When people hear Zune, they think of the first generation. Which was still way ahead of their time. But the touchscreen Zune that they came out with later with miles ahead. Back then it even came with Microsofts own version of Spotify basically. Where you paid 10 per month and got unlimited downloads. And this was 17 years ago or so. Way ahead of the time.
ZuneHD was prettier than any version of iPod. Apple has some of the best marketing of any company, though.
Apple is the only company whose fans brag about how much profit the company makes off of them. You don't see anybody at the gas station bragging about how profitable Exxon is.
ZuneHD was an excellent device. I still have mine, and I have my Halo3 LE Zune. I kept my music separate from my iphone for years, but eventually the software updates stopped coming and actually getting music to the Zune became not worth the hassle. Alas.
I love it. I recognized pretty early on that Apple fans would cut their own arm off to have the latest iPhone, so I bought $1k when the stock was ~$22. It's a huge share of my IRA now.
lmao my bud loves to tell the story of 4th grade him vociferously trying to get his dad to invest in apple in like 98 cuz he liked the different translucent colors of the imacs they put out and just learned about stocks at school for the first time..would have been slightly profitable.
I never had a ZuneHD, but my 1st-gen brown squirting Zune was a fantastic device. As were my two Windows Phones.
It really sucks that Microsoft can't seem to develop the same type of cultural cachet that Apple has.
They have apple stans so out of touch that they're mad iphone 15 is a usb-c charger lmao. Something the rest of the world realizes is superior and more global.
As a 13 year-old or whatever, I bought a Zune, and I think it came with an installation manual and a little CD? I'm not sure, it's been a long time, but the point is that as a silly 13 year old with no tech skills, I never got it to work.
A couple years later, I got an ipod. I plugged it in, and it just worked.
Was that actually his idea? Cause if he approved it or was there then by all means funny stuff but otherwise nah.
His quote "There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Is better r/AgedLikeMilk material
Ballmer gets clowned for that stuff but he basically built Microsoft’s entire enterprise business (aka their biggest business), including what ended up being Azure
Before Ballmer IBM owned the entire enterprise world and Microsoft was building OSes for consumers
That said, yeah the Zune and smartphone stuff was a big miss
What pisses me off is that Microsoft spent what, 25 years working toward "Windows Everywhere", *and they actually achieved it*. They had PC/tablets, Xbox, HoloLens, and Windows Phone *all using the same base OS*. And with UWP, they finally had the unified system they were working towards.
And then within a year or so of achieving this, they just... packed it all up and went home. Discontinued Windows Phone/Mobile, Windows Mixed Reality is discontinued, so HoloLens probably will be, too. Microsoft turned UWP into a technological dead end.
They were doing something cool as hell, but they decided to give it up *as they achieved it*.
ARGH. It just *pisses me off.*
And now back to your regularly scheduled NBA discussion.
> they just... packed it all up and went home
Their core profit -- selling OS licenses -- was a non-starter in the iPhone era. Even if they had beaten Google to cloning Apple (which they didn't b/c their ruthlessness had been cowed by anti-trust) they probably see their OS margin ground down to zero. And hardware design was never their strong suit and would pit them against their own partners.
Still the best ui I’ve had in a phone, and those Nokias took beautiful photos. But yeah it just never got any apps and so never had any chance at wide scale adoption.
he also did the iphone funeral when the windows phone came out, but rode the high of Windows PC OS being the backbone of the modern business world. so he's worth in excess of 100 billion
"I said that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine."
Steve Balmer on the iPhone when it was announced 😂
so many people flipping out about it not having a keyboard were just business guys who had to write a million emails on their blackberry. they all just forgot that most people didn't have a blackberry at the time and texting on flip phones was an absolute garbage experience since they only had the 10 digits. getting an iphone (I got the 2nd one when AT&T started subsidizing them) was incredible if you went from a flip phone.
