What was the worst part of Donald Sterling’s comments yesterday?

It’s the offseason. This is the one time of year Clippers’ fans can be overly optimistic without those pesky losses clubbing them over the head again and again, crushing their spirits. Fresh uniforms, fresh faces, and a fresh start. That should have been the feeling derived from yesterday, but it wasn’t. Fans know the dark cloud that hovers over the franchise hasn’t gone anywhere, but in the offseason they’re not typically forced to look up at it.

Sorry Randy Foye, but your owner doesn’t know your name and probably couldn’t pick you out of a lineup. Apologies to you as well, Ryan Gomes. If it were up to him, you wouldn’t be a Clipper. The same goes for you, DeAndre Jordan. You’ve been here a month Vinny Del Negro, and the owner is already questioning your taste in personnel.

So what do you do with that blatant display of disrespect, Vinny Del Negro?

Pick up a marker and put everything Sterling said on the whiteboard in the locker room. Underline it and leave it there for the whole team to see, all year long.

You’ve been praised by many for your ability to motivate, and while you probably don’t need a whole lot of material to fire up the troops, you’ve got plenty of ammunition now.

No one believes in you. Your owner doesn’t believe in you. He doesn’t even want you to be here.

Strange as it sounds, this media disaster can be used as a rallying point, the words that band the team together. After all, nothing unites a group like a common enemy. It’s a little unorthodox to have that enemy be your owner, but it isn’t unprecedented.

Major League's Lou Brown: A Master Motivator

The owner doesn’t want you, doesn’t like you, and doesn’t think you’re a good basketball player.

You’ve got 82 games to prove him wrong. Make them count.

Do people still say threads? No? Oh. Well let’s just move on.

The basic motif remains the same, though there are some new stylistic flourishes. “Los Angeles” will appear on the primary red away jersey, which used to have “Clippers” in script.

In another change, Baron Davis is going back to No. 5 this season.

Of course, the unveiling couldn’t be complete without Blake interviewing DeAndre on his thoughts on the new uniforms. Here’s the video, courtesy of Clippers.com:

Let’s hear it in the comments section: What do you think about the new jerseys? I’d tell you how I feel, but I’m the one asking the questions.

Could it have ended any other way?

The Clippers went 1-4 and had their issues as a team in Vegas, but there were some nice individual performances throughout the five games. Al-Farouq Aminu got progressively better as the week went on, capping off the trip with a 21-point performance. Willie Warren looked solid if nothing else, rarely forcing the action and shooting a high percentage. DeAndre Jordan had a nice performance in his final game, getting the better of Blazers big man Jeff Pendergraph in the post. Big Sofo didn’t do much in the box score, but he answered the two biggest questions surrounding his arrival by showing he was in shape and that he could rebound the basketball.

Here’s Kevin Arnovitz’s take on Eric Bledsoe after tonight’s game, via TrueHoop:

“After turning the ball over 28 times in his first four games, Clippers’ point guard Eric Bledsoe put together a heady, controlled performance against the D-League Select team. He changed speeds and read the defense beautifully off high balls screens from Rod Benson — bursting into the paint only when invited, and making smart passes or drawing contact when the defense converged. He scored 13 points (6-for-10 from the field), grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists against three turnovers.”

Again, summer league isn’t about wins and losses. It’s about player development. Most of the young Clippers made some nice strides in that department, even if they weren’t setting the world on fire as a team.

Six thoughts after tonight’s 89-64 loss to the Wizards:

