FanHouse Donald Sterling

The skeletons in Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's closet have been a poorly kept secret for years -- and now they're a matter of public record. According to the Los Angeles Times, Sterling and his wife have agreed to pay a whopping $2.725 million to make a federal lawsuit alleging housing discrimination go away.

Although Sterling, who runs his real estate empire as competently as his NBA team, officially denies any wrongdoing, the fact remains that the settlement, once officially approved by a U.S. District judge, is projected to go down as the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case.

Even if Sterling is officially allowed to save face by calling the settlement a business decision (a "compromise of disputed claims," according to court documents obtained by the Times) instead of an admission of guilt, it's still a black stain on the NBA -- and one it needs to address.

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal emptied his notebook on the paper's Grizzlies blog. The most incredible (if not uncredible) rumor had Clippers owner Donald Sterling nixing a trade which would have sent troubled/troubling Zach Randolph to Memphis for Darko Milicic and Greg Buckner. Darko instead went to the Knicks for Quentin Richardson and cash. Z-Bo remains directly in Blake Griffin's path and peripheral vision.

I have absolutely no clue why Sterling would nix a deal like this. The Clippers had nearly a full season to realize Randolph isn't worth it. He scores frequently but inefficiently, which is spyspeak for "he takes way too many shots." He's a great rebounder ... but so are Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman and Griffin. Randolph will make more than $33 million over the next two seasons, while Darko (a far better defender than Z-Bo) has a $7.5-million contract which expires after 2009-10 and Buckner's contract can be bought out for about $2 million.

Peter Keating's recent ESPN The Magazine story on the troubling background of Clippers owner Donald Sterling ends on a contemplative if uncomfortable note. After a 5,000-word narrative on Sterling's forays into racism, sexism, misogyny and the owner's complete lack of self-awareness -- all reported in painful detail -- Keating leaves the reader with a bit of a question: why isn't anyone in the NBA stopping him?

It's an uncomfortable question, not just for Secaucus or fellow owners or Sterling's players. It's uncomfortable for NBA fans, too.

Moments after learning that his team had won the 2009 NBA Draft lottery, Clippers president Andy Roeser had a look of euphoria. Within an hour later, he was already back to work taking questions from reporters in a post-lottery conference call.

Roeser didn't come right out and say the Clippers were going to draft Blake Griffin, but he certainly didn't hold back any compliments when talking about him, either.

For a full transcript of his comments, from his thoughts on Mike Dunleavy's job security ("We have every intention of opening camp with Coach Dunleavy this year -- although I think that we have every intention of approaching some things differently, too.") to his not-so-vague comments about which veterans need to improve ("Baron Davis did not have a particularly good season. He knows that; we know that."), keep reading.

Stop ringing Thursday's alarm system, y'all, as Isiah Thomas will not be drawing a paycheck from the Los Angeles Clippers any time soon. In fact, reports Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times (via CN), Isiah approached the Clippers asking to work for them pro bono because his daughter will attend college in Southern California next season.

Current coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy listened to the (very!) generous offer, but declined.

Few terms in the NBA lexicon draw more guffaws of pity than "Los Angeles Clippers." One term which certainly has a case would be "Isiah Thomas." In fact, in a tournament of Most Hilariously Bad Things About the NBA, the Clips and Isiah would assuredly be one seeds (along with Darko Milicic and the microfiber ball).

It may pique your interest then, that according to ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan, Isiah recently discussed a potential role in the Clippers front office with team owner Donald Sterling. Stock up on beans and barricade the doors, my friends.

Over the weekend, the Boston Globe offered up a report suggesting the Clippers could be looking to replace Mike Dunleavy as general manager this summer. In 2006, Dunleavy, you may remember, signed a fat extension that pays him more than $5 million a year and runs through 2011. Either way, Clippers owner Donald Sterling is willing to take on the losses by either canning Dunleavy or forcing him to reliniguish his personnel duties and have him focus on coaching.

To that effect, KNBC in Los Angeles reports that the Clippers recently reached out to Lakers legend Jerry West regarding to GM position. Surprising no one, West apparently declined.

It would be disingenuous for me to fail to prequalify any comments I have about Clippers owner Donald Sterling with the admission that I think he's a complete skeez. So: I think Donald Sterling is a complete skeez. I have little respect for him as an NBA owner, or as a man.

But this is basketball, and Sterling is (in theory) a basketball man, and so let's talk about basketball, man. According to numerous reports, including one from Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times, Sterling entered the locker room after the Clippers' Monday loss to San Antonio and berated the entire team. According to Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sterling told Al Thornton that he was the most selfish player he'd ever seen and told coach Mike Dunleavy to shut up.

Elton Brand's Philadelphia press conference shed a little light on why he chose to leave the Clippers for the Sixers, but not too much. There were still the questions of David Falk (Brand's agent) being out for revenge, the Clippers giving Brand some sort of ultimatum, etc. When you hear what Mike Dunleavy and Falk have to say about it, things seem to be as confusing as ever.

Falk expressed his surprise at the so-called "take it or leave it" offer that Brand received from the Clippers, and Dunleavy denies that ever existed.

"I wasn't angry, but I was surprised. You don't expect a team to give a franchise player an ultimatum. You wouldn't expect the Lakers to do that with Kobe Bryant. You wouldn't expect the Heat to do that with Dwyane Wade," Falk said.

Countered Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy:

"After I supposedly gave him a take-it-or-leave-it offer, we raised the offer to $75 million and $81 million. They can spin this thing any way they want to try and spin it. The bottom line is, anything Elton ever wanted I did it for him. They stopped having communication with us more than a week ago."

To Dunleavy's assertion that the offer was raised a couple of times, Falk responded that "You don't have time to play ping-pong. When they said $70 [million], I took it for face value. It was too much of a sacrifice, that's all." Obviously there were some serious communication issues here, which probably were ultimately the reason that the deal fell apart.

Initially it was believed that Donald Sterling was free and clear of any blame here, but it's rumored that his unavailability to approve an early termination option that Brand was requesting was what sent Falk and Brand out shopping around. Whatever the combination of reasons, it's likely that we'll never know exactly why Elton Brand chose to leave the Clippers. But the toxic combination of David Falk and the Clippers' organization likely had more than a little to do with it.

UPDATE: Both Falk and Dunleavy were interviewed (separately) on ESPN radio in Los Angeles today, you can listen to their different sides of the story here.

Tonight at midnight (Eastern), the NBA's free agent negotiating period officially begins. Players that have been long rumored to opt out can do so, teams can start making their moves for those players, and the signings can happen beginning July 9. So not surprisingly, the wacky rumors of who might go where are in full swing, and the one I'd like to discuss at the moment is: Corey Maggette to the Orlando Magic! From the Orlando Sentinel:

Los Angeles Clippers guard Corey Maggette told friends over the weekend that he was encouraging the Orlando Magic to make a competitive offer in free agency, allowing him to return to the team where he started his NBA career nine years ago.

"I think he'd come back in a heartbeat," said a Maggette friend who is close to both the player and the Magic organization. "It's something he'd love to see happen."

Maggette played here as a rookie (1999-00). His parents live in Central Florida. He has often spoken about the possibility of returning to the Magic.

Well, with all that to go on, let's get the contracts printed, the pens ready, and Maggette booked on the first plane to Orlando on July 9th! Oh, you want me to take a serious look at this rumor? Alright, if I must.