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.  More...

Regarding comments made by Donald T. Sterling to T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times, here’s my post over at TrueHoop:

Try to imagine you’re at a business gathering, maybe a trade show. Your boss holds court in one corner of the room. He’s surrounded by people who are insiders in your industry — some of whom know you personally, while others are only vaguely familiar with your work.

The next morning you find out through a third party who doesn’t even work for your company that your boss told those insiders he has no idea why the company hired you (only he called you “Whatshisname.”).  More...

Since being fired earlier in the year, Mike Dunleavy has not received any of the money owed to him from his guaranteed contract, which reportedly totals upwards to $12 million dollars.

This isn’t exactly new territory for Donald Sterling. The Clippers fired Bill Fitch after the 1997-1998 season and proceeded to pay Fitch only $200,000 of the $4 million dollars owed to him. Fitch of course had to pursue legal action against the Clippers, which led to Sterling giving this deposition (via a story by Peter May in the Boston Globe in January 2003):  More...

With the Clippers’ season careening toward another demoralizing end, there is one crucial difference this year. For the first time in seven seasons, the organization will be moving forward without the steadying (or corrosive) influence of Mike Dunleavy at the helm. However, the organization has some financial flexibility as it enters this critical off-season with important decisions on free agents, the draft and the vacant coaching chair. Looming behind these decisions is the philosophy which governs the franchise from owner Donald Sterling and his right hand man, Andy Roeser. The Clippers have stated that the team is committed to winning right away, with a “full commitment to dedicate unlimited resources” to achieve that objective. Trying to divine the intents of Donald Sterling has always been a perilous task. In the twilight of his years, Mr. Sterling has spent more money the last ten years building up his team than he did in the previous twenty. So there is hope that this public pledge to dedicate unlimited resources in the pursuit of winning is genuine, that it is possible for a man to find redemption in the final act.  More...

• Our friends at ClipsNation.com are having a big sponsored game night Saturday, April 10th against the Warriors. After reading Steve’s teaser, it’s hard not to get excited. All the information about the event can be found here. I’ll definitely be there – should be a very fun evening.

• Lisa Dillman at the Times introduces you to new new General Manager, Neil Olshey.

• Since Mike Dunleavy stepped down as coach and Marcus Camby was shipped to Portland, the Clippers have had only two games where they’ve posted a defensive efficiency number under 100. Even worse, both were against bottom dweller Sacramento. Remove the head, and the body will still flail around a bit. Remove the head and the body, and what are you left with?

• Adrian Wojnarowski of Y! Sports talks about Donald Sterling: “Donald Sterling has always talked a big game, but he’s never gone after a star GM in his prime. Dunleavy leaves the franchise set up in some good ways, but Sterling doesn’t understand that winning in the NBA doesn’t come from empty words in absurdly worded press-release firings, doesn’t come with throwing red meat to a fan base that wanted the old GM embarrassed and fired on the spot.”

• Bill Plaschke, doing some true California dreamin’: “Now introducing, Clippers forward LeBron James and two of his high school chums as general manager and coach. Crazy, too, but that’s the thing about what happened Tuesday. The Clippers didn’t lose a general manager, they gained a world of possibilities.”