If anything, I'm actually less mad about that in hindsight than I was at the time. I was FURIOUS at that move. Definitely rough, cuz he looked good for the Knicks, but when he was with the Clippers I thought his upside was CRAZY high (idk, maybe it still is - but I now think I probably over rated him a bit. I really bought into the analytics argument that he was going to be a top C in the league).
E- man...that really was rough. Especially considering the Clipper's age/cap situation. Having a young talented C under team control would be huge right now. He paired really well with Zu as well - two very different styles, good for different kinds of matchups. Hugely valuable after giving up so many draft picks.
It’s a boring take but I agree with the tweet. Big swing, didn’t work, go back 5 years or whatever and every team would have done the same if they could.
The best chance they had in my opinion was the bubble championship. Everyone was well rested and healthy.
I think that's the only year they were fully healthy.
I think the biggest mistake was trading for Harden. Not that he wasn't worth the pick cost in general, but the Clippers just didn't know when to throw in the towel.
Now they're a really old team with no picks, and no capspace, and they'll likely undergo at least a couple years of watching their high lottery pick go elsewhere.
The one thing that blows my mind is that LeBron is going into his 7th season with the Lakers.. Just always picture him in a cavs uniform but that was last seen in 2018
We’ve won 50+ games for 6 years in a row now. We’ve made some dumbass moves (e.g. picking up wall over I-Hart), but we’ve always landed on our feet and been around the mark. Injuries are what hurt us. Team chemistry during the bubble was cooked yes, but every other year it was injuries. We had versatility, scoring and defence, we were legit. People like to clown on the clippers, but 9/10 teams are taking that package. We went from a fun scrappy team to a legitimate title contender in the matter of minutes. And sure, George was inconsistent, lacked leadership, was injury prone, but he also delivered us our first WCF birth. He had his moments, and now he’ll ride off into the sunset with his 50 mill+ at 39 (which is insane btw). I would not be surprised if this contract quickly becomes one of the worst in the league.
They also should have blown it up earlier I think. Get something back for PG, Harden and Kawhi. It just wasnt gonna happen that all of them would be healthy at the same time.
That's a big percentage, considering how OKC actually had the largest payroll in the history of the NBA at one point after him joining the group.
That wouldn't have been possible before him, hence the Harden trade happening.
It's funny because reports back in 2020 said Kawhi wanted Jimmy if PG wasn't an option - would be really interesting to see where they would have ended up, especially given Jimmy's just as injured but way more a warrior than PG (and Kawhi, now that I think about it lmao)
Idk if it’s much different to be honest, kawhi probably still gets hurt and as much as PG gets clowned he’s had a couple very good playoff runs with the clippers. Also not sure if jimmy wills his team to the Finals in the West as he did in the East
The Clippers experience in the bubble would likely have been wildly different
Jimmy would be screaming in that locker room that they needed to act like they wanted to win, cause that team clearly was ready to go home.
Again we don’t know how it would have turned out, him on the clippers could’ve ended up like his time on the sixers or wolves. I like to think the heat is the perfect spot for him that capitalizes on his personality
So if I'm being honest, I saw that KD reached out to Jimmy and PG at the same time right after KD was already in Brooklyn - gotta remember KD went there almost immediately
Realistically Doc would have never given SGA as much time as he got in OKC to develop
SGA might have been an all-star in LA but very likely not an MVP candidate
In hindsight, absolutely, but no one could have predicted that SGA was gonna become the player he is today. Or that he even would have gotten that chance on a stacked Clippers roster
Kawhi did this to himself. He could've just signed with yall no strings attached but decided to pull a LeGM and strip all the assets from his new team.
Do people think Kawhi's supporting cast has been that bad with the Clippers? The issue is just he never makes it to the playoffs with them (and the one time he did he bore a decent share of the blame in the series against the Nuggets).
It's not the supporting cast itself, it's the terrible pick deficit. The two main ways for contenders to improve their roster without FA steals is buying on the trade market or drafting roleplayers with their firsts.
