Fri, July 26th, 2019

An NBA-obsessed newsletter for the info-craved basketball mind. Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up here.

Written while listening to Nas' Hope

 49 years of disfunction ends ... now?   

Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were officially introduced as Clippers on Tuesday and, no, Steve Ballmer did not contain himself. Some highlights from the press conference (a sentence that illustrates how deep into the offseason we are): 

• Ballmer not knowing how to sit in a chair properly. 

• Ballmer partying like it was the ‘96 Microsoft launch all over again.

• Kawhi wearing a shirt that could have been stocked at Eblens in Twin Cities Plaza in 2011. 

• George saying his departure from Oklahoma City was “mutual,” a premise that OKC general manager Sam Presti disagreed with.

• Kawhi saying, “I want to thank the Toronto Raptors fans. I don’t have social media so I can’t put out a paragraph or whatever.”

Plus, there was genuine optimism and buzz, which is fair, because the Clippers are among the two or three teams most likely to win the NBA title next season. For fans who still remember flip phones, the Clippers as the confident and self-assured foil to the Lakers feels like a bizarro world. Remember:

• The Clippers are in their third iteration; they started as the Buffalo Braves in 1970; then moved to San Diego and adopted their current name in 1978; then moved to L.A. in 1984. 

• The Clippers have never advanced to the conference finals. The Pelicans and the Bobcats/Hornets are the only others who haven't done so. 

• The Clippers have made the playoffs only 14 times in 49 seasons, and have won four playoff series ever. In that same span, the Lakers have made the playoffs 39 times and have won 11 titles. 

• The Clippers, in San Diego, opened up the check book for crippled Bill Walton, who played 102 games for his hometown team in five seasons. 

• The Clippers (then the Braves) fired Jack Ramsey after three seasons in Buffalo, then watched him become a legendary coach with the ‘77 and ‘78 Trail Blazers. 

• The Clippers were owned by the racist Donald Sterling for 33 years. 

• The Clippers’ “best player” for a long stretch of the 2000s was Corey Maggette, whose empty stats on bad teams inspired the nickname “Bad Porn.”

• The Clippers were up 3-1 on the Rockets in the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals, and lost three straight games, including a Game 6 at home up 18 points in the third quarter, with Josh Smith and Corey Brewer going off while James Harden sat on the bench. 

We could keep going, but you get the point. The Clippers and their fans have waited long enough for a true title contender. 

[READ:

Clippers vow best moment is yet to come

]

TNT is axing its “Players Only” broadcasts

The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch reported on Wednesday that TNT will not be doing anymore “Players Only” broadcasts this upcoming season. “Players Only” was an idea by the network to have only ex-NBA players commentate on NBA games. So, no Kevin Harlan or Marv Albert (not the worst thing) or any other professional play-by-play person, whose sole purpose in their working life is to be good at dictating into a microphone what is happening in a sporting event in which they are watching, which is a very hard thing to be good at. Unsurprisingly, the results sucked. And nothing illustrates that better than this call of Marcus Morris’s game-winning shot in March, 2018 against the Thunder. An attempt at a transcription, from the play’s start to its immediate aftermath:

• First four seconds of play: Silence

• Kevin McHale: Oh…

• McHale: Ohhhh...

• Greg Anthony: Oh my goodness..

• McHale: Oh my...wow…

• McHale: They just let him…

• Anthony: Oh…

• Anthony: When you got….when you can….when you can knock a team off, you’ve got to be able to knock them off….

• Anthony: Big shot right there….

• McHale: Wowwww….

Enlightening!The best thing that came out of "Players Only" was McHale calling someone a "dickhead" on air. 

Quick Hits

• Steve Kerr sounded off on Anthony Davis’s forced trade to the Lakers earlier this week: “Bad for the league.”

• In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Davis again refused to commit past this year with the Lakers. Seems like players are learning from Kyrie Irving's 2018 offseason. 

• Tacko Fall signed a contract with the Celtics. No one is happier than Norm MacDonald. 

• Here’s footage of friend of The Grip Mike Lucas losing to Laker Alex Caruso in H-O-R-S-E.

• ICYMI: Tim Duncan is back with the Spurs, and so are the Onion articles.

 Concrete Reads 

• Kendrick Perkins and the making of a talking head [The Ringer]

• Sam Presti: Looking back, thinking forward [The Oklahoman]

 Podcast Pick

Introducing the new Clippers [Sports Illustrated]