Are The Clippers The Premier Team In Los Angeles?

Are the Clippers the premier team in Los Angeles?

After Wednesday night’s absolutely brutal beating taken by the Los Angeles Lakers by their crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, it is becoming almost a joke that the purple and gold still claim to be main attraction in the city of angels.

The Clipper starters all had ridiculous plus/minus numbers from the game, with Chris Paul a ludicrous plus-44 in 31 minutes of action, while the alleged star of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, tied for the “lead” on his team with a game worst minus-34.

Even the final score, 114-89, did not accurately tell just how much better the Clippers were on the court. A strong fourth quarter by Laker bench scrubs made the game seem like a run of the mill poor performance, when in reality the Clippers were ahead by 36 points at one time before the end of the bench turned things around.

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This marked the Clippers’ fifth straight victory over America’s favorite bandwagon team, the best stretch against their Pacific Division rivals ever.  So is it safe to say that the glory days in Lakerland are long gone, and that Lob City has stolen the hearts of both Californians and fans nationwide?

Are all of those hipster followers throwing their gold No. 24 jerseys into the trash, or trying desperately to sell them on craigslist for the money needed to buy red, white, and blue apparel?

Last April, when the NBA released the top selling jerseys, Kobe Bryant was still third on the list, despite his injuries and poor production when on the court. Chris Paul, of the Clippers was No. 8.

However, looking at the 2014-15 season, maybe there is a different story? The Clippers are actually outdrawing the Lakers in attendance so far, averaging about 200 more fans at each game. That figures to only get worse, as the nightmare season continues for the Pacific Division cellar dwellers.

Even more telling is how the reputation of the two franchises have changed. There was a time when no self-respecting NBA player of any caliber would choose the Clippers over the Lakers. Donald Sterling over the late Dr. Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson, and Phil Jackson?

It has only been less than a year since the infamous racist audio recordings of Mr Sterling was released, causing players on a championship contending Clipper team to contemplate walking off the court of a playoff game in protest.

However, with the removal of Sterling, and the acquisition of the Clippers by former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer, suddenly the little brother has more money and more respect than the great Dr. Buss’ spoiled children running one of the NBA’s formerly premiere franchises into the ground.

Byron Scott is delusional when he says that free agents still will want to come to Los Angeles to play for the Lakers. Carmelo Anthony did not even consider Los Angeles when he entered unrestricted free-agency last year, instead deciding between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls.

LeBron James was courted by the Lakers last summer as well, but I think Lloyd had a better chance of getting with Mary Swanson than the Lakers had of landing James.

The future is not so bright for the Lakers either. Yes, they might be looking at finishing with a good lottery pick this year, but unfortunately that pick, unless it lands in the top five, will be going to the Phoenix Suns, via the disaster that was the Steve Nash sign and trade.

Meanwhile, the Clippers have two perennial all-star players on their team, both under age 30. This team will be in the playoff picture for at least the next few years, if not the next decade. With solid ownership in place, and with a marquee coach in Doc Rivers overseeing basketball operations, its hard to imagine this organization slipping back into the dark days of the Sterling era.

Free agents will want to come and play with Chris Paul, as seen by the relatively easy courtship of prized big man Spencer Hawes, who spurned all other offers for the warm weather and championship aspirations of the Los Angeles Clippers.

FiveThirtyEight.com put together their future power rankings, determining which teams were most and least likely to win a championship by the end of the decade. The Clippers finished third, behind only the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Lakers meanwhile, placed third from the bottom, with only the bottom feeding Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks below them.

The team at FiveThirtyEight.com believe the Clippers are more than ten times more likely to win a championship than the Lakers. Rings are what matter to all those bandwagon fans out there, just the ability to say my(currently adopted) team is better than yours.

Those legions of annoying Kobe-defending hipster dufuses that have been blocking traffic and talking during the movie while wearing purple and gold jerseys will not stand by and support a dysfunctional franchise.

It will not be long before you notice that more and more often, that car that cuts you off because they had no idea where they are going, will be sporting a Clippers’ logo. The long awaited day of reckoning is at hand for what was once the NBA’s most popular franchise.