasons into his tenure, and he has placed his team in a real position to win the title. By his first decade, he is on pace to have the team in their own state of the art arena. These are the culture-shifting moves that have transformed the Clippers from the worst franchise in the NBA, to a place that one of the best players in the league wants to build a dynasty. Changes of this magnitude can only start at the top.

It is for all of these reasons that those who hate on the Clippers are blinded by either jealousy or ignorance. Not a single Clipper fan denies their team’s history is the worst the NBA has to offer, but the current Los Angeles Clippers are not even recognizable to those who have known the team solely from the Sterling days. In just six years, they have evolved from a historical loser with sporadic and short-lived bright spots, to a championship favorite with arguably the greatest player in the world.

Hate on that if you will, but if you’re hating on the Clippers, you’re hating on the biggest comeup in sports history.

The Ballmer Era: How the NBA’s Worst Franchise Became a Contender
Joey Linn

We’re back once again. To recap, in Part 1 we talked about the fun upstart Clippers of the early 2000’s, and the Clippers’ 2005-06 playoff run.  And in Part 2 we talked about the painful (but hopeful) rebuilding years, and the long journey back to the playoffs.

It’s Going to be Lob City

2011-12

In the summer of 2011, the league underwent negotiations with the players for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and by the time that was settled, we were left with a shortened 66-game season beginning in December 2011. But during that off-season, the Clippers made a blockbuster trade: The Clippers traded Gordon, Kaman, Aminu, and a 1st round pick to New Orleans for Chris Paul, arguably the league’s best two-way point guard. Blake and DeAndre were heard celebrating and coined the nickname “Lob City” for this team. (I still haven’t watched the video of Eric Gordon finding out he was traded while hosting a fan-event on a bus, because he is/was one of my favorite Clippers of all time, and I just… can’t.)

The Lakers had attempted to trade for Paul earlier, but with no team owner for New Orleans, the NBA played the role and turned down the trade. So nabbing CP3 was truly a monumental victory for the Clippers. The Clippers also added veterans Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin and Nick Young (at the deadline) that season, giving them tremendous talent and experience. 

Chris Paul was as great as advertised—for me he was even better than advertised—and he took the Clippers to another level. The free-flowing but chaotic brand of basketball that Baron Davis orchestrated was replaced by Chris Paul’s incredibly cerebral and meticulous playing style—and it was far more effective. The Clippers lived up to their nickname and naturally led the league in dunks, including the one where Blake Mozgov’d Kendrick Perkins into oblivion, and for the first time since 1978 they put 2 players on the All Star team. The Clippers finished the 2011-12 season 40-26 (50-win pace) and finally returned to the playoffs! In the 2012 playoffs, the Clippers faced the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were a tough, physical competitor, and it took what was the second largest comeback in NBA playoff history (thanks Swaggy) to defeat them in 7 games. But then the Clippers ran into a red-hot San Antonio Spurs team that had won 14 straight coming into the series, and were quickly swept as the Clippers were both out-played and out-coached.

2012-13

The following summer, the Clippers traded for Lamar Odom and Willie Green, and signed Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Matt Barnes, Ronny Turiaf, and Ryan Hollins. This would be one of the greatest Clipper benches ever assembled, which would earn the nickname A Tribe Called Bench (it’s still so awkward and forced but whatever you know you love it). Everyone’s numbers dipped slightly because there was so much wealth to be shared.

Finally, the Clippers were top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Aside from Chauncey Billups, who went down with a torn Achilles, the Clippers managed to stay mostly healthy and finished with a 56-26 record, a franchise record at the time. Teams just couldn’t handle the initial punch of the Clippers’ starting lineup of CP3, Griffin, Jordan, Butler, and Billups/Green and their deliberately surgical style of play, only for it to be followed up by a hay-maker bench unit of Bledsoe, Crawford, Barnes, Odom, and Turiaf/Hollins and their hyper-aggressive style on both ends of the court. 

For many Clipper fans, this was their favorite season of the Lob City era. The team seemed to be perfectly in tune with one another, the locker room was packed with players’ kids, and the game just looked easy. DeAndre put the league on notice that he was one of its best dunkers, at the unfortunate expense of Brandon Knight. The team even had a stretch where they won 17 straight, including all 16 games in the month of December (only the 3rd time a month has ever been won in NBA history), eliciting this gem from Ty Lawson, as some fans may remember. 