I agree. For all of us, it's easy to talk about Front Office moves when you already know the outcomes.
Let's go back to 2019. Kawhi returns back from his injury, looks like Michael Jordan out there with his Playoff heroics, bringing Toronto their first title in history just in his first year. He's also only 27-28 years old, can expect him to be great for years to come.
So, as the Clippers, a franchise that is forever in the shadow of the Lakers, you get the opportunity to sign this man as a free agent. His condition is, you make a trade for Paul George.
The same Paul George that's coming out of an MVP caliber season. Kawhi and PG are easily considered the best two-way players in that league at that point, both in their primes.
And what do the Clippers have to give up to receive both Kawhi and Paul George? SGA, a nice looking rookie, who was the 11th pick of the draft and showed positive signs. Just positive though, absolutely no one was saying this kid was going to be an MVP level player in the future.
They gave away numerous picks and swaps, which is the regular price now for getting star players. Also Gallinari.
Now return to 2019 and be a Clippers executive. How does this deal look to you? Is this too much to give up to sign two superstars in their primes? Not to mention they didn't lose much from their roster that somehow managed to be competitive against GSW the year prior.
Long story short, Clippers received a golden opportunity and they took it, as anyone in their right minds would've.
The Thunder honestly just got super lucky. I doubt even they thought SGA would be THIS good, and managing to pick Jalen Williams with one of those picks was so huge for them.
If the Thunder weren’t being ran as well as they are then this wouldn’t even be a discussion. They maximized the deal, this was the best possible outcome for their franchise.
To me it was clear after like 20 games with us that SGA was pretty special. I was always higher on him than our sub was, for instance in the second year with us he was balling but most fans still thought his ceiling was still a #2 guy at best. I thought he was a pull up jumper away from being a top 20 player (which was exactly right)
I can't have been the only one that seriously saw this quickly. Surely there would have been people in LA that saw something early on too.
One caveat as a clippers fan - we were indeed super high on SGA and saw the potential. I was devastated to see him go.
Still would’ve done it every time for 2019 Kawhi/PG though.
Only one I’ll clown is Pat Bev for all the “The next 5 years are mine” bullshit. And maybe the fans who were taking victory laps before the Clippers did anything.
But the org shot and miss. One inexplicable playoff choke, and the rest just injuries.
Trade wasn't a bad decision, but getting nothing in return for George leaving is horrible. The one good thing about guys asking out nowadays is at least you can get something out of it.
I don't agree with that. I guess if you want to say taking that Warriors deal today, sure, but it seems like they didn't want to take Wiggins' contract back which is hard to fault.
Otherwise I don't think they had any options besides doing in season and holding out for this last year seemed like a good move to me. For the first time of the 5 year experience, they had both of them healthy all year. Giving it a real go is worth it than getting some kind of return and punting that one chance
I don’t wanna clown Clipper fans. I am just happy Kawhi and PG didn’t win shit after Kawhi led us on so the lakers wouldn’t use their 33 million in cap room on other players. All this while the clippers worked in the background to secure a trade for PG13 (who happened to also lead us on a couple of years prior) lol.
In all fairness, Ballmer is a really good owner and the dude spends money and tries cool things. You guys are lucky to have him.
That's fair enough. Even I feel a sort of type of way towards the Sixers now. Hope they don't win shit lol.
Yeah, PG may be gone but Ballmer is more important. It's not the Clippers of olden days with a cheap owner who didn't care about winning. We might struggle for a few years but I see us bouncing back quicker than people think. The shit franchise stigma is rubbing off with Ballmer on board.
With Jeanie, she isn’t even a billionaire. We have the name brand but we struggle with the money and ownership decisions. She was cheap with giving Ty Lue an extra year and signed pockets to a 4 year deal as a rookie coach instead. She was cheap with Caruso and let him go over 8 million dollars. Just overall bad decisions. Clippers ownership has turned that team into a serious team. Unfortunately for you guys, some bad luck and injuries have really hurt.
