Donald Sterling: Don't Bring Black People to My Games

[The_Admiral]

Poor NBA can't even buy out a guy for hating black people without it looking rigged.

[IceCap]

I feel like I know what that writer was getting at, but the degree of Laker-pumping that went into it was, put mildly, over the top and could've been kept in moderation a lot better than it actually was.t.

Agreed.

Anyway Chick-fil-A makes their homophobic sentiments well known so people talk about boycotting them. The owner of the Clippers makes his racist sentiments known but suddenly the suggestion that Clippers fans ought to reconsider their team loyalties is nonsense? Come on now. Donald Sterling is the only owner the Los Angeles Clippers have ever known. Unless you're a Buffalo Braves loyalist you can't really separate the Clippers from Sterling. They're his enterprise.

I don't think DG's Seattle speculation has much merit here, but he's correct when he described the Clippers' traditional fanbase as "contrarian." All fine under normal circumstances, but now this is who you've ended up with as the public face of your team for over thirty years. So you should probably at least acknowledge that you've been supporting a piece of human garbage and not yell about being kicked when you're down or whatever.

[The_Admiral]

There was another Laker fanboy who wrote a piece for SI, saying that the Clippers should be punished by rescinding the Chris Paul trade that Stern allegedly made to help Sterling, thereby conveniently "returning" him to...the Lakers. See, this is all getting exceedingly silly.

[CS85]

There was another Laker fanboy who wrote a piece for SI, saying that the Clippers should be punished by rescinding the Chris Paul trade that Stern allegedly made to help Sterling, thereby conveniently "returning" him to...the Lakers. See, this is all getting exceedingly silly.

It's the NBA Idiot Fanbase equivalent of one twin trying to absorb its weaker brethren fetus in utero.

And no, "in utero" was not supposed to trigger some sort of Seattle/Clippers thing due to grunge association. Pipe dreams, children.

[IceCap]

There was another Laker fanboy who wrote a piece for SI, saying that the Clippers should be punished by rescinding the Chris Paul trade that Stern allegedly made to help Sterling, thereby conveniently "returning" him to...the Lakers. See, this is all getting exceedingly silly.

Well yes, that is ridiculous. Along with the notions that the team should be contracted or relocated, or burnt down, or shot into the sun.

I just find this "we're being kicked when we're down"/"we're at our lowest point" hand wringing on the part of Clippers fans to be nonsensical. If you're black and a Clippers fan then yes, I get it. I'd probably be pissed and reconsidering my loyalties, but I get it. If you're white and a Clippers fan you're just acting self-absorbed. "I'm at my lowest point as a sports fan because the owner of the team I root for was outed as a racist and makes me look like a prick by association." Please. A little perspective is all I want.

[Lights Out]

There was another Laker fanboy who wrote a piece for SI, saying that the Clippers should be punished by rescinding the Chris Paul trade that Stern allegedly made to help Sterling, thereby conveniently "returning" him to...the Lakers. See, this is all getting exceedingly silly.

The Rockets' owner is indulging in similar garbage:

Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen 21m

Alexander said met with Adam Silver on Sunday, wants to drive Sterling from league by allowing players to leave Cips to make Sterling sell.

How are people not getting that this would punish the fans for having a bad owner? Shame on any team or fanbase that wants to use this scandal to essentially treat our roster as an online store.

[The_Admiral]

If Sterling is made to divest himself of the team, or to at least put the team in a trust and cease to be involved or associated with the team, that's fine, but you can't compromise the competitive integrity of the league by messing around with the basketball-operations side of the organiz--OH WHO AM I KIDDING of COURSE you can, it's the NBA! Blake Griffin to the Heat and Chris Paul to the Lakers for Deadspin Reasons.

[Lights Out]

I just find this "we're being kicked when we're down"/"we're at our lowest point" hand wringing on the part of Clippers fans to be nonsensical. If you're black and a Clippers fan then yes, I get it. I'd probably be pissed and reconsidering my loyalties, but I get it. If you're white and a Clippers fan you're just acting self-absorbed. "I'm at my lowest point as a sports fan because the owner of the team I root for was outed as a racist and makes me look like a prick by association." Please. A little perspective is all I want.