The season had so many memorable moments, and the Clippers won their first division title. But toward the end of the season, the Clippers lost the groove they were in earlier in the season, and ended the season on an 8-8 stretch, as cold as any team in the playoffs. In the first round, the Clippers were once again matched against the Memphis Grizzlies, who they’d beat 3-1 during the season, but after winning the first 2 games of the series at home, the Clippers rattled off 4 straight losses, with Blake only playing 14 minutes in the final game on a bum ankle.

The team entered the off-season with tons of question marks. After peaking in December, what more could this team do to turn the corner and truly ascend to the next level?

2013-14

Well, the Clippers did make one big change: their coach. It was felt that championship caliber leadership was needed, and so the Clippers traded a 1st round pick to the Celtics for coach Doc Rivers. Known to be both a player’s coach and a wizard with out-of-timeout plays, Doc was seen as the key to getting the Clippers a championship. 

This was enough to convince Chris Paul to stay (also the Clippers could offer a lot more money than anyone else), so he was re-signed to a max contract. Additionally, the Clippers decided to take another look at their roster. Bledsoe had a great season and was due for a payday, so they included him and Butler in a trade to Milwaukee that netted the Clippers sharp-shooting J.J. Redick and 3-and-D small forward Jared Dudley. 

The change was immediately noticeable—the starting lineup became one of the strongest in the league. J.J.’s instincts as a shooter lined up perfectly with Chris’ expectations for where he was supposed to be, and the two were frequently in sync to free-up J.J. for wide open shots. Barnes and Dudley split the starting small forward role, and Jamal continued to be dynamite off the bench, winning his second 6th man of the year award. Despite Chris missing 20 games with minor injuries, the Clippers sported the #1 offense in the league, while remaining top 10 on the defensive end, and cruising to a 57-25 record, another new franchise record.  However: t-shirt jerseys.

The 2014 playoffs started with a first round matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers barely lost game 1, before blowing out the Warriors by 40 in game 2 (a franchise record), and barely escaping with a win in game 3. 

The day after game 3, the earth cracked open and a major shift began. The Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling, arguably the worst owner in sports and one of the most disgusting and toxic humans in the entire world, was recorded making racist comments to his personal assistant. 

In game 4, the Clippers silently protested during pre-game warm-ups, but ultimately got blown out by Steph Curry’s absurdly hot shooting. Then, before game 5, Donald Sterling was formally banned from the NBA.  At game 5, a home game, black t-shirts had been given to all of the fans that read, “We are one” representing the unity between the team and the fans in removing Sterling from our collective lives. I was at the game, and when the sold-out Staples Center chanted in unison, it was something special.

It was a turbulent time for Clipper fans and for the team, and Doc Rivers was instrumental in leading us all through the storm. So when the Clippers finally won in game 7, you could see the weight being lifted off of Doc Rivers’ shoulders as he pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “YES!”

In the second round of the playoffs, the Clippers were able to move past the Sterling drama, and focus on their next opponent: the Oklahoma City Thunder. The series went back and forth, with each team stealing a game on the road, which led us to game 5.

Game 5 was a close contest that went down to the wire. With 49 seconds left, the Clippers led by 7. Durant quickly knocked down a 3, cutting the lead to 4 with 44 seconds left. Jamal Crawford barely missed a layup, the Thunder got the rebound, and Durant scored in transition, cutting the lead to 2 with 18 seconds left. 

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

Chris Paul, known for having one of the best assist-turnover ratios of any point guard in the history of the NBA turned it over at half-court, and the ball got to Reggie Jackson on the break before Matt Barnes prevented the layup by knocking the ball out of bounds.

Or did he? See for yourself.

Video replays had only recently been added for such plays, and the replay clearly showed the ball went off of Reggie Jackson’s hand last. But in a double freak occurrence, the officiating staff decided to award the ball to Oklahoma City. In the end, the Clippers shouldn’t have blown such a large lead—but then again, they didn’t really blow the entire lead, since that was supposed to be our ball.

The Clippers, deflated by the game 5 loss, went on to lose the series in 6 games. Season over.

2014-15

That summer, the Clippers were bought by Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, worth upwards of $51 billion, making him the wealthiest owner in the NBA. But more importantly, this was a man who was incredibly passionate about basketball, having wanted to purchase a team for years. Ballmer owning the team would complete the Clippers’ transformation from a franchise that was the butt of every joke to an upstart franchise destined for greatness.

