Is This Any Way to Run a Team? : Clipper Management Has Much to Overcome--Including Itself

Waves of indifference swept over the Sports Arena in the second half of a recent Clipper game that had, as Clipper games have a way of doing, dissolved into a blowout loss. If the Boston Celtics’ 20-point lead hadn’t put the crowd in that mood, then the depressing lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Goin’ Down” during a timeout surely must have.

The Clipper mascot, whose oversized cartoon face is always smiling no matter what the score, tried to elicit some response by enthusiastically bouncing onto the court, carrying two pennants.

He unfurled the one with the Clipper logo, which certainly did not produce the desired response. Boos rose from the courtside seats, mingling with those filtering down from the upper reaches.

Then, a pennant of the Celtics was offered. It drew perhaps the loudest cheers of the night.

On the Clipper bench, one player covered his face with a towel. Another cringed.

“Personally, that was the low point this season,” a Clipper veteran said later. “Don’t we get any support?”

Frustrated players on losing teams everywhere no doubt have asked that question. But the Clippers, as anyone even vaguely familiar with the team knows, are not just another loser. When players complain about lack of support, you have to ask whether they mean from fans or the front office, from the media or upper management.

Not only are the Clippers struggling on the court--they have a 14-28 record just past the halfway point of the regular season in the National Basketball Assn.--the franchise has been involved in an array of controversial moves that have directly and indirectly contributed to the team’s troubles.

Based on their actions since owner Donald T. Sterling moved the team to Los Angeles from San Diego May 15, 1984, the Clippers seem more concerned with torts than sports.

In the last nine months alone, the Clippers have:

--Filed a $100-million countersuit against the NBA, which has sued the Clippers for $25 million for moving without permission. The Clippers accuse the league and the 22 other teams of “various fraudulent acts” over the last four years.

--Engaged in a bitter seven-week negotiation last spring with Coach Don Chaney. He said he was embarrassed by the Clippers’ first offer of $75,000, which is less than most assistant coaches earn.

--Rocked the NBA by filing for arbitration against the Milwaukee Bucks in an attempt to rescind the 1984 trade for Marques Johnson on the ground that the Bucks purposely withheld information on Johnson’s stay at a drug rehabilitation center.

--Needed four months to complete the Bill Walton-for-Cedric Maxwell trade, which Celtic General Manager Jan Volk called the roughest negotiations he ever encountered.

--Waited until the start of training camp before seriously negotiating the contract of rookie center Benoit Benjamin, whose 10-day absence “set him back a half a season,” according to Chaney.

--Squared off against free-agent guard Norm Nixon in litigious and acrimonious negotiations, which ended 13 games into the season and cost the Clippers about $1 million more than Nixon originally sought.

--Debated the fate of Chaney during a particularly rocky period in December before deciding to give him a week to win, or else. He won two games. He stayed.

The Clippers also have at least two other lawsuits pending and are involved in arbitration with two players, Johnson and Michael Cage, concerning money owed. The franchise’s image has been further tarnished by what apparently is a regular practice of paying bills--for hotels, radio air time, travel, and the like--significantly and, some creditors say, purposely late.

All of which has contributed to the widespread belief that the Clippers are the worst-managed franchise in the NBA and, arguably, all of professional sports.

More than a few executives from teams privately compare the Clippers to the Cleveland Cavaliers during Ted Stepien’s reign of error. And about half of the Clipper players hope that management will someday walk the plank.

“Why don’t you go back to San Diego?” --Anonymous fan calling the Clipper office recently

Surprising as it may sound, things can get worse for the Clippers. They were worse, in fact, during Sterling’s three seasons in San Diego. There, the team lost with even greater regularity, operated on an even slimmer budget, stood not just up to its ankles but knee-deep in lawsuits, and sometimes refused altogether to pay bills.

So, when it is suggested that the franchise is a mess, General Manager Carl Scheer reacts defensively and delivers a brief history lesson of previous Clipper ineptitude.

“When I came here (after the move to L.A.), this franchise had done things strangely,” said Scheer, part of the four-pronged management team that includes Sterling, president Alan Rothenberg, Scheer and vice president-general counsel Arn Tellem. “If you check back at what they did in San Diego, like traveling from San Diego to Dallas to get somewhere else. We don’t do that anymore.

“One of the positives this franchise has done is upgrade the way it’s run. Maybe that’s just getting back to standard, but . . . What we’ve faced is not unusual for a lot of (NBA) franchises.”

Is it standard, though, when your bewildered coach is served a subpoena in the locker room before a road game, because the team had not paid a bill? That happened to former coach Jim Lynam last January in Phoenix.