Well looking forward to playing you guys again next season, Lakers Vs Clippers are always fun
I've followed the Clippers long enough to remember when players couldn't wait to skip town at the first opportunity. It doesn't change the fact that the trade was a huge loss overall, but for a franchise that had absolutely nothing go for it for multiple decades, it was a great moment to land 2 stars in their prime.
What about the part where the Warriors offered them a young player and a pick and instead they get nothing for PG leaving? Can we clown them for that at least?
Agree or disagree, it sounds like the Clippers really wanted to avoid the second apron restrictions and trading with the Warriors likely would have made that very difficult if not impossible.
You’re 100% correct.
They should be clowned for knowing well in advance their game of chicken w PG had a likely outcome of him receiving max offers from other teams and opting out.
Getting nothing in return is ridiculous.
Depends on if you think that makes the Warriors better than the Clippers. Having a hand in the creation of a contender that surpasses your team in your own conference is not something that should be done out of hand.
They probably determined that it was worth it to not have that happen.
I dunno... I see the logic, but you are competing against 28 other teams too. Intentionally handicapping yourself to not make a division foe stronger for a couple years is shortsighted if that was really it.
There was a time the Lakers were made fun of for losing the AD trade, and the Clippers were heralded as the new rulers of LA. So I won't be surprised if there's some "meme-ing" about this.
That said, if you have the opportunity to get Kawhi and PG, you absolutely do it, so I get it.
Funny how KD goes to the warriors and is called the biggest bitch ever but when guys *dont* do similar moves they still get clowned for not going for the easy ring.
Even when they win it the "right way" (i.e Tatum this year) they get clowned for weak comp, not being the best performer, etc. It's almost like everyone needs to win a Dirk type of title to get "respect" from casuals
Should've stayed just one more year Kawhi. That 2020 ring was ours. 60 win pace without you. Danny Green most likely would've stayed too. And a healthy and blossoming OG unlike in 2019.
Exactly, people think that progression is linear, everyone thought that the Baby Thunder would rule the 2010s after reaching the final. There is no guarantee that OKC will win a chip with all these assets
Clippers and Warriors are both MASSIVE WINNERS for the day
funniest part of all was the Warriors were actually TRYING to pay PG a max. LMAO they have NO IDEA what kind of LANDMINE they just dodged
Kinda agree
At the time people were on board for it (the majority of people didn't question it like with the Knicks trading five first rounders for a guy who's never been an all star)
But like everything else in life, results have to matter. You can't just attribute something to bad luck and throw your arms up in the air.
I mean it’s true a lot. It bugs me when fans look at big trades teams made to be contenders and act like they were terrible when they actually were the right move even if they didn’t win.
I can't clown the clippers for their failure when it resulted in r/LAClippers locking down and switching to just posting about boats for a few days. Easily one of my favorite reddit events.
Shai is still on OKC and is arguable better than Paul George already. Clippers still owe first round picks to OKC for the PG trade until 2028. Yup this trade was absolutely disastrous for them.
i love how some people are trying to say now that the Clippers got worse... by NOT giving PG a $220M max
LMAO the guy looks washed for the good part of every season... but the Clippers are now somewhere WORSE for not carrying his corpse on their cap sheet for another 4 years? WHAT?
IMO that's really the worst part. They originally traded SGA for him and SGA looks like one of the most promising young players in the entire league. Losing Paul George for nothing is absolutely horrible considering what they gave up.
Sure they shouldn’t have been clowned at the time of making these moves, and they weren’t, but SGA turning into a legit MVP candidate only a few years later throws a big wet blanket when looking back on their moves.
Can't blame Ballmer for not thinking that people wanted smartphones
Zune is still going to take off, mark my (Microsoft) words
Please don't disrespect my Zune I still have that has TWO movies on it.
