Report: Jamal Crawford wins Sixth-Man of the Year award

Jamal Crawford has won the NBA’s Sixth-Man of the Year Award, according to a report Wednesday on ESPN.com. The website cited “sources” and also stated that Crawford would have been given the award Tuesday at Game 5 of the Clippers’ Western Conference playoff series against Golden State at Staples Center, but that the NBA held back because of everything going on with now-banned team owner Donald Sterling.

Crawford averaged 18.6 points during the regular season. He becomes the fourth player in history to win the award twice, having previously won it in 2010. The other three players to win it two times were Detlef Schrempf, Ricky Pierce and Kevin McHale.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers was not surprised to hear the news during a conference call Wednesday.

“He’s deserving of it,” Rivers said. “I don’t know if there is a more lethal weapon in the league that you could bring off the bench and the fact that he’s done more than that, to me, is why he’s won it because he’s done this in the past over the last couple of of years where he’s been so good offensively.

“But I actually think he won it because I think the voters saw him doing other things for the team, playing defense, running the team at the point guard position, especially when Chris Paul was out at times, and he’s just been the perfect utility player for our team. He’s been awesome.”

Doc Rivers, Blake Griffin marvel at DeAndre Jordan after Game 5 victory

Like virtually the entire team, DeAndre Jordan was bummed out when he took the floor Sunday at Oracle Arena in Oakland for Game 4 of the Clippers’ Western Conference playoff series against Golden State. Only a day earlier the team found out its owner – Donald Sterling – had spewed racist comments about African-Americans during an argument with his girlfriend V. Stiviano.

The result was a 118-97 victory for the Warriors. In the game, Jordan had zero points, just six rebounds and two blocks.

Two days later, on Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Sterling punished Sterling by banning him for life from the Clippers and the rest of the NBA, with the vow he would try to push Sterling out altogether via a 75-percent vote of the other league owners.

Happy days were here again for the Clippers, and it showed Tuesday night when they defeated the Warriors 113-103 in Game 5 at Staples Center to take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 on Thursday night at Oracle Arena. Jordan’s numbers? He had 25 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks.

His teammate, Blake Griffin, marveled.

“I mean, he was huge tonight,” Griffin said post-game. “He was unreal. I’ve never seen him play a game like that from start to finish. Obviously, on defense  he was great and when he plays like that, it takes our team to another level. He was dissapointed in Game 4, like we all were and it showed tonight. He bottled up some energy and bottled up some anger and left it all out there.”

Coach Doc Rivers was reminded of what Griffin said during a conference call Wednesday. Rivers took it a step further.

“DJ has to be there every night,” Rivers said. “He’s so important to us and that’s what I’ve been telling everyone all year. His importance to this team, the value of it, almost can’t be measured because he does so many things with his athleticism, his enreryg, his
defense. He bails us out so many times defensively, from a game-plan mistake or just a great play by the other team. The fact that he has the ability to erase our mistakes,
his ability to be just a one-man rebounding machine, gives us extra possessions. His value to our team is unlimited.”

Six of Jordan’s rebounds Tuesday were on the offensive end.

Magic Johnson officially expresses interest in buying the Clippers

Former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson is joined by WNBA president Laurel Richie in front of Staples Center on Feb. 5, 2014, to announce that he is part of a group buying the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson is joined by WNBA president Laurel Richie in front of Staples Center on Feb. 5, 2014, to announce that he is part of a group buying the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Despite his initially public denials, Magic Johnson confirmed the obvious.

He would like to be a part of an ownership group that buys the Clippers.

“I will be owning an NBA team sometime,” Johnson told a gathering of business leaders Wednesday at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills, as reported by KPCC. “Is the Clippers the right situation? Of course. It’s one of the premiere franchises.”

Various league sources has suspected the Lakers legend would have such interest well before it was official NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a life-time ban to Clippers owner Donald Sterling for making racially insensitive remarks on an audio tape. Johnson sold his 4.5-percent ownership stake with the Lakers in 2010 and remains an unpaid vice president. He then became part of Guggenheim Partners, the investment group that bought the Dodgers in 2012. In February, Johnson’s ownership group also purchased the WNBA’s Sparks two months ago.

But Johnson had stayed silent, until now.

“I think the fans have already spoken,” Johnson said. “They would like us to own the team. But we have to wait and see.”

