The Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard cant get no hometown love?

geminiz · Post #61 » by **geminiz** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:27 pm

I like how tons of keyboard fans like to educate people who actually live in LA about how Clippers fanbase can take over Lakers in LA.
This is coming from someone who didn't give an F when Lakers won the championship during the 5 years while I was living there (don't hate the Lakers, just wasn't a fan). LA will continue to be Lakers town even if Lakers continue to suck the 5 years and Clippers won the champ this year. It'd take something like 3 championship or so from Clippers while Lakers continue to suck to reverse that trend I'd think.

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Jedi32 · Post #62 » by **Jedi32** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:53 pm

ejftw wrote:
ejftw wrote:
Jedi32 wrote:The only thing factual is coach, and that great coach hasn't even taken them to a conference final over how many years?

Uh Ballmer has been consistently improving the brand and roster, while his counterpart was crying to try to hinder that. And congrats, you have the bigger names?

Jedi32 wrote:Nothing against Ballmer but the lakers have been doing things in the city of Los Angeles for decades,a few hit pieces for Ballmer isn't going to change that.

Not sure if you've noticed, but the Lakers ownership has changed with the passing of Dr Buss. The current ownership group has done absolutely nothing and has been on their hands while Ballmer is doing things on and off the court. The backpack giveaway, renovating courts and rec centers for kids after school, the pledge to the City of Inglewood. etc. I don't recall a single time I've ever received anything from the Lakers organization while growing up in the county, and my daughter comes home with a pair of backpacks?

It may not seem like much, but Ballmer is planting a seed in the minds of the youth, that will stick in the minds of some.

It isn't even a comparison in the ownership front.

Banner18 wrote:I’ve lived in LA for for about 4.5 years now, and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a Clippers fan out in the wild, outside attending a playoff game once. In fact, I’ve seen far more LAFC (the new LA MLS team) support and gear than I have Clippers gear. I’ll never forget have during the playoff game I attended- a playoff game!- they were shooting off T-shirts and dropping parachutes of gift cards every single time out- stuff you’d expect a G-League team to be doing.

As much as I hate the Dodgers and Lakers, this will always be a Lakers and Dodgers-town (with a mere sprinkling of USC/UCLA fandom) and really nothing beyond that. LA obviously has the population, but not the sports fandom to support anything beyond that.

I went to a Laker playoff game with a few buddies from work, sat in the 200s, and we were told to sit down as we were being too loud. That's G-League level right there. Shirts is the norm at all levels.

And LAFC is nothing more than a trend

Dr Buss passing has done nothing to stop the things the lakers do in the community at all.

Forte IV · Post #63 » by **Forte IV** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:03 pm

Seriously. Can we stop with these LA hates the Clippers threads? Quite frankly, they are bull ****. If LA hated the Clippers, the Clippers wouldn't have sold out year after year. The only reason people say LA "hates the Clippers" is ever since the CP veto trade. LA doesn't hate the Clippers, the obnoxiously loud Laker fans do. Yes, LA will always be a Laker town, and thats fine.

Roscoe Sheed · Post #64 » by **Roscoe Sheed** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:25 pm

They knew this would be the reaction. They just have to embrace it and make it motivate them. They will have a lot of support at the clipper home games except for when they play the lakers. The clippers have a smaller but very loyal fan base.

By the way, I don’t see how anyone can knock Ballmer. He has been nothing but a huge positive for the clippers- best thing to ever happen for the franchise

TheGOATWill · Post #65 » by **TheGOATWill** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:28 pm

Luckily the Rams were playing Tampa and not the Raiders. That place would have been packed with real LA homers.

mcgrady_1 · Post #66 » by **mcgrady_1** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:36 pm

RoLo wrote:just move the damn team already for its dozen fans

It would be incredible they moved the team to Montreal, Canada.

Could you imagine Kawhi and PG's reaction. It would be the most amazing thing to ever happen.

The_Hater · Post #67 » by **The_Hater** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:45 pm

Dominater wrote:It's a Lakers town until the Clipps start winning

I’m not even sure if that will change anything. Giants fans don’t suddenly start cheering for the Jets. Yankee fans don’t start cheering for the Mets.