It seems that the Clippers were delinquent in paying a bill to a Phoenix businessman whom the Clippers had contracted to print T-shirts for a promotional night. Frustrated in trying to get paid for his services, the man waited until the Clippers came to town and had papers served on the highest-ranking front-office employee on the scene--the coach.

The Clippers eventually paid that bill. In fact, sources in and out of the organization say that since the move, the club always pays its bills, although not always on time. One reason the Clippers are paying up is so that they will be able to show in their pending suit with the NBA that the franchise is stable.

Still, the Clippers sometimes wait until legal action is threatened before paying.

Fred Beaton, the general manager of radio station KIEV, which broadcast Clipper games for most of last season, said that it took the threat of a suit last spring to get the Clippers to pay for their airtime. Beaton said that the Clippers owed his station more than $10,000.

“I promised the Clippers I would not release (the exact figure) if they paid us, but I can say that we made a very concerted effort to get our money,” Beaton said. “We had our lawyer go to a banquet in Beverly Hills we knew Don Sterling was at and personally ask Sterling to pay.

“It turns out that our lawyer knows Sterling, but Sterling told him to go through Carl Scheer. But Scheer was the one I had the problem with. Sterling then tells him to have me stop by his (Beverly Hills) office and I’d be paid. And I was--in two installments. He had the checks waiting each time. I’m happy we solved it without suing.”

Sources high in Clipper management maintain that Sterling is well off financially, and the San Diego Union once reported that the gross value of his holdings in Beverly Hills and elsewhere in the Southland ranged from $300 million to $700 million. It simply is Sterling’s philosophy, according to sources, to collect interest on the money owed for as long as he can.

Scheer, who handles the day-to-day administrative and basketball business, is not aware when or if bills are paid because the billing office is in Beverly Hills and is strictly controlled by Sterling.

In his previous jobs as general manager at Denver and with the Carolina Cougars, Scheer signed the checks. Here, he apparently is not aware of overdue bills until creditors call the Clipper offices at the Sports Arena to complain.

“One way the bills get paid is that (Scheer) calls Sterling’s personal lawyers to let them know,” a highly placed Clipper source said. “Hotels are still a big problem, but it’s so much better than San Diego.”

Said Scheer, the only Clipper executive who agreed to be interviewed for this story: “I’m not at liberty to talk about (the franchise’s financial status). I think it’s an invasion of privacy. I’ll have to take my licks and be silent about it.

“As far as I know, we’ve been paying our bills. A lot of people pay late. The only comment I can make is that, like many teams, we’ve had cash flow problems. We’ve paid people. We just pay in some instances slower than we could.

“It is not a good image for the franchise, but it’s not inconsistent with what a lot of franchises go through that are struggling. . . . I’ll bet you there were times, not recently, when the Lakers were slow to pay. I’m not dismissing it or saying it’s something to be proud of, but it’s a fact of life.”

Indeed, it is for the Clippers. Among those who have been paid late are former Clipper broadcaster Eddie Doucette, who was owed medical benefits that eventually were paid; Doucette’s statistician, and conditioning coach Jim Bush, whom Scheer says has been paid in full and still is working with the Clippers.

“Poor Carl,” said a close friend of Scheer. “He shouldn’t have to put up with this.”

Scheer, however, convinced Sterling to increase the travel budget so that Brad Greenberg, assistant coach and director of player personnel, can scout college talent. Also, the Clippers travel first-class, which was not always so in San Diego, and the team has not been forced to switch hotels because of nonpayment, as it did once in San Diego.

“Whether I’ve had to battle (Sterling) or not, it’s been done,” Scheer said.

Yet, there has been attrition in the office in the last year and not all who left have been replaced, among them Bob King, a vice president. He quit last June because of philosophical differences, according to Scheer. The sales staff has been trimmed significantly. And Sterling has Scheer on a monthly budget, although Scheer reportedly sought a looser yearly budget during his contract negotiations last spring.

Such is the Clippers’ reputation that even decisions not based on economics are often perceived as economic by outsiders.

When the Clippers traded center James Donaldson to Dallas for Kurt Nimphius in late November--saving about $300,000 in the move--Scheer said the deal was made simply because he was down on Donaldson’s play.

But when a reporter called Nimphius the day of the trade and asked what he thought the trade happened, he said: “Everyone (in Dallas) told me it was because they needed the money after signing Nixon.”

Darnell Valentine’s first game as a Clipper, in the wake of last week’s trade with Portland, was over and he was telling reporters how happy he was to be with the Clippers.

