Los Angeles vs. Los Angeles, Part One … of many.
Yes, it’s finally on. Ever since the Clippers moved here in 1984, people have pushed the notion of an intracity rivalry, but between owner Donald Sterling’s farcical bumbling and the Lakers’ majesty, there never was one.
Now there is. You could argue there has been one for years with the Clippers going 23-5 against the Lakers the past seven seasons, but it’s not about winning games in the regular season. It’s about which team(s) can go deep into the playoffs, the only thing that counts here … and it could wind up being “both of them.”
In any case, I expect to write about 20 or so Lakers-Clippers updates.
I know, why so few?
Hey, the season is only 25 weeks long or I would do more.
It’s not just the local teams, fans and press girding for excitement.
Until recent years, New York was the capital of NBA writers, with access to league officials leading to scoops for media heavyweights, starting with the New York Post’s Pete Vecsey, who invented the breezy notion of NBA columns with his slashing, news-hound style.
Vecsey retired to be replaced by … no one. Instead of capitalizing on the opportunity, the Post’s struggling rival, the New York Daily News, laid off NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence, as well as star Knicks beat writer Frank Isola, who tripped adroitly into an on-air role at ESPN.
Now with the Knicks as squalid as the Sterling-era Clippers, East Coast media outlets are sending flights of NBA correspondents west.
The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis notes a line of newly minted, L.A.-based NBA writers. The New York Times and Washington Post each have one, as do NBA.com and Fox.com. The Athletic has six writers and podcasters based here. ESPN has a veritable bureau focused on the NBA with Rachel Nichols, Ramona Shelburne, Dave McMenamin, Baxter Holmes, Kevin Arnovitz and Ohm Youngmisuk.
Los Angeles, the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay told Curtis, has become “Hemingway’s Paris of NBA media dorks.”
As for wrinkles, the dorks will have plenty to keep themselves occupied.
The Lakers want to go back to being the Lakers of Old … which they haven’t been in this decade, missing the playoffs the past six seasons while averaging 55 losses.
Their immediate challenge is securing Anthony Davis, who refused to commit himself beyond this season upon arrival. (“I have one year here, so I’m going make the best of this year. And when that time comes around in the summer or, you know, whenever the season’s over – hopefully, around, you know, mid-June, after we just had a parade and I need a couple days to think – then we can talk about that.”)
At 26 to Kawhi Leonard’s 28 and Paul George’s 29, Davis was the prize of the summer – or would have been with any assurance of keeping him – representing a bridge to a future that would enable the Lakers to recruit more stars to join him, as LeBron James recruited A.D. to join him.
So, Lakers fans wouldn’t want to see anything go too wrong this season.
You know, the way things went despite the arrival of James last season.
The Clippers conquered respectability, averaging 52 wins over the past seven seasons. Their challenge is legitimacy in a market in which the Lakers long ago raised the standard to championship-or-bust.
Now the Clippers directory starts with owner Steve Ballmer, GM Lawrence Frank and consultant Jerry West, heading a staff of young officials whom other teams keep trying to steal.
Their Blake Griffin-Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan trio that unraveled two seasons ago was a star-studded show, just not good enough to reach the Western Conference finals.
It remains to be seen how far the less glamorous, more efficient Kawhi-PG-Lou Williams-Montrezl Harrell nucleus gets, but they look like legitimate contenders (and NBA GMs appear to agree).
It also remains to be seen if the Clippers can peel off Lakers fans.
It never has happened, but there has never been an opportunity like this.
Harry Bluebond, a die-hard Lakers fan, notes he will have more interest in the Clippers with “so many pieces in place and with a great infrastructure from Ballmer to Frank to (Coach) Doc (Rivers) to Kahwi, George, Lou, Montrezl.”
On the other hand, Bluebond has seen Lakers owner Jeanie Buss “passing on Jerry West when I knew he wanted back in with the Lakers as a consultant,” to Magic Johnson quitting, to LeBron’s denouncing Daryl Morey’s use of freedom of speech regarding the Hong Kong protestors, noting, “It will take a little time to settle back with the Lakers.”
Now to see if this will again be their town. It’s a tale of one city, but whose?