• Eric Bledsoe did a fantastic job getting into the paint, but his feet were just too fast for the rest of his body on many plays. Early returns on Bledsoe are that he’s lighning quick, but he’s got a long way to go in developing better court awareness and vision. That will come with time and familiartiy with his teammates, two things he’s short on right now. He’s got a ways to go before he can run a team, but the raw talent was clearly on display tonight. Summer League is typically dominated by ballhandlers, and that held true. Bledsoe was by far the most assertive guy on the floor for the Clippers, and his floaters and layups in the paint were the best offense the Clippers could muster all evening.
• Tonight was a friendly reminder of just how sloppy Summer League play is. It’s not bad because the players aren’t talented, but rather the circumstances. These guys have played together for just a few days. Each guy is trying to stand out over the other one, which isn’t conducive to snappy, clean team play. With all that said, tonight was a little ridiculous. The young Clips turned the ball over 29 times on the evening, with a good handful of them being laughable. Even worse? Seven assists total on the evening.
• Not exactly the debut I expected from Sofoklis Schortsanitis, but in hindsight perhaps I should have expected it. This is Summer League. The offensive sets are pretty much non-existent, and the spacing obviously isn’t going to be the best. On top of that, it’s not easy to get touches in a high pace game as a 300-pound man who does his work with his back to the basket. That all makes sense. Sofo forced the action a little bit on his first two post touches, and only got 14 minutes on the evening. It’s going to be tough to get a proper appraisal on the big man if he doesn’t get the minutes, touches, spacing, and cooperation from his teammates necessary to show off his talents.
• Al-Farouq Aminu showed off some early nerves by airballing his first jumper, but he finally got something to go his way later in the game with a nice drive and emphatic dunk in traffic. Aminu never really looked comfortable on the floor, often choosing incorrectly when to be aggressive and when to swing the ball. He led the team in rebounds with 7, but he spent a good portion of the Clips’ offensive sets hanging out on the perimeter waiting for the ball to come to him. Not many rookies play instinctive, free basketball their first times out, and Aminu was no exception to the rule.
• DeAndre Jordan should never, ever, be the focus of an offensive gameplan. That’s not a revelation, but it was nice to see DeAndre get some touches even if they were interesting, to say the least. Probably my favorite play of the evening was DeAndre facing up from about 17-feet, taking one dribble to his left, then spinning quickly to the right and trying to dunk from what looked like the free throw line. The crazy thing was, he almost did it right through the hard foul. Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. Sometimes DeAndre plays just like an NBA Jam character, ya know?
• Nik Caner-Medley just loves Summer ball, apparently. He tied Bledsoe for the team leader in points with 17, but particularly impressive was his  3-for-4  shooting performance from beyond the arc. End of roster guys don’t have to be as well-rounded as some of the other players do. Caner-Medley leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end, but he’s kind of a ballhawk on the offensive glass and showed he’s got some range on his jumper. He’ll have to shoot his way into it, but the Clippers will probably give him a nice look if he keeps this up.

We’ll get our first glimpse of the new Clippers tonight as the Summer League squad takes on the Washington Wizards in Las Vegas tonight at 7p PT. Let’s take a look at some of the storylines going into tonight’s game.

Big Debuts

Four Clippers will make their pro debuts tonight — Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe, Willie Warren, and after seven years of anticipation, Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Although it’s expected for the three youngsters to be up and down with their play, Big Sofo should come in and dominate right away. With that size and the experience playing at such a high level overseas, Sofo should make a joke out of the Summer League competition, provided he gets the touches and the minutes.

Who can make this team?

There’s two guys to really keep an eye on this Summer.

Last year’s unexpected star of the Summer Nik Caner-Medley is back looking to prove that his performance wasn’t a fluke. Clippers management likes the athletic forward, and there looks like there may be a spot for a third small forward on the roster.

Jeremy Richardson out of Delta State will likely give him a run for his money however. The guys at Ridiculousupside.com cover the D-League nearly exclusively, and they’ve given Richardson their stamp of approval. Richardson is a big time scorer who can buckets from anywhere on the court, but if we’re following the trend, it’s his proficient outside shooting that will matter most to General Manager Neil Olshey.

Two matchups to watch:

John Wall vs Eric Bledsoe (Mon, 7p PT): Want to show you’re a capable on-ball defender? How about staying in front of the lightning fast John Wall in a Summer League setting that’s sure to see lots of run and gun play? That’s the task Eric Bledsoe will be charged with, and we’ll see if his familiarity with Wall will help him out. Bledsoe projects as a Ty Lawson type scorer off the bench, but it will be his defense that will be under the microscope tonight.

DeAndre Jordan vs Javale McGee (Mon, 7pPT): Jordan and McGee are scary similar. Both are big time athletes with insane amounts of potential, but both are still projects. If DeAndre dominates guys like Paul Davis this Summer, it’s not a big deal. But if he can get the better of a guy who can match him step-for-step in raw ability like McGee can? Then we’re talking.