A columnist for the Orange County Register was sitting nearby, talking to Marques Johnson, and both overheard Valentine’s remarks.

“He’ll learn,” Johnson told the columnist. “He’ll learn.”

Clipper players aren’t too enamored with management, which is not unusual among losing teams. But in this instance, it goes deeper.

The Christmas party for the players, originally scheduled for Sterling’s Beverly Hills mansion, reportedly was scratched because management feared that no player would show. Instead, there was a brief afternoon gathering for players and staff at the Sports Arena.

Johnson, for instance, has had to endure the hurt of the Clippers’ arbitration action against the Bucks, and still has a grievance pending in a contract dispute. Even though Rothenberg was quoted as saying that the suit against the Bucks “was nothing personal,” Johnson said he felt unwanted and that his “name had been dragged through the mud.”

Cage currently is involved in a legal case involving an Italian team he signed with before last season. He later changed his mind and signed with the Clippers.

The Italian team is suing both the Clippers and Cage. Cage chose to use his own lawyer instead of Rothenberg’s firm and the Clippers apparently refused to pay Cage’s legal fees, which Cage says was agreed upon in his contract. So they will go to arbitration to determine if the Clippers have to pay Cage’s fees.

“You try not to let it affect you, but it hangs over your head,” Cage said. “I’m constantly thinking about it. When the Clippers wouldn’t pay the fees, it hurt.”

Nixon also feels unappreciated and has said that he expects to be traded at the end of the season, when his no-trade clause expires.

Contract problems aren’t restricted to the players, though. Scheer worked under an oral agreement for nearly seven months before finally signing his contract two months ago, and KGIL, a radio station in the San Fernando Valley, is suing the Clippers in a contract dispute. The station maintains that it had a written agreement last summer to broadcast the games before the Clippers signed with KMPC.

“The Clippers have too many lawyers running the show,” said Jim Fitzgerald, former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. “It was ridiculous to take us to arbitration over Marques Johnson. The NBA has to get more basketball people and less lawyers running teams.”

Several Clipper players would agree. During Chaney’s crisis in December, Johnson said: “The franchise doesn’t make you want to play for them. . . . You tell yourself, ‘We’re going to play hard, despite how we feel.’ We’re supposed to not have feelings when we step on the court.”

Cedric Maxwell, the team comedian, calls the affliction franchise-itis .

Clipper guard Junior Bridgeman, president of the NBA Players Assn., took a more philosophic view.

“When you look at how athletes develop, you are trained to play for the team, for school spirit,” he said. “Not until the pros do you realize it’s a business. . . . We’re getting paid to play, but a lot of the things that have gone on here makes it hard. We’ve had a truckload of distractions.

“I do think there’s still hope for the team, but there’s hurt in Norm’s eyes. Norm’s been hurt twice this year. Marques says he’s playing for Don (Chaney) and his own pride. (Playing with the Clippers) definitely has been an education for me.”

Scheer said the management-player feuds are overblown and that he has made an effort to do positive things for the players.

“I’m not going to wave my flag, but who do you think voluntarily gave (forward) Rory White a new contract?” Scheer asked. “I didn’t have to do it. I changed his contract. I did that. Ask Marques the things my wife and I have done for him. Try to find the good things. Maybe there aren’t too many of them. But try to find some.”

Scheer did renegotiate White’s contract, but only after White had been asked near the end of training camp to take a pay cut.

Originally, White signed a nonguaranteed contract for $110,000, which means he would get that amount if he made the team. A few days before the season began, the Clippers decided they wanted White, but not at $110,000. So, they contemplated waiving White, hoping that another team would not pick him up so that they could re-sign him for the NBA minimum of $70,000.

Instead, they approached White and asked him to simply accept the $40,000 pay cut so he would not have to be waived. White, apparently worried about getting another job in the NBA, grudgingly agreed.

Only after White proved to be one the team’s hardest working players did the Clippers decide to renegotiate the contract back to $110,000.

“Is that positive?” one Clipper asked.

Johnson confirmed that Scheer and his wife, Marsha, supported him in the trying months after the Clippers filed suit against the Bucks.

“In fact, Carl was so supportive I began to wonder if he still was part of management,” Johnson said.

Which brings up another point. One of the players’ most consistent complaints about management is that they aren’t certain who is in charge.

The Clippers’ action against the Bucks is a prime example. Scheer wrote a pointed and persuasive report to Sterling, detailing the reasons not to pursue the matter, but Rothenberg wanted to seek compensation from the Bucks. Sterling went with Rothenberg.