The zune was fucking amazing apple just understands marketing way better than Microsoft does
Microsoft: "we built a product specifically to beat the iPod" Apple: "yeh but I had sex on your couch"
“Fuck yo couch” - apple
I miss my Zune 😭
I have my Zune too but no idea where the charger is.
Zune was a better product than iPod and I'll die on that hill. Obviously iPhone made both obsolete but still
When people hear Zune, they think of the first generation. Which was still way ahead of their time. But the touchscreen Zune that they came out with later with miles ahead. Back then it even came with Microsofts own version of Spotify basically. Where you paid 10 per month and got unlimited downloads. And this was 17 years ago or so. Way ahead of the time.
There's basically always been a better version of any apple product, but apple is pretty and cool looking so it always wins
ZuneHD was prettier than any version of iPod. Apple has some of the best marketing of any company, though. Apple is the only company whose fans brag about how much profit the company makes off of them. You don't see anybody at the gas station bragging about how profitable Exxon is.
Zune was released 5 years after the first iPod, it didn’t matter how much better it was, it came out way too late
The device that really should have won out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Digital_Jukebox Real ones remember.
I had this and it was amazing. I vividly remember listening to Weezer on it.
Zen Micro anyone?
ZuneHD was an excellent device. I still have mine, and I have my Halo3 LE Zune. I kept my music separate from my iphone for years, but eventually the software updates stopped coming and actually getting music to the Zune became not worth the hassle. Alas.
I love it. I recognized pretty early on that Apple fans would cut their own arm off to have the latest iPhone, so I bought $1k when the stock was ~$22. It's a huge share of my IRA now.
lmao my bud loves to tell the story of 4th grade him vociferously trying to get his dad to invest in apple in like 98 cuz he liked the different translucent colors of the imacs they put out and just learned about stocks at school for the first time..would have been slightly profitable.
>You don't see anybody at the gas station bragging about how profitable Exxon is. This shit is fuckin hilarious, dead on, too.
I never had a ZuneHD, but my 1st-gen brown squirting Zune was a fantastic device. As were my two Windows Phones. It really sucks that Microsoft can't seem to develop the same type of cultural cachet that Apple has.
They have apple stans so out of touch that they're mad iphone 15 is a usb-c charger lmao. Something the rest of the world realizes is superior and more global.
touch sensitive squircle navigation >>>
As a 13 year-old or whatever, I bought a Zune, and I think it came with an installation manual and a little CD? I'm not sure, it's been a long time, but the point is that as a silly 13 year old with no tech skills, I never got it to work. A couple years later, I got an ipod. I plugged it in, and it just worked.
man i hope you’re not a millennial because at 13 many of us were using basic html to make myspace pages
I literally had HTML classes in school when I was 13
I saw a Zune at a museum once.
Who would have thought the kids didn’t want a brown iPod knockoff?
Remember Ballmer had a funeral for iPhone when Windows Phone 7 was out?
Was that actually his idea? Cause if he approved it or was there then by all means funny stuff but otherwise nah. His quote "There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Is better r/AgedLikeMilk material
Ballmer gets clowned for that stuff but he basically built Microsoft’s entire enterprise business (aka their biggest business), including what ended up being Azure Before Ballmer IBM owned the entire enterprise world and Microsoft was building OSes for consumers That said, yeah the Zune and smartphone stuff was a big miss
Windows Phone Live Tiles was too beautiful for this world.
I loved my Windows phone, but they never got their app store going and it became completely untenable.
What pisses me off is that Microsoft spent what, 25 years working toward "Windows Everywhere", *and they actually achieved it*. They had PC/tablets, Xbox, HoloLens, and Windows Phone *all using the same base OS*. And with UWP, they finally had the unified system they were working towards. And then within a year or so of achieving this, they just... packed it all up and went home. Discontinued Windows Phone/Mobile, Windows Mixed Reality is discontinued, so HoloLens probably will be, too. Microsoft turned UWP into a technological dead end. They were doing something cool as hell, but they decided to give it up *as they achieved it*. ARGH. It just *pisses me off.* And now back to your regularly scheduled NBA discussion.