GusT15 · Post #68 » by **GusT15** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:47 pm

mcgrady_1 wrote:
RoLo wrote:just move the damn team already for its dozen fans

It would be incredible they moved the team to Montreal, Canada.

Could you imagine Kawhi and PG's reaction. It would be the most amazing thing to ever happen.

Or they could move the team to Anchorage,Alaska.

The "Frozen State Warriors" will take the NBA by storm.

Forte IV · Post #69 » by **Forte IV** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:12 pm

I love people making big deal of things when probably 5-8,000 ish people boo'd. Stop thinking a minority of people make up the minds of over 10 million people.

RoyceDa59 · Post #70 » by **RoyceDa59** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:26 pm

It's not so much that he signed with the Clippers. It's that he turned down the Lakers and hurt their chances of signing another all-star to team up with James and AD. Butler, Walker, Russell - there were plenty of other guys they could have heavily pursued.

Lakers had the assets and cap space (with James on the roster) to acquire another 2-3 max FA's, and somehow they 'only' ended up with AD. Leonard (while not maliciously) is one of the reasons for this, and to then go sign with the rival team in town - yeah he'll get some boos.

Quattro · Post #71 » by **Quattro** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:30 pm

I can't imagine anyone caring less about being booed than Kawhi. If he really cared about how fans treated him on or off the court, he would have stayed in Toronto where he would have been worshiped as a God for the rest of his career.

He'll just quietly go on about his business of winning championships as every Laker fan in the city boos as loud as they can to no avail.

Forte IV · Post #72 » by **Forte IV** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:35 pm

Quattro wrote:I can't imagine anyone caring less about being booed than Kawhi. If he really cared about how fans treated him on or off the court, he would have stayed in Toronto where he would have been worshiped as a God for the rest of his career.

He'll just quietly go on about his business of winning championships as every Laker fan in the city boos as loud as they can to no avail.

This is the best answer to this thread.

/thread

Ahmed1212 · Post #73 » by **Ahmed1212** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:50 pm

I spent a week in LA during the playoffs. LAC had just won a game over the freakin warriors.

As a Raptor fan I was seeking Clipper fans pretty aggressivley to see if theres a real chance they could land Kawhi. Couldn't find a single a clipper fan my entire week there. Must've asked like 50 people, bartenders, servers, randoms at the bar. None of them had hate for the Clippers or anything like that but they seemed to just not give a **** about the Clippers.

Which in retrospect, fits Kawhi perfectly.

PhilBlackson · Post #74 » by **PhilBlackson** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:10 pm

When do the Clips move to Inglewood??

CeltsfanSinceBirth · Post #75 » by **CeltsfanSinceBirth** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:21 pm

Lol. Not really surprising that he got booed since he plays for the Clippers. I mean......did we forget about last year already?

OkcSinceSGA · Post #76 » by **OkcSinceSGA** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:24 pm

Ahmed1212 wrote:I spent a week in LA during the playoffs. LAC had just won a game over the freakin warriors.

As a Raptor fan I was seeking Clipper fans pretty aggressivley to see if theres a real chance they could land Kawhi. Couldn't find a single a clipper fan my entire week there. Must've asked like 50 people, bartenders, servers, randoms at the bar. None of them had hate for the Clippers or anything like that but they seemed to just not give a **** about the Clippers.

Which in retrospect, fits Kawhi perfectly.

LA is a bandwagon city with overall mediocre fans, let's be real here. They were a hell of a lot quieter the 5 years before signing LeBron when their team accumulated the worst record in the NBA over that span. In that time the Clippers were packing sold out arenas, having outstanding playoff crowds and making a lot of buzz.

As Doc Rivers just said, they will never win over lifelong Lakers fans. BUT they do have control of the future fans of LA. They have the better team for the future as of now and have been slowly turning new fans for 7 years. The Lob City Clippers are still one of the most popular teams ever. The Clippers kid club is the largest in the NBA at at staggering 120k members. Ballmer also just Clippered out 350 courts all over LA that were in rough shape. The Clippers just pledged the largest LA donation ever, and already give FAR more than the Lakers to the inner city.