Think of it from the fans' perspective - this was the greatest team in the history of the franchise, we had just taken a commanding lead in our playoff series while OKC and the Spurs were struggling, and then out of nowhere, Sterling takes the franchise right back to the pre-Blake days. We're looking at all the coaches and players leaving and a sponsorless shell of a team next year if Sterling isn't forced out. We gave up an unprotected lottery pick for a coach who might be gone after this year. No free agents will come here with Sterling and draft prospects are begging the Clippers not to draft them. It's a colossal kick to the nuts to go from a high point to this, and it shouldn't be that hard to see why fans of any color would be upset. I seriously wouldn't wish this on any fanbase.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Yeah, but it's the Clippers. Finding ways to lose is what they do. That the team is imploding due to Sterling's general cluelessness should be a surprise to no one. Griffin was a lottery pick that worked out; there are any number of Clippers picks that didn't. They got lucky with the Paul trade; there are any number of examples of trades that didn't. The LA Clippers are a special case for how futile they are, and all of it can be traced to their owner. This week's scandal wasn't an aberration. It was an inevitably.

[The_Admiral]

Griffin was a lottery pick that worked out

He was the consensus #1 pick in the draft! He's not Rajon Rondo.

[Lee Noire]

I feel like I know what that writer was getting at, but the degree of Laker-pumping that went into it was, put mildly, over the top and could've been kept in moderation a lot better than it actually was.t.

Agreed.

Anyway Chick-fil-A makes their homophobic sentiments well known so people talk about boycotting them. The owner of the Clippers makes his racist sentiments known but suddenly the suggestion that Clippers fans ought to reconsider their team loyalties is nonsense? Come on now. Donald Sterling is the only owner the Los Angeles Clippers have ever known. Unless you're a Buffalo Braves loyalist you can't really separate the Clippers from Sterling. They're his enterprise.

I don't think DG's Seattle speculation has much merit here, but he's correct when he described the Clippers' traditional fanbase as "contrarian." All fine under normal circumstances, but now this is who you've ended up with as the public face of your team for over thirty years. So you should probably at least acknowledge that you've been supporting a piece of human garbage and not yell about being kicked when you're down or whatever.

I don't think it's fair to put every Clipper fan under that contrarian blanket. Are there some that just don't want to root for the Lakers? Sure, and that's their right. Personally I became a fan during the Miles, Brand, Q, maggette days. It was my first game with my dad, and it was the most I ever got into basketball(football was my sport). They were terrible but they are my team. Racist owner aside, how does anyone justify being a Cubs fan? They are just awful.

[OaklandIsBack]

we had just taken a commanding lead in our playoff series

2-1 is commanding?

[wonderbread]

Griffin was a lottery pick that worked out

He was the consensus #1 pick in the draft! He's not Rajon Rondo.

so was Greg oden and we know how that turned out

[ninersdd]

Article on Yahoo from 2011 criticizing Stern for allowing Sterling to mistreat his employees.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fear-loathing-david-stern-232300481--nba.html

[HedleyLamarr]

Part of me wants to see Sterling get punished, in whatever manner that may be.

On the other hand, I hope Sterling stays on as owner and gets minimal punishment and we see a certain Clippers fan break down. We haven't seen a full-on meltdown on here in quite a while.

[tp49]

I just find this "we're being kicked when we're down"/"we're at our lowest point" hand wringing on the part of Clippers fans to be nonsensical. If you're black and a Clippers fan then yes, I get it. I'd probably be pissed and reconsidering my loyalties, but I get it. If you're white and a Clippers fan you're just acting self-absorbed. "I'm at my lowest point as a sports fan because the owner of the team I root for was outed as a racist and makes me look like a prick by association." Please. A little perspective is all I want.

Think of it from the fans' perspective - this was the greatest team in the history of the franchise, we had just taken a commanding lead in our playoff series while OKC and the Spurs were struggling, and then out of nowhere, Sterling takes the franchise right back to the pre-Blake days. We're looking at all the coaches and players leaving and a sponsorless shell of a team next year if Sterling isn't forced out. We gave up an unprotected lottery pick for a coach who might be gone after this year. No free agents will come here with Sterling and draft prospects are begging the Clippers not to draft them. It's a colossal kick to the nuts to go from a high point to this, and it shouldn't be that hard to see why fans of any color would be upset. I seriously wouldn't wish this on any fanbase.

What I see here is a lot of histrionics. The fans and players have every right to be upset with Sterling and they should be. Some sponsors will back away which is their right as well and some will "suspend" their relationships with the team until the controversy boils over, which it will, then return their relationship to what it was pre-controversy. Other corporate sponsors will replace the ones who left. The NBA Board of Governors isn't going to remove the team from Sterling either because one, they're not stupid and they know by doing so they and the league will be involved in very costly and lengthy litigation on the matter and two, they know the same thing could happen to them and they really don't want to set that kind of precedent.