> they just... packed it all up and went home Their core profit -- selling OS licenses -- was a non-starter in the iPhone era. Even if they had beaten Google to cloning Apple (which they didn't b/c their ruthlessness had been cowed by anti-trust) they probably see their OS margin ground down to zero. And hardware design was never their strong suit and would pit them against their own partners.
This is actually really interesting thanks
Chad move tbh. It was never about the products, just a love of the game…
Still the best ui I’ve had in a phone, and those Nokias took beautiful photos. But yeah it just never got any apps and so never had any chance at wide scale adoption.
Them not having an app store killed them
This dude nerds
he also did the iphone funeral when the windows phone came out, but rode the high of Windows PC OS being the backbone of the modern business world. so he's worth in excess of 100 billion
That funeral stunt was so bad. 🤣
"I said that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine." Steve Balmer on the iPhone when it was announced 😂
In my mind ballmer still uses his hotmail account which is something like bigballmers@hotmail
Fr tho typing on iphone is annoying af I’d love a physical keyboard
Whoever programmed autocorrect is a certified ducking idiot
so many people flipping out about it not having a keyboard were just business guys who had to write a million emails on their blackberry. they all just forgot that most people didn't have a blackberry at the time and texting on flip phones was an absolute garbage experience since they only had the 10 digits. getting an iphone (I got the 2nd one when AT&T started subsidizing them) was incredible if you went from a flip phone.
Ballers don’t use smartphones
I know this is a joke but MS had plenty of smartphones before iPhones. Like at least five years before with touch screens and stuff
Don't tell me what to do. I'll clown them.
A small but hilarious move was signing John Wall over Hartenstein, which I'm pretty sure was move pushed by Paul George lol
Does Hartenstein have a dance and song? I didn't think so.
JOHN 💪 WALL JOHN 💪 WALL
🎵Yurpie 🎵
WADDUP JOHN
If anything, I'm actually less mad about that in hindsight than I was at the time. I was FURIOUS at that move. Definitely rough, cuz he looked good for the Knicks, but when he was with the Clippers I thought his upside was CRAZY high (idk, maybe it still is - but I now think I probably over rated him a bit. I really bought into the analytics argument that he was going to be a top C in the league). E- man...that really was rough. Especially considering the Clipper's age/cap situation. Having a young talented C under team control would be huge right now. He paired really well with Zu as well - two very different styles, good for different kinds of matchups. Hugely valuable after giving up so many draft picks.
Especially since ihart is a great player to do the dirty work that pg hates
Flair doesn't che- ya know... nvm I think it actually does.
It’s a boring take but I agree with the tweet. Big swing, didn’t work, go back 5 years or whatever and every team would have done the same if they could.
Doc was our biggest downfall 😭 I will die by that hill
The best chance they had in my opinion was the bubble championship. Everyone was well rested and healthy. I think that's the only year they were fully healthy.
Everyone thought it'd be Lakers vs Clippers in the West as the real finals lol
But the narrative is that they didn’t want it mentally that year.
HONK HONK
I think the biggest mistake was trading for Harden. Not that he wasn't worth the pick cost in general, but the Clippers just didn't know when to throw in the towel. Now they're a really old team with no picks, and no capspace, and they'll likely undergo at least a couple years of watching their high lottery pick go elsewhere.
The Clippers were 124-57 when Leonard and George played together. 68.5% win rate.
[удалено]
They've been together for 5 seasons?!? That actually blows my mind for some reason.
The one thing that blows my mind is that LeBron is going into his 7th season with the Lakers.. Just always picture him in a cavs uniform but that was last seen in 2018
And he was only in miami for 4 years. He has been in LA a large portion of his career now. Shaq played 8 years in LA btw
Does the 44% include the shortened COVID season? Still pretty bad regardless
The shortened season bumps it up to a whopping 46.4% if I did my math right.