Rothenberg also wanted Chaney fired in December, but Scheer wanted to give him more time. Scheer won that one.

“There are not battles going on, not disagreements, either,” said Scheer, adding that he and Rothenberg are friends as well as associates. “The problem we’ve had is that our views have become public . . . so it appears that the organization is in disarray or disagreement. That’s our own fault.”

Scheer called Sterling the ultimate authority on all decisions.

“He owns the team,” Scheer said. “It’s his money. He can exercise his power and authority on any issue.”

It was Sterling who ordered Scheer to fire Lynam last March 6, five days after Scheer said that Lynam “absolutely, positively” would remain as coach for the rest of the season.

But Sterling also has come up with some ideas that have been ignored. Last season, Sterling suggested that Donaldson stay after practice an hour each day and just dribble the ball, nothing else.

Sterling, the story goes, also wanted to hire former Laker Coach Paul Westhead as his coach last summer because his up-and-down career resembled that of the lawyer Paul Newman portrayed in the movie “The Verdict.” Sterling wanted to give Westhead one last chance in the NBA.

Don Greenberg of the Orange County Register said that he approached Sterling before one game to check a rumor that an Orange County group had bought into the Clippers. Sterling was asked about a group representing the Westdome, a project to build an arena in Santa Ana and lure an NBA team.

Sterling’s reply, according to Greenberg: “Uh, I don’t know this Wes Dome fellow.”

According to Scheer, perhaps the Clippers’ biggest problem is that the media and, to a lesser extent, the players have not forgotten the club’s escapades the final three years in San Diego.

“There are a lot of skeletons and they weren’t removed by moving 90 miles up the road,” Scheer said. “A lot of criticism has been justified. A lot has not been. The San Diego experience has been a black mark to this franchise. People prejudge us by that now.”

Scheer, in part, blames the media in Los Angeles for perpetuating that image. He terms it “selective bias,” meaning that the media only chooses to report the negative aspects of the franchise.

“There’s no emphasis on anything positive,” he said.

Deservedly or not, the media have criticized the Clippers this season.

Ailene Voisin, Clipper beat writer for the Herald-Examiner, wrote in a commentary: “ . . . (Clipper executives) run a regime rampant with instability, insecurity and total disregard for human dignity . . . “

Times columnist Mike Downey wrote: “If you are loyal to the Clippers, you had better not call them a screwed-up team. They could sue you for definition of character.”

What bothers Scheer as much as the bad ink is the lack of interest by the fans. The Clippers rank third to last in attendance, although they do have have a modest following of loyal fans.

Obviously, many of the empty seats would be occupied if the Clippers’ record were better, but Scheer believes that the franchise’s image needs to be reversed.

“The franchise lacks credibility and that bothers me,” he said.

Bridgeman, speaking for the players, said that one way to improve working conditions and turn around the franchise is for management and the players to pull in the same direction, rather than continuing a tug of war.

“After all, we’re all in the same boat, or the Clipper ship, so to speak,” Bridgeman said.

The only other alternative would be for the Clippers to set sail for another port and try not to run aground. But another change of cities or change of ownership appears not likely.

“Sterling won’t even consider selling or moving it,” a source close to Sterling said. “He loves L.A.”

Los Angeles, it seems, has yet to take Sterling, or his Clippers, to its heart.

THE LOWLIGHTS

Since the Clippers have moved to Los Angeles, they have. . .

Filed a $100-million countersuit against the NBA, which has sued the Clippers for $25 million for moving without permission. The Clippers accuse the league and the 22 other teams of “various fraudulent acts” the last four years.

Engaged in a bitter seven-week negotiation last spring with Coach Don Chaney. He said he was embarrassed by the Clippers’ first offer of $75,000, which is less than most assistant coaches earn.

Rocked the NBA by filing for arbitration against the Milwaukee Bucks in an attempt to rescind the 1984 trade for Marques Johnson on the ground that the Bucks purposely withheld information of Johnson’s stay at a drug rehabilitation center.

Needed four months to complete the Bill Walton-for-Cedric Maxwell trade, which Celtic General Manager Jan Volk called the roughest negotiations he ever encountered.

Waited until the start of training camp before seriously negotiating the contract of rookie center Benoit Benjamin, whose 10-day absence “set him back a half a season,” according to Chaney.

Squared off against free-agent guard Norm Nixon in litigious and acrimonious negotiation, which ended 13 games into the season and cost the Clippers about $1 million more than Nixon originally sought.

Debated the fate of Chaney during a particularly rocky period in December before deciding to give him a week to win, or else. He won two games. He stayed.