One of the worst general managers in the history of pro sports is suing the team that he GM’d for 22 years, because of race and age discrimation, as well as the fact that he claims he was way underpaid

SCOTT JACOBS

You ever look at a real story, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to make sure it’s not a joke?

I kind of did that today.

After reading that former General Manager Elgin Baylor is suing the Clippers, the team he helped build and ultimately run into the ground (over, and over, and over again), I had to  clean my glasses, and make sure that what I was reading was actually a legitimate news story.  Because Elgin Baylor suing the Clippers has to be the most hilarious lawsuit in recent memory.  I’m sorry Elgin if you come across this article while Googling yourself, but are you freaking kidding me?

The Clippers were one of the worst teams in the history of pro sports when you were GM for them, posting just three playoff seasons in 22 years!  How you lasted even a decade is beyond anyone’s comprehension.  How you lasted over two decades at the top of the garbage mountain that is the Clippers is simply unexplainable.  Even the Lions came to their senses with Matt Millen, and we thought seven years was long!

Apparently when Baylor resigned last year it wasn’t because of constant ridicule that he was a crappy GM.  Nope apparently, the former NBA great had a beef with how the Clippers treated him, claiming that they discriminated against his age (him being old I guess?), his race (african american), and that he was “grossly underpaid.”

Seriously, stop laughing now.  This is a real lawsuit, and it’s a serious one at that.

From the L.A. Times:

Baylor alleges in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles that team owner Donald Sterling has embraced a “vision of a Southern plantation-type structure” for his NBA franchise, accusing him of decades-long racist behavior.

There’s nothing funny about that paragraph, and it disgusts me that we still live in a world where this happens, or where people perceive that this is happening to them.

Alleging that Sterling, long perceived to be one of the worst owners in pro sports, treated his franchise like a plantation in the South is beyond sick, it’s repulsively out of line.  And let’s say for a minute that Baylor is maybe telling the truth: why would he have stayed perfectly quiet about this for 22 years if he was being treated like a ’slave?’  Who would possibly stay mum on something like that?

Further damning his credibility is that he was in a position of power as their general manager, and that he’s a NBA Hall of Famer.  This isn’t Joe Nobody we’re talking about.  Baylor was a major somebody.  The idea that he could be disrespected so horribly doesn’t make any sense?  The idea that he was grossly underpaid as messed up as this sounds, almost sounds fair, considering how awful the teams he constructed were.

“It’s hard to believe that he would now make these ridiculous claims after the organization stood by him during 22 years and only three playoff appearances,” said Clippers team attorney Robert H. Platt.  “It would be hard to find any sports team that has demonstrated greater loyalty to its general manager.”

And I couldn’t agree more.  The Clippers had top 10 picks year in and year out for decades, and could never build around them and create winning teams.  Remember Michael Olowakandi?  He was one of the many Clipper draft busts that graced the seemingly cursed Clippers franchise.  How about Shaun Livingston?  He was going to be the next Magic, and then a devesatating injury derailed what looked like a promising career. And not all of those things were Baylor’s faults.  But it’s an accident if it happens once, a concern if it happens twice, and a pattern of misery if it keeps happening year after year.

Apparently Baylor was only paid $350,000 at the most during his time with the Clippers, which does on the surface seem low for a high profile NBA job. However, three playoff trips in 22 years shouldn’t get you a bonus.  It shouldn’t even allow you to keep your job.  What it should do is get you kicked to the curb.

So Elgin, if you’re listening, I sure as hell hope you know what you’re doing.  These are serious claims you’re putting on the Clippers franchises, and rumor has it, they have enough problems as it is.  For a man who tried to ‘help’ build them a winner for over two decades this can’t possibly help them, or their reputation.

It’s a bizarre story, and one that is worth following as more details become available.  One thing’s for sure, if you thought it couldn’t get worse for the Clippers and their sorry franchise, well once again, you’ve been proven wrong.

Championships for the Lakers.  Lawsuits and further misery and ridicule for that other L.A. team.

What’s new?  Well, nothing really.

LA Times article: Elgin Baylor sues Clippers, claiming rascism
Photo: AP Photo by Reed Saxon

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