Donald Sterling scandal: USC law, business experts analyze Clippers’ next ownership, legal challenges

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver walks to the podium at news conference in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2014.  Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver walks to the podium at news conference in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Below is a select Q&A with USC law professor Jody Armour and USC law & business professor Michael Chasalow surrounding the NBA’s step in both finding an ownership group to replace Donald Sterling and the potential legal challenges ahead:

How do you think the process in finding a new owner panning out?

Armour:
Sterling bought the franchise for virtually nothing and it has increased. It’s gone up in value exponentially since he initially purchased it and it has great players with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and is a playoff contender and in Southern California in a metropolitan and media hub. I’m thinking upwards of $700-800 million. But if they make a run in the playoffs, more folks could see this as an opportunity not just to get a great team, but to get a great team that has a certain cache and certain amount of public attention focused on it. The new owner can come in and say he has a new vision and spark a lot of goodwill that comes from that kind of story. I think it could be very valuable. If you get a bidding war going, what determines value is markets. It could break the billion mark if you had folks who saw something that is beyond a fixer upper. It’s in move-in condition, not quite mint condition, but move-in condition with a high upside with profit potential.

Chasalow: It remains to be seen how it’s going to evolve. Everybody expects the team will be sold in the short term or long term. But the big question is what will bring that about. Will it actually be an owner’s vote or pressures brought to bear on Sterling? At a minimum, the team is worth much more being sold than it is in his hands. Forbes valued it at $575 million, but it’s probably worth a lot. Any sale would maximize that value with an auction or bidding process so they’re getting top dollar for it.

Continue reading “Donald Sterling scandal: USC law, business experts analyze Clippers’ next ownership, legal challenges” »

Donald Sterling scandal: NBA to hold meeting on Thursday to detail next step

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reads a statement during a news conference, in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reads a statement during a news conference, in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In hopes of providing more clarity in officially removing Donald Sterling as the Clippers owner, the NBA owners’ advisory and finance committee hold a meeting on Thursday, a league source confirmed.

The 10-member committee will have a conference call two days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued Sterling a life-time ban and fined him $2.5 million amid racially derogatory remarks he made on an audio tapes that were leaked this week through Websites, TMZ and Deadspin. Under the by-laws in the NBA Constitution, the league needs a three-fourths majority from the Board of Governors to remove Sterling’s ownership position. A league source familiar with the procedure anticipates the vote will take place “sooner rather than later.”

“The focus first was on getting the guy out,” explained a league source familiar with the NBA’s thought process regarding Sterling. “Once you get him out, you can do everything you have to do.”

Minnesota owner Glen Taylor chairs the committee, which also includes Miami’s Micky Arison, the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss, Oklahoma City’s Clay Bennett, New York’s James Dolan, Boston’s Wyc Grousbeck, San Antonio’s Peter Holt, Phoenix’s Robert Sarver, Indiana’s Herb Simon, and Toronto’s Larry Tanenbaum.


RELATED:


Donald Sterling’s wife attends Clippers’ Game 5 win over Golden State

NBA players union wants immediate vote on Donald Sterling selling Clippers

Clippers owner Donald Sterling banned for life; NBA will push for sale of team

Follow L.A. Daily News’ Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com

Oscar De La Hoya would love to own a piece of the Clippers

Lots of potential buyers of the Clippers have come out of the woodwork since NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday brought down the hammer on current owner Donald Sterling, who was caught on tape making several racist remarks about African-Americans. Not only is Sterling banned for life, Silver said he is confident he will get the 75-percent vote of the rest of the owners to force Sterling to sell the team.

Six-Division world boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya released a statement Tuesday evening saying he would love to buy a piece of the Clippers. Interestingly, another boxer – Floyd Mayweather Jr. – has said he would like to purchase the team.

“The league has made it known that it wants more minorities involved, and as a proud Mexican-American, I will bring a different perspective to the NBA in general, and the Clippers in particular,” De La Hoya said. “I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I know what it takes to run a successful sports entity and nothing would make me happier than to bring an NBA Championship home to Southern California sports fans.”

De La Hoya weighed in on Silver’s action on Sterling.

“I applaud NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for his quick and decisive action regarding in the Donald Sterling situation, and his forward thinking will push the league toward a positive future,” said De La Hoya, 41, who last fought in December 2008. “There is no room for racism and unfair treatment in any professional sport, or in life in general. I hope to be a part of positive change for the league.”

It’s doubtful De La Hoya and Mayweather would ever join forces to purchase the Clippers as they really don’t seem to like one another much.