Better ratio than the Big 3 of the Nets in 2 years
So they averaged 25 wins/year?
lol
And for many games did they not play together?
Well 5 seasons is 410 total regular season games
390 due to shortened seasons not that it makes any difference
I forget about that. Makes it around 46.4% of the games they played together.
more than I would have thought lol
124 wins together in 5 years is appallingly bad.
But it's because of health and not because of skill
availability is the best ability
Not when it comes to Westbrook!
It's not like they didn't know these guys were injury prone when they paired them together
It’s still bad
Ride that Eastern conference playoff bandwagon!
We’ve won 50+ games for 6 years in a row now. We’ve made some dumbass moves (e.g. picking up wall over I-Hart), but we’ve always landed on our feet and been around the mark. Injuries are what hurt us. Team chemistry during the bubble was cooked yes, but every other year it was injuries. We had versatility, scoring and defence, we were legit. People like to clown on the clippers, but 9/10 teams are taking that package. We went from a fun scrappy team to a legitimate title contender in the matter of minutes. And sure, George was inconsistent, lacked leadership, was injury prone, but he also delivered us our first WCF birth. He had his moments, and now he’ll ride off into the sunset with his 50 mill+ at 39 (which is insane btw). I would not be surprised if this contract quickly becomes one of the worst in the league.
Who knew that “fun guy” was injury prone? Poor Clippers couldn’t have seen it coming
Problem is Leonard made too much and played too little.
What was there playoff win rate?
13-13
It was the correct move at the time. But Sam Presti flopped a full house
More like straight flush
In my club, I vill splash ze pot whenever ze fuck I please.
Right idea. Terrible execution. The Clippers should have a drawn a line in the sand at the 3 extra firsts they had on the PG deal.
They also should have blown it up earlier I think. Get something back for PG, Harden and Kawhi. It just wasnt gonna happen that all of them would be healthy at the same time.
Can’t wait to see how Clay Bennett blows it for you again this time.
Any time I start to warm up to OKC I remember that piece of shit Bennett and wish them the worst
Well, George Kaiser is in the ownership group this time around, so if you think they'll go the cheap route again, think again.
He owns 19.23% of the team, which means he’s only responsible for 19.23% of any capital contributions.
That's a big percentage, considering how OKC actually had the largest payroll in the history of the NBA at one point after him joining the group. That wouldn't have been possible before him, hence the Harden trade happening.
Obviously right thing was done. Too bad kawhi and pg are made of paper
It's funny because reports back in 2020 said Kawhi wanted Jimmy if PG wasn't an option - would be really interesting to see where they would have ended up, especially given Jimmy's just as injured but way more a warrior than PG (and Kawhi, now that I think about it lmao)
I was begging for that option
KD was also an option too but he went with Kyrie.
It's gotta be at least top 10 of somewhat recent NBA *What If?* scenarios imo
jimmy's the ultimate what if what if the clippers took jimmy what if the sixers trusted jimmy what if the wolves traded wiggins instead of jimmy
Idk if it’s much different to be honest, kawhi probably still gets hurt and as much as PG gets clowned he’s had a couple very good playoff runs with the clippers. Also not sure if jimmy wills his team to the Finals in the West as he did in the East
The Clippers experience in the bubble would likely have been wildly different Jimmy would be screaming in that locker room that they needed to act like they wanted to win, cause that team clearly was ready to go home.
Again we don’t know how it would have turned out, him on the clippers could’ve ended up like his time on the sixers or wolves. I like to think the heat is the perfect spot for him that capitalizes on his personality
He’s changed very little, the players actually listen for the most part
i thought the reports were Kawhi reached out to KD, Jimmy and then PG
So if I'm being honest, I saw that KD reached out to Jimmy and PG at the same time right after KD was already in Brooklyn - gotta remember KD went there almost immediately
KD and PG on the same team would have been smooooth and so aesthetically pleasing The Sauce Bros
Or what if Kawhi just joined up with SGA instead
Realistically Doc would have never given SGA as much time as he got in OKC to develop SGA might have been an all-star in LA but very likely not an MVP candidate
Also CP3 mentored him and accelerated his devleopment.
