A few short days ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were fined by the NBA after the league investigated an occurrence in which the Clippers offered their newly re-signed big man DeAndre Jordan some benefits that were against league rules.
They got the $250,000 fine, dealt with it and moved on.
One person who had to put his opinion on it, possibly based on fact, is former ESPN personality and soon to be HBO personality Bill Simmons.
He said the following series of tweets about the Clippers organization and their alleged dysfunction on his twitter account.
1. Steve Ballmer seems like a nice enough guy. Donald Sterling was one of the worst human being who ever owned a pro sports franchise.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
2. With that said – since last summer, the Ballmer Clips have been just as much of disaster behind the scenes as the Sterling Clips were.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
3. Ballmer has shown ZERO evidence that he knows what he's doing. And it's been the best kept secret in the NBA for 15-16 months.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
4. The Clips organization has been as dysfunctional as ever – not just the team but especially off the court. It's a laundry list of things.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
5. And I'm gonna be interested to see which reporter jeopardizes their long-term access/connections to write the story… Cuz it's coming…
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
6. Three most dysfunctional NBA organizations right now are the Kings, Hornets and Clippers and I am not sure of the order… (Ok I'm done)
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
PS: Sorry to offend the Knicks and Nets fans that you don't have a top-3 most dysfunctional NBA organization… You were honorable mention.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 25, 2015
Simmons usually knows what he’s talking about with his NBA news based off his relationships within the league. He’s a season-ticket holder with the Clippers and he probably knows the proper people to talk too about this team.
One person who might not have told Simmons this information is the voice of the Clippers, the man who say ‘Oh me oh My’ better than anyone else, Ralph Lawler.
He said the following to ‘The Beast 980’ radio show.
I think Bill is between spotlights right now and is trying to say, ‘hey, remember me?’ And trying to find some reason to develop some relevance once again in this interim period in his career path. It makes no sense at all to attack Steve Ballmer or the Clippers for anything they’ve done or not done.
Regarding the $250,000 fine imposed by the NBA for the handling of DeAndre Jordan’s free agency pitch:
It was no more than a hand slap. $250,000 to a ball club that spent $2 billion to be purchased is merely a hand slap. I guess the league had to do something to remind not just the Clippers but all 30 teams, that you have to respect that CBA, which was referred to in Ballmer’s statement yesterday.
Lawler defending the Clippers is no surprise as the man has been the voice of the team for over 30 years but to call out Simmons could be interesting especially with the Clippers season coming up.
Whether the claims by ‘The Sports Guy’ are correct or not is yet to be determined but one thing is guaranteed, in the coming weeks or months this all might come out into the light much as Simmons illustrated in his tweets. Maybe his first podcast with HBO on October 1st will include detailed information from Simmons about the Clippers.
