The thing that drew me to the Los Angeles Clippers when I moved west 13 years ago was the voice of Ralph Lawler. I didn’t know many people when I first arrived in town, which meant there were plenty of nights at home before I met the friends who’d become my Los Angeles family. I’d flip on the tube and look for a game to keep me company while I fixed myself dinner.
That’s when I first discovered Ralph.
I have a full feature on Ralph Lawler over at ESPN Los Angeles. Here’s an exceprt:
Lawler has endured a career during which the Clippers have dropped nearly two out of every three games. That futility sets his job apart from many other broadcasters in the league. Most fan bases can fall back on nostalgia when things get rough. They can conjure up a string of consecutive playoff appearances or look up at the rafters and find legends who define the franchise’s prouder moments. Clippers fans have no such memories. The team has put together winning seasons only twice since arriving in Los Angeles and you won’t find any Clippers jerseys hanging in Staples Center. There are very few YouTube moments and no ESPN Classic games to memorialize. Many Clippers fans can’t even confide in their family or friends — the people closest to them in the world — because those folks are often absorbed in their own drama, one that features a surefire Hall of Famer and a certain head coach with 10 championship rings. Instead, Clippers fans turn to Ralph — as Lawler is known to the Clippers faithful — to be a friend, therapist and spiritual counselor.
“Ralph has been the one ongoing constant that’s been there game in and game out,” longtime Phoenix Suns play-by-play announcer Al McCoy said. “He’s been the one consistent positive for the Clippers from San Diego to Los Angeles.”
Those who root for the Clippers know what they’ve gotten themselves into. They don’t tune in for a thrill ride or to bask in the warm glow of a seven-game winning streak. These beleaguered basketball souls need a voice that will be empathetic, reassuring, but also honest. In a world of freak injuries, dashed expectations and mounting losses, Clippers fans need someone they can trust. For 34 years, Lawler has given them that measure of comfort.
Lawler appreciates that Clippers fans gauge relevancy on a different scale than most. What might seem like a meaningless matchup to the impartial observer looking for a game to watch on a Wednesday night in late March holds serious import to a Clippers die-hard who still hasn’t had his fill of DeAndre Jordan slams.
“I’ve never called a game that I didn’t think was meaningful, whether it’s a preseason game on radio or a March game when you’re 25 games out of first place,” Lawler said. “There are people watching or listening, and they deserve my absolute best preparation and my best work.”
37 Responses
Great stuff! i was waiting for this ever since Ralph’s FB posting about it…the only difference between Chick and Ralph is that ChickyBaby worked for a championship team…Can’t wait til he gets his dues in the HOF…
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
The biggest problem with Ralph Lawler is that he tries to fool fans into thinking Baron Davis played good this year and will play good next year too. That is a joke. Davis played terrible this year (just as he did last year), and there’s no reason to try to fool fans into thinking Davis will be any different next year than he’s been the last two years.
This is the truth about Baron Davis: he’s a mindboggling bad shooter. To try and fool fans into thinking otherwise is a serious mistake and destroys credibility.
Stats don’t lie (even though commentators may). Statistically this year, Davis is the second worst shooter in the entire NBA (of those who shot enough to be rated). How can anybody say that is not awful. Second worst in the entire NBA!!!
Here’s the final stats.
For players at all positions in three point shooting, Davis is rated 130 out of 131.
For all point guards in three point shooting, he’s rated 36 out of 37.
For players at all positions in overall shooting, he’s rated 114 out of 118.
For all point guards in overall shooting, he’s rated 24 out of 27.
All of that together, the only player who is a worse shooter is the Nets Devin Harris. And Harris is only barely worse than Davis.
On top of that, all season long opposing point guards have torched him.. He’s the worst defending guard in the league, because he’s heavy, slow, lazy and old.
Surely, nobody is really fooled into thinking Davis is anything other than what he is, which is terrible.
That’s why it is so unfortunate for Ralph Lawler to try and fool fans into thinking Davis is good.
TNT57 Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
GREAT POST and revealing. I notice Ralph making more and more mistakes of age. I think he deserves to keep his position as long as he wants. He’s earned it. But his pandering to these players is unappealing at best and incompetent at worst. Maybe that’s the job of the local guy, but it sometimes feels as if either he thinks we’re stupid or blind.
GL Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Next season Lakers need a PG. Maybe we can dump Baron for free. Lakers don’t have anyone we really want.
Odom: We didn’t keep him. We don’t want him.
Powell: No thanks. We wish him well.
Mbenga: who?
Sasha: He might have ruined his career by doing “TONY PARKER” in LA. Ladies want him. Not us.
Farmar: Trying hard to be someone he’s not( to get big contract) No thanks.
Artest: Poor guy. He’s toast. Wait till OKC manhandles Lakers.
Gasol: His brain seems working fine. But we have enough of it over here.
