Looking Back at Sterling's Attempt(s) to Trade for Air Jordan

[Ranma]

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[Roscoe Sheed]

Interesting. I’ve never heard of these stories before

[Ranma]

[Quake Griffin]

Incompetent ownership is incompetent ownership.

This would have been like getting a mansion and not being able to furnish it.

[Neddy]

Interesting. I’ve never heard of these stories before

really, then you also must not know that although we inherited the naming rights and roster for the Buffalo Braves when we moved from the EastCoast, but it really still was the Boston Celtics Company that moved to SD? ( I also believe we kept paying the Celtic payroll and the old brave/new Celtic ownership kept paying the newly Clipper payroll, but the detail is fuzzy and I could be wrong entirely about this, after all I am a middle aged dude who just had a brain surgery earlier this year with some memory issues, lol) the owner of the Celtics at the time was from Southern Cal and wanted to move his team back home with him, but did not wish to get murdered in the process by the eventual, understandably angry mob in the process. NBA may also have blocked the move, but this was 1978. NBA wasn't even on live tv in most cities of America. I am sure if Irv Levin did not fear death, he could have moved the entire Celtics with its intact roster and logo and all, to SD with a little bit of wheel greasing the league office and few other owners. and Celtics moving to San Diego could have created a much bigger market and interest from the general public then, which they failed to do with a converted Braves that were from the very opposite part of the country and already was unpopular... who knows? especially if the Celtics were the San Diego team by the time their hometown boy Bill Walton was ready to come home much sooner in Celtic green with a few lesser injuries.

I didn't even wanna bother posting any link, as it really is a fairly common story if you are an old head. Im sure any youngster can find a link and post it around here. in fact, I am sure it was posted around here before, probably by me.

[Neddy]

and Jordan was lucky he was not traded to what Ron Harper once described as a 'Prison' of NBA where unlucky **** get to do some time before going out to join a real NBA team. no way that inept Sterling could hire a guaranteed contract holding real elite level NBA GM to run the Clips back in the mid to late 80s or even through much of the 90s unless Donald had a stroke and died too early and his wife or son in law took over sooner. remember, Elgin never got a contract and worked basically month to month paycheck against a at-will employer. this was eventually the reason why the soap opera actor left us for Portland. the Donald just would not give a contract to anyone he did not legally had to.

that 1988 draft, we got Danny Manning with the top pick and Hersey Hawkins with the 6th pick. I think we followed that with trading Danny Ferry's rights to Cleveland and got Ron Harper the next year, so imagine had we given up say, both 1st and 6th picks as well as back then potentially seen as assets, Benoit Benjamin and perhaps resign Larry Drew and trade them all with another future first, we could have instead of MJ and Scottie, a version of healthy Hollywood Harper ( in alternate universe, I know but hey if he can discuss a universe where MJ did get traded, that same universe may contain uninjured Harper) making that great tandom with MJ in Clipper uni, along with perhaps Kenny Norman and even with Gary Grant if a separate trade was made with the Sonics that sent Michael Cage up north alongside as well, ( we probably would have been better off with Michael Cage had we traded for MJ and Harper) but still knowing what our front office looked like and what Donald Sterling's business moto was back then, MJ would have never been MJ as we know him of today.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Interesting. I’ve never heard of these stories before

really, then you also must not know that although we inherited the naming rights and roster for the Buffalo Braves when we moved from the EastCoast, but it really still was the Boston Celtics Company that moved to SD? ( I also believe we kept paying the Celtic payroll and the old brave/new Celtic ownership kept paying the newly Clipper payroll, but the detail is fuzzy and I could be wrong entirely about this, after all I am a middle aged dude who just had a brain surgery earlier this year with some memory issues, lol) the owner of the Celtics at the time was from Southern Cal and wanted to move his team back home with him, but did not wish to get murdered in the process by the eventual, understandably angry mob in the process. NBA may also have blocked the move, but this was 1978. NBA wasn't even on live tv in most cities of America. I am sure if Irv Levin did not fear death, he could have moved the entire Celtics with its intact roster and logo and all, to SD with a little bit of wheel greasing the league office and few other owners. and Celtics moving to San Diego could have created a much bigger market and interest from the general public then, which they failed to do with a converted Braves that were from the very opposite part of the country and already was unpopular... who knows? especially if the Celtics were the San Diego team by the time their hometown boy Bill Walton was ready to come home much sooner in Celtic green with a few lesser injuries.

I didn't even wanna bother posting any link, as it really is a fairly common story if you are an old head. Im sure any youngster can find a link and post it around here. in fact, I am sure it was posted around here before, probably by me.

I knew that story about the Celtics/braves trade with Irv Levin. First read about it in David Halberstam’s great book “the breaks of the game”. Hope you are healing up well from your brain surgery!