Doc Rivers and the Clippers Dropped The Ball The Way They Handled SterlingGate
First things first. What was up with Doc’s very first statement here? “I’m not sure if I’m surprised by the comments or not?” Really? So that basically means Doc knew Donald Sterling was a racist pig and still decided to coach the LA Clippers anyway. That’s strange to me. If I knew somebody truly despised all Jews I don’t think I could ever work for that person for all the money in the world. But that’s neither here nor there.
More importantly I think the Clippers dropped the ball here big time. Doc mentioned how they were chasing something that was too important to basically let an asshole ruin for them. I couldn’t disagree more.Listen it sucks the Clippers were put in this situation but throwing your practice shirts in the middle of the court does nothing. Wearing black socks does nothing. That was all for show and an easy way out. Boycotting tomorrow’s game would be more lasting than anything they could ever accomplish on the court. Sure it’s not an easy decision and it’s not what these guys want to do, but is the right thing ever easy?
Bottomline is I’m not I’m not buying this “we don’t play for him” bullshit. Yeah you do. He owns the team whether you like it or not. He profits from everything you do on the court whether you like it or not. Winning a championship helps him more than anybody else on the roster. When you play at home tomorrow night every beer that is bought helps him. Every tshirt that is sold helps him. This is bigger than basketball. Who knows whether the NBA will be able to force him to sell the Clippers. My guess is they won’t. They’ve had years to do something about this guy and haven’t done shit. Maybe they suspend him? What does that do? He can’t valet park? He still owns the team. He still profits from their success. The only thing that makes a difference here is the bottomline. The Clippers have a chance to send a message that is much bigger than sports but they have decided trying to win a title is more important. To me it’s a cowards way out and the wrong decision. They should refuse to play because blatant racism is bigger than basketball period.