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.
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):
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.
Vincent Bonsignore of the LA Daily News relays a fascinating exchange between Baron Davis and Donald T. Sterling before Wednesday night’s game:
Baron Davis was minding his own business walking around Staples Center on Wednesday when he ran right into Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
It was one of those awkward, boss-employee moments where the boss does most of the talking and the employee just nods his head up and down saying, “Yes, sir. You bet, sir. Absolutely, sir.”
… “It’s coming together,” Davis told Sterling, when asked how the team was doing.