Give it time. Give it decades. Because it took 30 years of the Lakers history to eclipse the Clippers. It won't be undone in 7 years. The next generation of fans will be adults in a decade and you'll see A LOT more Clippers fans. Especially if they can win rings. The Warriors were a lot like Clippers 30 years prior to their dynasty. They had their loyal fans within the area, but not much spread. Now Warriors hats/jerseys all over the country. It takes time.

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druggas · Post #77 » by **druggas** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:25 pm

Clemenza wrote:B*tch azz fanbase.. F*ck the Lakers!! Ya'll gonna pay for that sh*t!!

RealGM has an "Anger mgmt" class that you should sign up for.

SK21209 · Post #78 » by **SK21209** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:32 pm

Neither Kawhi nor a single Clipper fan gives a **** that LA is a Lakers town. How pathetic of a person do you have to be to draw a sense of bravado from the fact that you're a fan of the popular team in town :lol:

JellosJigglin · Post #79 » by **JellosJigglin** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:07 pm

ClipsFanSince98 wrote:
Ahmed1212 wrote:I spent a week in LA during the playoffs. LAC had just won a game over the freakin warriors.

As a Raptor fan I was seeking Clipper fans pretty aggressivley to see if theres a real chance they could land Kawhi. Couldn't find a single a clipper fan my entire week there. Must've asked like 50 people, bartenders, servers, randoms at the bar. None of them had hate for the Clippers or anything like that but they seemed to just not give a **** about the Clippers.

Which in retrospect, fits Kawhi perfectly.
LA is a bandwagon city with overall mediocre fans, let's be real here. They were a hell of a lot quieter the 5 years before signing LeBron when their team accumulated the worst record in the NBA over that span. In that time the Clippers were packing sold out arenas, having outstanding playoff crowds and making a lot of buzz.

As Doc Rivers just said, they will never win over lifelong Lakers fans. BUT they do have control of the future fans of LA. They have the better team for the future as of now and have been slowly turning new fans for 7 years. The Lob City Clippers are still one of the most popular teams ever. The Clippers kid club is the largest in the NBA at at staggering 120k members. Ballmer also just Clippered out 350 courts all over LA that were in rough shape. The Clippers just pledged the largest LA donation ever, and already give FAR more than the Lakers to the inner city.

Give it time. Give it decades. Because it took 30 years of the Lakers history to eclipse the Clippers. It won't be undone in 7 years. The next generation of fans will be adults in a decade and you'll see A LOT more Clippers fans. Especially if they can win rings. The Warriors were a lot like Clippers 30 years prior to their dynasty. They had their loyal fans within the area, but not much spread. Now Warriors hats/jerseys all over the country. It takes time.

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Just don't see it happening in our lifetime. Oakland didn't have to compete against a juggernaut like the Lakers. As another poster said, the Clippers have always represented the counterculture of L.A. They're people who aren't from L.A. but want to root for a team other than the Lakers. And then there are families who just want to go to a game for a fourth of what a Laker game would cost. Those two groups make up the vast majority of the clipper fanbase.

The Clippers were competing in the playoffs when the Lakers were at their lowest point in franchise history. It still didn't matter. Lakers were still the talk of the town. I think Ballmer had the right idea with getting the media on his payroll though. He can't do it on his own if even winning isn't enough. Just a few months ago Doc was in panic mode and ready to suggest moving the team to Seattle. This "change" is still in its infancy.

You're right it'll take decades, but how many? Kawhi just has an "off" personality and PG is easily influenced. What happens when they're gone? How many superstars fit into the L.A. counterculture? It's rare. Like I said, I really don't think it'll be my lifetime.

JellosJigglin · Post #80 » by **JellosJigglin** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:10 pm

SK21209 wrote:Neither Kawhi nor a single Clipper fan gives a **** that LA is a Lakers town. How pathetic of a person do you have to be to draw a sense of bravado from the fact that you're a fan of the popular team in town

San Diego has always hated the Lakers and all teams associated with L.A. I lived there for 4 years. I could see the disenfranchised basketball fans there jumping on the Clipper bandwagon. They should take the Clippers back.