Bynum: We have a cry baby(kaman, now grown-up). No thanks.
Fisher: Only Lakers find him useful. Won’t take him even for free.
KOBE: Got 3 yrs/ SOLID contract. Now go and nurse your wounds.
PHIL JACKSON: Kobe’s big daddy. Still doesn’t know how to respect his opponents and how to accept defeat gracefully. Those are opposite qualities of a ZEN master.
Lakers era is over. Clippers will have to make extra room for their neighbors in the basement.
How’bout Clippers moving out of the basement?
luvaofdanba Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Put down the joint before you start typing. Lakers’ in the basement. I don’t think so. Clippers shouldn’t be there, but they are. Baron Davis is one of the best PG’s in the league. If you get rid of Baron you will look like the west coast version of the New Jersey Nets.
Kurt Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 12:37 am
If I recall, in one of the last few games Lawler mentioned something about Davis horrible shooting, especially his three point percentage. But at the same time he can’t just constantly dog the guy.
Bongstradamus Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
The stats that actually do matter for PG’s:
Assists: 7th in league
A/TO: 15th (Blake has a higher A/TO than Baron though)
Assists per 48m: 6th in league
Baron is actually quite good as a distributor. Granted, he takes some terrible shots, but the PG’s main responsibility is setting other players up and running the offense.
Josh Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
His responsibility is to get quality possessions for his team. He does not do this often enough because he is in love with his terrible J. He also complains about calls, doesn’t get back on defense. In short, it doesn’t seem as if he tries or cares. If he did, he would play hard and smart. Most of the time, he does neither,
He played the right way the first 30 or so games, The last 50 were a disgrace. He stuck a 42 cent stamp on the season and mailed it it. He’s o.k. with losing. That makes him a loser. I want him gone.
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
RL deserves this recognition and more. Who else can make bad games as entertaining as he can???…Keep up the good work Ralph!…and he is right about Baron too. He was pretty good when healthy up till the camby trade, then everyone gave up as a team. You can’t blame one person for that.
GOOO CLIPS!!
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Fantastic article KA! Love that Ralph is getting props as I feel that he is one of the best out there. Smith and him have great chemistry- must say that they keep things interesting in spite of the team’s woes.
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
thanks for that article, great read
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
I wish Ralph could call playoff games. That way the world sees how damn good he is.
jgroove Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Well, he has called Clipper Playoff games (hey if the media forgets the last run was only four years ago, we can’t right?), but I’ve always wished he would get called in by TNT to call some USA Basketball stuff in the off-season. Shoot, even his Olympics play by play would make Greece vs. Italy fun to watch.
Great post Kevin. When I think about it, Ralph is one of the reasons I became a Clipper fan too. And while Matt Smith is OK, it was his back and forth with Bill Walton — which was laugh out loud hilarious back in the day — that may have been his best work.
The Clips really need to start a campaign to get Ralph in the BB Hall of Fame. Seriously.
Posted on April 15th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Dump Davis, you are a moron… I can’t stand fake Clippers fans like you… Just go and watch your lakers games and stop making negative comments about our star players. Baron Davis is not the problem… ya’ moron
TNT57 Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 10:59 am
You either haven’t been watching the games or don’t have a clue about the game. Baron has been awful. His defense is non existent. Remember defense? Where you try to stop the other point guard from killing your team.
Josh Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
What TNT57 said. He’s insulting to watch as a paying customer.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 12:16 am
Was watching the Clipper v Laker game on Channel 9, and those horrible Laker announcers were literally making fun of the Clippers, and mocking them. I quickly switched to the Clipper feed.
The one thing I like about Lawler is that he will give it to the Clippers as bad as he gives it the other team. Unlike pretentious Laker announcers, he holds everyone to the same standard.
First2One00 Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 1:00 am
yup myers and stu are huge kiss asses to anyone in the Lakers organization. I used to love and respect stu lantz when he worked alongside Chick and that’s because chick wouldn’t sugar coat how bad the lakers were playing. But ever since this new guy came in, all of a sudden the Lakers get all the praises and any other team is garbage… pathetic announcing!! Love both the lakers and clippers but its hard to believe such a storied franchise would do such a lousy job in picking a replacement for a legend
Shawn H. Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I’ve been saying for the few years how worse Lantz has gotten since Chick passed. I’ve never been a big Laker fan (nowadays, I depise them more than ever), but the telecasts were good to watch when it was him and Chick, or even with Paul Sunderland. Meyers just loves the sound of his own voice (he sounds Froggy from the Little Rascals), and Lantz says the obvious things, plus the two of them turn Lakers games into ass-kissing sessions. All local announcers are homers, to an extent…some are better than others. I think Ralph and Mike try to be fair as can be, all things considering. That said, he’s always been one hell of a broadcaster and a fine man.