Additionally, draft picks and free agents know that if they want to play in the NBA there are a finite number of available positions in the league to do so. Thus, more for draft picks than established players they know their window is short to get into the NBA. They also don't have a lot of leverage. For those under contract for the future there's not much they can do unless they're of the caliber to be able to force a trade, otherwise their biggest concern is whether their paychecks bounce or not. This probably has a short term impact on the quality of free agent willing to come to the Clippers but the public has a short memory and this will all be forgotten by the time the next controversy hits the media.

[Soarindude]

Anyone else see the comments Larry Johnson (Knicks former player) made on twitter? Looks like their are a few racists that have play(ed) a major role in the NBA.

[Lights Out]

Anyone else see the comments Larry Johnson (Knicks owner) made on twitter? Looks like their are a few racist owners in the NBA.

Larry Johnson doesn't own the Knicks, but the Knicks' actual owner, Jim Dolan, is a colossal douchebag himself who should be the next to go after Sterling.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I won't go full-on conspiratorial, but the talk that Magic Johnson is going to buy the team after his presence with the clandestinely taping mistress catalyzed this whole mess...well, it smells funny.

This wouldn't surprise me at all. Considering her motivations in even being with Sterling are purely and obviously financial, there's no doubt that if Magic offered her a fortune to get hundreds of hours of Sterling on tape (which she alleges she has) that would be the seed enough to get the wheels turning on this ouster.

It all adds up. Clippers in a high profile playoff series, Magic denied a Lakers buyout just a month or two ago, and what do you know? Poof, racism scandal emerges.

When I read the Yahoo link above, I went all "look to see who benefits" too. Especially when it said that the Magic group has made offers/shown serious interest before.

And then Magic declaring right away that he must be removed...

It's almost as if his group can't end up with them now. Too close to the situation.

/conspiracy

[Lights Out]

What I see here is a lot of histrionics. The fans and players have every right to be upset with Sterling and they should be. Some sponsors will back away which is their right as well and some will "suspend" their relationships with the team until the controversy boils over, which it will, then return their relationship to what it was pre-controversy. Other corporate sponsors will replace the ones who left. The NBA Board of Governors isn't going to remove the team from Sterling either because one, they're not stupid and they know by doing so they and the league will be involved in very costly and lengthy litigation on the matter and two, they know the same thing could happen to them and they really don't want to set that kind of precedent.

Additionally, draft picks and free agents know that if they want to play in the NBA there are a finite number of available positions in the league to do so. Thus, more for draft picks than established players they know their window is short to get into the NBA. They also don't have a lot of leverage. For those under contract for the future there's not much they can do unless they're of the caliber to be able to force a trade, otherwise their biggest concern is whether their paychecks bounce or not. This probably has a short term impact on the quality of free agent willing to come to the Clippers but the public has a short memory and this will all be forgotten by the time the next controversy hits the media.

It's actually not histrionics, just facts.

1.) Literally every corporate sponsor of the Clippers backed out today. There are none left, and they aren't coming back until Sterling is gone. No other company is going to touch this franchise until Sterling is gone because of the toxic scandal he has just brought to the team.

2.) The NBA BOG is actually allowed to vote Sterling out under the bylaws of the league. With at least fifteen owners coming out and condemning him over the past two days, it's hard to believe this won't at least be put to a vote. I thought Sterling would be able to turn it into a protracted legal battle, but it turns out he really can't do anything as long as the NBA frames it as a punishment and points out that he agreed to these bylaws when he bought the team. He can try, but he'd get his ass handed to him.

3.) There are actually reports of draft prospects not wanting to be drafted by the Clippers as a result of this scandal. Additionally, one NBA agent has publicly stated that he will steer his clients away from the Clippers as long as Sterling still owns the team. Doc has also said that he doesn't know if he can work for Sterling after this year. Can't imagine CP3 or Blake won't demand trades if he's still here. Bottom line is, this franchise will have a very difficult time keeping or obtaining players or coaches without an ownership change, because nobody wants anything to do with Sterling anymore.

4.) I really don't think this is a "short-term" thing. The atmosphere around this franchise has become so toxic so quickly that there's going to be huge problems if Sterling doesn't get out quickly. A critical mass of owners, sponsors, league officials, players, agents, coaches and fans are all against him.