Baylor sheds light on lawsuit in press conference

[JJ LoDuca]

via ESPN.com:

The lawsuit maintains that Baylor was "discriminated against and unceremoniously released from his position with the team on account of his age and his race" and that he was "grossly underpaid during his tenure with the Clippers, never earning more than $350,000 per year, when compared with the compensation scheme for general managers employed by every other team in the NBA."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3901091

EDIT: Elgin Baylor held a press conference today in Beverly Hills, elaborating on the lawsuit he filed yesterday.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/b ... index.html

"The way I was treated by the NBA and the Clippers was unfair and in many ways discriminatory, it was wrong," said Baylor, reading from a prepared statement at a news conference at the office of his lawyer, Carl Douglas.
"We are forced to take this action because our effort to resolve this dispute quietly were ignored. So I look forward to having my day in court."

[PlinkingPanda]

How long has this been going on though? He's been with the organization for like 20 years or so? I think 350k a year is fine for the crappy job he did. >.>;

[bstein14]

"uncerimoniously released"??!?!?!

What a crock of ****.

He should have been canned many many years ago... One of the worst tenures of a GM in the history of Sports I think. (Although he doesn't have anything on Matt Millan).

Sterling is notoriously cheap, and if he wasn't getting paid well enough he should have found a job elsewhere.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Wait he's been earning no more than 350k per year since 1986? That foolio better sit the hell down and shut the *bleep* up

[mkwest]

Sterling has had a history of accusations of racial discrimination, so that unfortunately would not surprise me if it were true. Hopefully one day things will be right with this team's ownership.

If the comments made were true, why did Baylor stay with the team (and not speak out about it) for 15 or however many years he did after they were made? Right after he was relieved of his duties, it was said that he was working without a contract since the early 90's. To me it looks like he made some bad decisions, and if things were so bad for all of those years then he should have stood up for himself way back when. He opted not to. The person that should be blaming the most is himself.

[JJ LoDuca]

Here is the SI writeup on the same story: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/b ... index.html

What I don't understand is that the alleged racial discrimination mentioned in the articles isn't even directed toward Baylor; I don't see how that is grounds for lawsuit. And really, Elgin never breathed a word about anything until he left this fall. Sounds a little bitter to me. As I understand it, the Clippers didn't "fire" him, they let him walk on his own terms, so he had plenty of opportunities to bring up the accusations he's making against the Clippers. If these statements are true, in my opinion, the time to do anything about it has passed.

[madmaxmedia]

This one is really weird.

Elgin Baylor wasn't actually the Clipper GM, he only played one on TV. The team has had no real direction from a management standpoint for many, many years. I don't blame Elgin because I doubt he ever really had any authority to begin with. I only blame him for staying.

He should also sue Sterling for bad graphic design, maybe we can get rid of those eyesore LA Times ads Sterling puts out...

[boogizking]

if he had a problem shouldnt of taken him 20 odd years to come out and say it especially after he lost his job...

[bbsee1]

This is the last thing this organization needs at this time. I really hope that this isn't true. If racism was at play here then why did Sterling hire him in the first place and why did he keep him there for 22 years? I was just listening to the Mason & Ireland show on 710 ESPN radio and Ireland said that during his time when he worked with the clippers that he saw nothing but respect towards Baylor by the organization. Clippers should win this lawsuit by merely pointing out the countless draft busts Baylor picked out.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I just don't understand if Baylor wasn't happy or felt uncomfortable with the whole situation he could have left. And the team only "stuck by" Baylor for so many years because we have a cheap owner. It wouldn't surprise me if Sterling made some racist remarks either.

[illastrate]

Honestly, I haven't even paid much attention to this situation, on purpose. I'm pretty much just focused on the team right now.

[scratch21]

Sterling is Jewish.

[mkwest]

Sterling is Jewish.

and what does that have to do with anything?

[DEEP3CL]

Sterling is one of the worst owners in the NBA, the fact that Elgin stayed quite this long is boggling. I've been watching the NBA for 3 decades and Elgin is right when he says no one wanted to play or work for that team. The minute Dunleavy took that job only a fool wouldn't have thought he wasn't going to side step Elgin and take that job from him.

For the first time this is one law suit Sterling won't beat, it's time to pay up Sterling you've been delinquent for years now.

[loflin3hree5ive]

Clippers should counter-sue Elgin for wasting their damn time.

[NYCF]

No backseat moderating

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Sterling is Jewish.

You could say that he is cheap or greedy, but not Jewish

[scratch21]

*edited for inappropriate comments*

And i Dont like what he said about my ethnicity African-American people.

[mkwest]

Nobody can stop you from feeling that way, but that's really an inappropriate and unacceptable comment to make on here. If you have beef with Sterling's alleged remarks, then criticize his ignorance as opposed to adding to it and bashing an entire ethnoreligious group.

Scratch please check your pm's.

[scratch21]

Nobody can stop you from feeling that way, but that's really an inappropriate and unacceptable comment to make on here. If you have beef with Sterling's alleged remarks, then criticize his ignorance as opposed to adding to it and bashing an entire ethnoreligious group.

Scratch please check your pm's.

I didnt know that if would have caused this conflict.
I made the statement in frustration of how the problem was being dealt.