Dump Davis Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I agree. Stu Meyers is such a syrupy shill I can’t stand to hear him announce. I also agree Chick Hearn was great and one of the reasons for his greatness was that he told it how it was and didn’t try to fool anybody into thinking bad was good.
I’ve been a huge Clipper fan. If i wasn’t, why would i care about what’s happened the last two years. A big part of the overall problem is the overall mentality of the organization which accepts losing and tries to fool fans into thinking it doesn’t.
The most important single action they can take to turn their losing mentality around is to get rid of their “anything but a star” point guard.
Shawn H. Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
In many ways, I do agree with what you’re saying. However, let’s be fair though…the losing mentality predates Baron Davis ever putting on a Clipper uniform. It all starts at the top, with Donald Sterling and his goon Andy Roeser, the team president, former accountant, and chief negoitator. Yeah, they’ve done a better job in making the franchise look more legitimate, but pretty much they’re playing catch-up with the rest of the Association in terms upgrading itself on and off the floor. We still have a ways to go, but not too far away…I hate to sit through another rebuilding phase, there needs to be more housecleaning (including getting rid of any other link to Dunleavy, and also Roeser) so they can finally right this ship (pun intended).
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 12:35 am
“Respect Davis,” I disagree with you. Just because “Dump Davis” thinks Baron sucks doesn’t mean he’s not a loyal Clipper fan. “Dump Davis” simply doesn’t like what Davis has added to the ball club. He/she’s not the first fan to get pissed off at a player’s performance and he/she’s not the last, either.
I’m not saying that I agree with all of Dump Davis’s comments. But trashing the guy because he thinks Baron is a liability to the Clippers is like criticizing somebody because they say that the Clippers had one of the worst defenses in the league this season.
I’m telling you that the Clippers played terrible team defense this year. Comparative statistics back up my statement. This doesn’t mean I don’t love the Clippers. In fact, I’m a huge fan of theirs’. I’ve had season tix for more than 25 years. But I’m not shy about saying the team stinks when it performs poorly or that it’s terrific when it plays great.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Offense is fun. Defense is hard. D takes commitment, effort, brains and heart. The Clippers have none of the above. How many average players have had career nights against the Clips? Dozens. Players you’ve never heard of look like Bird or Magic when they play our team. It’s embarrassing.
Josh Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Winning is fun. To Baron and Kaman, sadly, losing is fun too.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Kevin or DJ – either of you know the Clips revised cap space now that Stern has announced it should be at $56.1 million? And how that compares to other teams? Can we sign a premier free-agent to a “true” max deal?
FD Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
They said it’s higher than expected. They were projecting around 51-53. I wonder if that helps or hurts the clippers. It would help that they would have more money to offer, but it would hurt because it will be easier for other teams to get under the cap and match offers. Any other angles I’m missing?
D.J. Foster Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
16.8 million should be the new max offer – and the Clippers should have about 17.8 million in cap room including all their minimum roster holds and draft picks. Here’s where I’m getting my info from:
http://www.hoopdata.com/salaries/lac.aspx
Jgroove Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Thanks DJ. My guess is they go for Rudy Gay and if he spurs them use it as trade bait.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Ralph is the man. I like his style. Any announcer is gonna be a bit of a ‘homer’ for their team. I can’t see as how anyone could have done a better job during all these down times.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Ralph’s the best. Like this blog. The best things about following the Clippers.
Posted on April 16th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
He’s a real pro. When I think of LA sportscasters, I think of Chick Hearn. Or even Vin Scully if we’re talking baseball. Great line of pros.
Posted on April 17th, 2010 at 9:01 am
i love Ralph….at times when seasons were lost and it was obvious we werent doing anything i would watch the games cause him and Mike Smith go perfect together and they make me laugh and enjoy the games like no other broadcasters
honestly….i place Ralph up there with Chick and Vin Scully
Posted on April 18th, 2010 at 3:49 am
baron and kaman = playing for the stats.
we need more guys who play for the win. bg please save us!
Posted on April 18th, 2010 at 9:09 am
I still think that Lawler, although an entertaining and accomplished basketball announcer, spends too much time making excuses for the Clippers chronic poor play. Any player that is injured is the cause of them losing, no matter who the player is. The team will always play better when said player returns from injury. The stopping of the game in the middle of the season and clearing the building is another example of a lame excuse. How about the other team having to stop play and leave the building? Didn’t they experience the stopping and starting just like the Clips did? I do get tired of listening to the excuses, but we know he can’t just simple tell it like it is and say that Sterling is an idiot because Sterling signs his checks.
craig Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Some teams can win even with injuries(Portland.)
Posted on April 18th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Just read an article about how much Elton Brand’s game has fallen apart. It said the 76′rs would love to dump him because he can’t move or defend anymore. Elton got exactly what he deserved and we caught the biggest break ever. Now if we can get Blake G. healthy, dump Davis and Kaman and pick up a stud in the draft we’ll be fine.
Posted on April 18th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
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