We’ll have plenty of analysis after tonight’s game here on Clipperblog, but make sure to add a couple of accounts to your twitter feed for little updates throughout the rest of Summer League: @Clipperblog, @kevinarnovitz and @fosterdj.

If tonight’s game felt familiar to you, there’s a reason for that. You’ve played in this game before.

Let me explain. From the arc of the game right down to some of the characters in it, tonight’s matchup felt a lot like a glorified pickup game.

Take Corey Maggette for example. Ever play with someone that calls every single foul? Even if he’s the one that charges in to you at full speed? Well, that’s Maggette. He does his bull in the china shop routine and completely ignores teammates once he puts the ball on the deck. Everyone hates playing with the guy who calls every foul, and I have a hard time seeing anyone getting any joy out of playing basketball with Corey Maggette. To wit, Maggette went into full blown black hole mode en route to a three-for-16 performance from the field tonight.

Baron Davis is that guy who has the most talent on the floor, but there’s always something missing. Whether it’s his jumper or his defense, there’s always something that you can point to with him and say “that’s the reason why he’s not elite.” Tonight, Baron plays as close to a perfect half of basketball as possible, going seven-for-10 from the field for 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers. But then Baron injures his wrist late in the first half, and he eventually has to leave the game because of it. It’s a shame. Even when Baron does everything right, something eventually goes wrong.

With Eric Gordon, Drew Gooden, Travis Outlaw, Craig Smith, and Baron Davis all out of action, the pressure fell squarely on the shoulders of Chris Kaman (or, the one guy taller than everyone else) to lead his team offensively. Kaman responded well against the Warriors small front line, scoring easily throughout the game on the inside and totaling 27 points on the evening.

Steve Blake plays the role of gym rat tonight, logging an outrageous 46 minutes due to the Clips being shorthanded at guard. It’s always fascinating to watch players like Blake in the midst of chaos. Blake’s that guy that passes, cuts, screens away from the ball and all that other nonsense. It looks out of place at the park, and it looks out of place at Staples tonight.

There are a couple of funny moments in the fourth quarter of this one. Devean George brushes off the cobwebs to hit a few shots, and both times he runs down court screaming and pumping his fists. It’s hard to tell if he’s being sarcastic — I have no idea how serious of a person Devean George is, but it’s hard not to picture George as the ridiculous old dude down at the park who once a month turns back the clock and hits a few shots and simply has to let everyone know about it.  Between George’s theatrics and the slightly insane enthusiasm of Ronny Turiaf, the Warriors at least provide entertainment value down the stretch.

The Clippers win this one behind the late game scoring of Rasual Butler (or, that guy who tries to do way too much) and DeAndre Jordan (that one kid that can dunk). After three straight buckets right at the rim by Jordan, Butler knocks down a mid-range jumper and then a big three to pull the Clippers within one at the 6:22 mark of the fourth quarter.

From there, the game plays out like both teams are locked up at game point. Suddenly, the defense ratchets up about 40 notches, and the previous Laissez-faire approach to defense goes out the window. Mike Smith actually mentions at the three minute mark that the “next bucket wins.” He’s referring to Lawler’s Law of course, but you could have fooled me.

The play of the game comes in the clutch at the [2:02, 4thQ] mark. Chris Kaman gets the ball on the left block, and DeAndre Jordan ambles over to the left wing to act as a kickout for Kaman should he get in trouble. Aside from the hilarity of DeAndre Jordan acting as a spot up shooter with Kaman having the ball in the post, the play works wonderfully. After looking confused for a bit, Jordan gives a quick basket cut and Kaman delivers a beautiful pass (!) to Jordan for the easy dunk. The Clips lead goes to five, and they hang on the rest of the way.

April basketball for the Warriors and Clippers isn’t much different from the pickup game for us regular scrubs. The more experienced players on both sides won’t remember this game for any reason, as it will just blend into the thousands of other games they’ve played. Neither team cares much about the result really, as wins and losses don’t really matter at this point.

But then there’s the kid who can dunk. He isn’t experienced yet, so these wins mean something. It’s confidence. It’s matching the second highest total for rebounds in your career (15). It’s a game deciding bucket. Maybe to the bitter veteran those things don’t mean anything, but you don’t survive as a young player in the NBA if you don’t enjoy the small victories when they come your way.