by Paul Teetor
The Clippers Curse struck again Tuesday night.
The biggest NBA story of the week broke right here in LA when the Clippers fired Chris Paul.
Oh, sure, polite phrases like “parting of the ways,” “let go,” and “given his walking papers,” were soon popping up all over the mainstream media.
But the brutal truth was undeniable and resistant to any softening or white-washing for mass media consumption: the 40-year-old future Hall of Famer, the most accomplished player in Clippers history, the guy who was supposed to take a victory lap around the league when he came back home to play his final year in the NBA, was fired, sacked, axed and booted out the door after less than one quarter of the season had been played.
And they couldn’t even wait till Paul and the team got back to LA. They did it in Atlanta, where the Clips had a game with the Hawks the next day.
What a difference six months makes.
Remember the love fest that broke out last summer when Lawrence Frank, Clippers President of Basketball Operations, broke the feel-good news that Paul was coming home after being traded away to Houston back on June 28, 2017?
Now this was going to be special!
Paul would be playing for Clippers Coach Ty Lue, who just happens to be his best friend. Paul would be a kind of assistant coach/player, a widely respected leader and a wise voice in the locker room and on the court.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
Turns out: everything.
Start with this: In his 21 years in the NBA, Paul was an All Star 12 times. But he has never won a title. Indeed, only once did he lead a team to the NBA Finals, in 2021 when he was with the Phoenix Suns. But he never did it with the Clippers team he and Blake Griffin were supposed to lead to the promised land.
In his first six years with the Clippers, the stocky, feisty little bull dog of a point guard averaged 18 points, 10 assists and 2 steals per game. He dominated the ball and the team, and his statistics reflected that ball domination.
The clever Griffin quickly came up with the “Lob City” nickname for his team. “It’s going to be lob city,” he told his teammates on the team bus when they heard Paul was coming to LA. Above all, Paul was known as a great passer who had an affinity for throwing lobs his teammates could easily finish off with a dunk.
But soon after his arrival here in 2011, he started alienating the two most important players on his team: Griffin and his “Lob City” sidekick, super-athletic 7-foot center DeAndre Jordan.
His drill sergeant routine didn’t work with players who were grown men and stars in their own right.
He was the ultimate point guard: directing players to spots on the floor, deciding who should shoot, and calling the shots on defense as well. But there was internal resistance from the start to his ball dominant ways and abrasive leadership style.
Oh, sure he would pass you the ball, but only after he had pounded it on the floor for 10 or 20 seconds while getting everything set up perfectly. He was salty and profane, a perfectionist who insisted on doing everything his way. He was in charge, and anyone who openly challenged him was soon gone.
The Clippers made the playoffs all six years Paul was here, but frustration mounted year-by-year as they were eliminated in the early rounds despite having a championship-caliber roster: Griffin at his jumping-over-cars peak, Jordan as the premier defensive center in the league, and Paul as an All Star every year.
By the end, Griffin couldn’t hide that he hated playing with Paul, and eventually it all turned sour and Paul was traded to Houston.
This year, eight seasons later, the same pattern repeated itself, but with several key differences.
First, Paul was no longer a star. He was operating in the locker room without a star’s weight and leverage. But of course, that didn’t stop him from criticizing his teammates’ practice habits, style of play and lack of single-minded commitment to the game that Paul himself had.
And second, the two key teammates he started alienating almost immediately this time were Kawhi Leonard and James Harden – both of them diametrically different from Paul in terms of personalities and approach to the game.
Leanard is the original me-first guy who invented load management. If he has the slightest pain or injury, he’s not playing, period. And he hardly ever says anything – or for that matter shows any emotion at all — on or off the court. He’s a great player – when he’s healthy, which isn’t very often – but he’s a terrible leader, the reverse of an inspiration to his teammates, and he refuses to do anything to help the Clippers franchise with its community out-reach programs.
Harden has always been a shoot-first guy, who at this point in his long career is mainly interested in moving up the career scoring leaders’ ladder (he recently moved into tenth place.)
So bringing Paul back to LA was a risky proposition right from the start, with the potential to quickly turn into a volatile situation if things went south with the team.
That brings up the third point: the Clippers started losing games right from the start, and by the time Paul was fired their record was a hideous 5-16.
By the end, Paul hadn’t spoken to his supposed best friend, Coach Ty Lue, for the last month. Such insubordinate behavior can’t be tolerated from a star, much less from a guy who was playing less than 15 minutes a game.
It all came to a head Tuesday night, when Lawrence Frank traveled to Atlanta where the Clips were in town to play the Hawks. He met with Paul and delivered the bad news. Paul went back to the team hotel and in the middle of the night – 2:40 am to be exact – posted the following message: “Just found out I’m being sent home” with a peace emoji.
For their part, the three men most responsible for his dismissal — Leonard, Harden and Lue – trotted out the old Sgt. Schultz “I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing” routine.
“I’m just as confused and shocked as you guys,” Harden told reporters in Atlanta after the game. “Definitely surprised me. I guess the front office felt that was the best decision for the organization.”
Leonard claimed he had to reread the news before he could process it.
“It was shocking to me,” the two-time NBA Finals MVP said. “I guess they had a conversation, and the front office made a decision.”
Coach Tyronn Lue was asked whether Paul’s departure helps the Clippers.
“I don’t think it necessarily helped our team,” Lue told reporters. “I mean, I don’t think the reason why we’re 5-16 is because of CP’s play. I just think that it wasn’t a good fit for what he was looking for. Do I want to see CP go out like this? No, I have a lot of respect for him. He’s been a friend of mine over the years, and you don’t want to see a great player go out like this.”
Only the bumbling, stumbling Clippers could turn what was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming/farewell tour into a PR disaster.
When is Clippers owner Steve Ballmer going to wake up, fire Frank and his whole front office crew, and get the Clippers back on the right track?
Oh, and for those Clippers fans who are telling themselves that at least they’ll get a high draft pick after this nightmare season is finally over?
Forget it. The Clips gave away that draft pick to Oklahoma City six years ago in the trade for Paul George, which turned out to be the worst trade in NBA history.
Ballmer never would have tolerated such incompetence at Microsoft, and he shouldn’t tolerate it here.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