The Clippers also signed Spencer Hawes, a stretch center, as they felt they needed more flexibility at the center position (spoiler: Manbun Hawes would not provide that flexibility, or really anything). After only one season, the disappointing Jared Dudley experiment was over, costing the Clippers a 1st round pick to dump him—Dudley would later explain he’d been battling nagging injuries all year, while shit-talking the Clippers whenever possible, which the Elmer Fudd-looking forward continues to do to this day. Cool!

The 2014-15 Clippers were still very good, although the formula was becoming a bit stale. Always on that second tier of contending teams, they could never quite find that extra gear. They obtained Austin Rivers via trade halfway through the season; a move which was much maligned at the time, but ultimately turned out to be a solid get. After coasting through the season, and briefly losing Blake to a staph infection, the still-talented Clippers managed a 56-26 record, good enough for the 3-seed, and headed into the playoffs.

In the first round of the 2015 playoffs, the Clippers faced the veteran Spurs once again. This time, the Clippers weren’t out-coached as Doc Rivers held his own against Gregg Popovich. Blake was playing at an MVP-level, averaging an absurd 24 PPG, 13 RPG, and 7 APG, while Chris chipped in averages of 23 PPG, 5 RPG, and 8 APG to carry the Clippers. The series went back and forth, with each team trading wins until a pivotal game 7 at Staples Center. Chris had suffered a hamstring injury during the series, and had been noticeably limping throughout game 7. 

But tied 109-109 with 9 seconds left, the Clippers trusted their final possession to the Point God who had gotten them this far. On essentially one leg, Chris drove past Danny Green, was met by Tim Duncan at the rim, and tossed up a prayer floater, which bounced off-the-glass and fell perfectly through the net with 1 second remaining. I remember video taping this moment, dropping my phone in the stands when the bucket went in, and not really caring what happened after that. It is, to this day, the most incredible shot I’ve ever seen.

In the second round the Clippers faced what was thought to be a much less daunting opponent, the Houston Rockets. Their defense wasn’t nearly as stingy as the Spurs’, and the Clippers seemed to be able to get to their spots much easier. The Clippers quickly stole homecourt advantage in game 1, and then won both home games, taking a 3-1 lead. In game 5, the Clippers took their foot off the gas and were defeated. Still, they appeared poised to close out the series at home in game 6.

Up 87-68 in the third quarter, the Clippers managed to blow a 19-point lead. Now, teams lose 19 point leads all the time, so we shouldn’t write this off as a freak occurrence, right?

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

Wrong. Yeah, this wasn’t just any 19-point comeback (in-fact it was a full 31 point turnaround as the Rockets won game 6 119-107); this was a 19-point comeback led by the unlikeliest of Houston heroes. And given that Houston had built their team based on statistical probabilities, these were heroes that the Rockets would almost never, ever allow to do what they did.

With their primary and most efficient scorer James Harden on the bench, Corey Brewer (27% from deep that season, 28% career 3P%) and Josh Smith (32% from deep that season, 29% career 3P%) shot a combined 5-7 from downtown in the fourth quarter. These were guys that the Clippers game-planned to leave open from the arc, and who would never shoot like that again in such an important game.

And so the Clippers lost game 6, to Corey Freaking Brewer and Josh Freaking Smith, and fell on the road to Houston in game 7. All of that work to get past San Antonio was for nothing. Isn’t being a Clipper fan fun?

2015-16

That summer, the Clippers mixed things up, trading fan favorite Matt Barnes and the underwhelming Spencer Hawes to the Hornets for Lance Stephenson, added Luc Mbah a Moute, Wesley Johnson, Cole Aldrich, Pablo Prigioni, Paul Pierce (oh), and sharpshooting Josh Smith.

Writer’s note: As Citizen DieterDeux pointed out, I completely whiffed and forgot to mention the DeAndre Jordan kidnapping and re-signing saga. So, I would like to formally submit an I-O-U for an article specifically recapping that incredible event.

Surprisingly, Luc Mbah a Moute ended up taking the starting small forward spot away from Lance Stephenson, with Luc’s stellar defense fitting in nicely with the powerhouse foursome of CP3, Blake, DeAndre, and J.J. Redick. Jamal Crawford was still electric off the bench, winning his (at the time) record 3rd Sixth Man of the Year award. Despite cries of nepotism, Austin Rivers was extremely solid and rightfully earned his spot in the rotation. Wes Johnson was pretty mediocre, but if it weren’t for him the Clippers’ official Twitter account would never have tweeted “W3T JOHNSON ” so there’s that. And the Prigioni-Aldrich chemistry was awfully fun, even if we only saw it a few minutes each game.

