The Clippers didn't wait long to respond to Elgin Baylor's suit alleging unfair treatment and race-based discrimination. According to Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times, a statement put out by the team denies Baylor was ever treated differently because of his race and actually blames Baylor for the team's decades of losing.Meanwhile, team owner Donald Sterling (who seems central to most of the allegations) offered up disbelief that Baylor would sue.
Dillman spoke to Sterling briefly following L.A.'s home win over the Knicks.
"How long was he with us? Twenty-something years," Sterling said. "I haven't read the complaint, so I don't know. I can't imagine (it) because Elgin has always been very, very close to me. Every time we go anywhere, we go together. We eat together. We go to games together. But I'll read it. ... He's a fabulous person. And he has a fabulous wife. I think there's some mistake. You read it?"It seems a little late for flattery. The Clippers' general counsel, Robert H. Platt, would seem to agree with that sentiment. From the team's statement, penned by Platt:
"It's hard to believe that he would now make these ridiculous claims after the organization stood by him for 22 years and only three playoff appearances. It would be hard to find any sports team that has demonstrated greater loyalty to its general manager."Sterling has long been accused of cheapness, and -- while Baylor wasn't known as a good GM -- the owner's unwillingness to pay top dollar for free agents has been cited most often as the reason the team has stunk. The team had never signed a free agent that wasn't already a Clipper to a major deal until 2006, when Baylor signed Cuttino Mobley to a five-year, $42 million deal. Since then, the only two major free agent signings have been Tim Thomas (a four-year, $24 million deal in 2006) and Baron Davis (a five-year, $65 million deal last summer). To be fair to everyone involved, it'd be hard to say any of those deals have worked out ... though Mobley was an integral part of the 2006 playoff team.
Dillman also reports that in the suit, Baylor alleges that Sterling told him that he had a "vision of a Southern plantation-type structure" for the Clippers, with "poor black boys from the South and a white head coach." As we noted Wednesday night, Sterling has hired 13 head coaches as Clippers owner. Three were black and 10 were white.
As we also noted Wednesday, Sterling has been sued by the federal government for discriminating against blacks in his housing units in Los Angeles. (Sterling made his fortune mostly through real estate.) In 2005, a federal district judge ordered Sterling to pay plaintiffs in a fair housing complaint $5 million. The judge called it one of the largest fair housing related fines in U.S. history.
