With the Clips headed for a top-five pick in a crappy draft and owner Donald Sterling unwilling to dump floundering coach/GM Mike Dunleavy, fan and franchise morale is cratering even for this perpetually depressed team. You could hear scattered boos after a few of Baron's misses last night, a rare display of hostility from the emotionally battered faithful. As the saying goes, if a Clippers fan is reading a newspaper in his living room and the ceiling falls on him, he'll just shrug and move to another room. To get this crowd to turn on you takes some doing.
Baron has pushed them to the brink. Those in attendance know only that he signed for $65 million and promised to turn around their wretched franchise and now is shooting a career-low 35% and hasn't been healthy all season. Against the Suns, he looked as if he'd rather have been anywhere else, jogging around with a how-the-hell-did-I-get-here? look. In Section 102, where I own two seats, diehards have been on him for weeks. Play some defense, Baron! Wake up, Baron! Come on, Baron! They feel let down.
And Elton's your friend, right?
"Was a friend," Baron says. Past tense. Elton ignored Davis' "What's going on?" texts for three days, finally responding to say his own negotiations had broken down because the Clippers "didn't treat him right." Brand soon landed in Philly. Baron called to wish him well, but they haven't talked since. When the Clippers played Philly in November, the ex-friends didn't even make eye contact. "It is what it is," Baron says. He glances again at the phone. Thirty minutes to deadline.
"I'm gonna have the best year of my career next year," Baron vows again. "That's all I can say."
Bill Simmons, ESPN
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