The Clippers were still very good, top 10 on both ends of the court, but were really playing beneath their potential, only 16-13 heading into a Christmas day matchup against the Lakers. They defeated the Lakers, but unfortunately Blake Griffin suffered a quad injury injured, which would keep him out for an entire month. But the win and Blake’s injury sparked something in the Clippers, as they rallied and strung together a fantastic stretch, winning 11 of their next 13, with Blake due to return in a few days. 

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

During a team dinner in Toronto, the team’s equipment manager (and Blake’s personal friend) teased Griffin that the team seemed better without him. The usually reserved Griffin lost his cool and punched the equipment manager, breaking his hand and drastically delaying his return. 

The Clippers inserted Paul Pierce into the starting lineup as a stretch 4, and while Pierce wasn’t spectacular, having an extra shooter on the floor provided more spacing for Chris Paul to work. And a few weeks later, the Clippers traded Lance Stephenson and a 1st round pick for Jeff Green. The team ended up going 30-15 over the period that Blake was out. Blake returned on April 3rd, and the team closed the season winning 6 of their final 7 games, ending with a 53-29 record, good for the 4th seed.

The 2016 playoffs had the Clippers matched up against the 44-win Portland Trailblazers, with the Clippers expected by most everyone to win. The series started off as expected, with Los Angeles winning both home games. The Blazers managed to take game 3, riding 59 combined points from Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Which brings us to game 4. 

The Clippers trailed the entire game and outside of Chris Paul couldn’t buy a bucket. But the score was close all evening thanks to their stingy defense. Despite shooting only 33% for the half, the Clippers were only trailing by 4 heading into halftime! Then in the 3rd quarter, the unthinkable, but seemingly inevitable, happened—bring on that alert.

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT 

Late in the third quarter, after finally being healthy for basically the entire season, Chris Paul got his hand caught in Gerald Henderson’s shorts and fractured his hand. His freaking shorts. What the hell, man? Has this kind of injury ever happened before?? And then to add insult to injury (or rather injury to injury), early in the fourth quarter Blake Griffin re-aggravated his previously injured quad and had to go back to the locker room. He briefly re-entered the game, but after grimacing on a routine jump-shot, he was done for the night. I will never forget this game because I had the unfortunate job of writing the game recap. The next day the Clippers announced that Chris and Blake would be shut down for the rest of the season.

With their stars all wearing suits, the Clippers lost game 5 by double digits. But in game 6, on the road, the remaining Clippers fought tooth and nail to give the Clippers a fighting chance at a game 7. Austin Rivers, in particular, made a lot of fans that night, as he showed tremendous toughness in leading the team with a 21-8-6 performance after suffering a bloody facial fracture early in the first quarter. But despite all of that effort, the Clippers lost game 6 by 3 points, and the season was over.

2016-17

By this time, the Lob City Clippers were running it back for the 6th straight time. The season started off extremely well, with the Clippers 14 of their first 16 games. It was their best start in franchise history, and it had writers talking about how they’d finally put it all together. But the momentum couldn’t be maintained, as in December Blake sprained his left knee (requiring surgery, which kept him out until mid-January) and Chris strained his hamstring (which kept him out for stretches in December, January, and February). Despite the injuries, the Clippers finished with a 51-31 record for the 4th seed. 

In the 2017 playoffs, the Clippers faced the Jazz in the first round. After dropping game 1 to a buzzer beater by Iso Joe Johnson, the Clippers won games 2 and 3 to regain homecourt advantage. But the win in game 3 came with an unfortunate price tag, as Blake Griffin suffered a season-ending injury to his… big toe. (At this point, an injury doesn’t even warrant a Freak Occurrence Alert.)

So without their second star, the Clippers lost the series in 7 games. Yet another playoff run, ultimately this group’s last, derailed by an injury to Paul and/or Griffin.

To Be Continued

Time for our final break as we wrap up Part 3. In Part 4, the Clippers will press the reset button and set themselves up to create the greatest Clipper team ever assembled.

The 2020 LA Clippers: For the People in the Back, Part 3
Erik Olsgaard