By Aaron J. Haberman

In American sports, the greatest and only memorable feat is victory. 60 point games will be forgotten at some point, but a 60-win season? No fan will forget that. In fact, victory has become so highly valued that nothing short will be accepted. No fan will look back on a season and say, “Well, it was a good run,” rather they’ll negatively reflect, saying something along the lines of “We really should’ve won, this sucks.” But what if it was the other way around? Well, surprisingly enough, it is. At least with one franchise. The Los Angeles Clippers. En route to yet another losing season, it’s hard not to wonder why anyone would want to play for them. You’d have to dig back three decades to 1978-79 when they were in San Diego to find their last winning year. At least they’re consistent at something. More than half of their players will be free agents after this year, and if they were smart, they’d all leave. They recently fired head coach Alvin Gentry, making it clear to even t their die-hard fans that they will not even make an effort to escape the doldrums this year.

When [General Manager] Elgin Baylor brought in talents such as Elton Brand and Andre Miller, I had the misimpression this was their year to make the playoffs. After all, the Clippers were above .500 and in the playoff hunt throughout last year until the final month. Shows what I know. The Clippers are closer to losing 60 games than they are to the 8th seed. Before these guys, I was a strong believer in the long-term rebuilding process. It’s worked for the Magic, who had the cap-space to get McGrady, and the Warriors, who’ve done it all by drafting. So why has it taken these guys 10 years to rebuild? They’re packed with young talent. They’ve also, unfortunately, had a knack for losing players to the free-agent market. Not only am I convinced that management has no desire to win, but the players, it seems, just don’t want to either.

In my search to find the answer to their misery, a possible explanation came about. Who would want to win, let alone play here? They’re the second show to the best show there is, the Lakers, and they have absolutely no fan base. These guys don’t want to play in their shadow, obviously. But what have they done to get out of it? Nothing. The men and boys on the Clippers are young and undisciplined. Some don’t even bother on defense. Ball movement? It’s nonexistent. They’re cocky when there’s nothing to have pride in. The last decent season they managed was 41-41 in 1992-’93, and they have since achieved 220 wins, compared to 486 losses.

Another year of disgraceful play for sports’ least-prized franchise and it is hard not to cry for the very capable and oh-so-unlucky Elton Brand. Hopefully, he and the rest of L.A.’s free agents will make the not-so-painful decision to pack and leave. Then again, the huge chunk of cap-space left behind could lead to the signing of top free-agents Jason Kidd and Tim Duncan, both of whom have expressed interest in looking at their options. Maybe then LA will have yet another dominating team, as it so badly needs. Kidd and Duncan against Shaq and Kobe…

I smell profit at the Staples Center.


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