This is exciting to hear. Hopefully he can do the same with Castle.
Castle looks like a star in that NCAA tourney. Congrats on a good pick.
Poku* accelerated OKC’s* development
What if Kawhi just went to the Lakers lol
Jimmy got more heart than just about anybody in all fairness.
I really we wished we just signed a FA outright like kd or Jimmy instead of having to trade for Pg tho
In hindsight, absolutely, but no one could have predicted that SGA was gonna become the player he is today. Or that he even would have gotten that chance on a stacked Clippers roster
they blew a 3-1 lead in the bubble and were both healthy lol
The Clippers sub also locked their subreddit after that. Like cowardly children.
Kawhi did this to himself. He could've just signed with yall no strings attached but decided to pull a LeGM and strip all the assets from his new team.
Do people think Kawhi's supporting cast has been that bad with the Clippers? The issue is just he never makes it to the playoffs with them (and the one time he did he bore a decent share of the blame in the series against the Nuggets).
It's not the supporting cast itself, it's the terrible pick deficit. The two main ways for contenders to improve their roster without FA steals is buying on the trade market or drafting roleplayers with their firsts.
How is it the right thing if they were made of paper and we knew of this from Kawhi at least?
And mentally made of paper, in the one year they were fully healthy, 2020
I agree. For all of us, it's easy to talk about Front Office moves when you already know the outcomes. Let's go back to 2019. Kawhi returns back from his injury, looks like Michael Jordan out there with his Playoff heroics, bringing Toronto their first title in history just in his first year. He's also only 27-28 years old, can expect him to be great for years to come. So, as the Clippers, a franchise that is forever in the shadow of the Lakers, you get the opportunity to sign this man as a free agent. His condition is, you make a trade for Paul George. The same Paul George that's coming out of an MVP caliber season. Kawhi and PG are easily considered the best two-way players in that league at that point, both in their primes. And what do the Clippers have to give up to receive both Kawhi and Paul George? SGA, a nice looking rookie, who was the 11th pick of the draft and showed positive signs. Just positive though, absolutely no one was saying this kid was going to be an MVP level player in the future. They gave away numerous picks and swaps, which is the regular price now for getting star players. Also Gallinari. Now return to 2019 and be a Clippers executive. How does this deal look to you? Is this too much to give up to sign two superstars in their primes? Not to mention they didn't lose much from their roster that somehow managed to be competitive against GSW the year prior. Long story short, Clippers received a golden opportunity and they took it, as anyone in their right minds would've.
The Thunder honestly just got super lucky. I doubt even they thought SGA would be THIS good, and managing to pick Jalen Williams with one of those picks was so huge for them. If the Thunder weren’t being ran as well as they are then this wouldn’t even be a discussion. They maximized the deal, this was the best possible outcome for their franchise.
To me it was clear after like 20 games with us that SGA was pretty special. I was always higher on him than our sub was, for instance in the second year with us he was balling but most fans still thought his ceiling was still a #2 guy at best. I thought he was a pull up jumper away from being a top 20 player (which was exactly right) I can't have been the only one that seriously saw this quickly. Surely there would have been people in LA that saw something early on too.
Can you check about our guys in twolves like ant, jaden and rob dillingham?
One caveat as a clippers fan - we were indeed super high on SGA and saw the potential. I was devastated to see him go. Still would’ve done it every time for 2019 Kawhi/PG though.
Only one I’ll clown is Pat Bev for all the “The next 5 years are mine” bullshit. And maybe the fans who were taking victory laps before the Clippers did anything. But the org shot and miss. One inexplicable playoff choke, and the rest just injuries.
The made a big trade to become contenders and then they were contenders. Never won the chip but it was 100% the right move at the time.
Ball(m)er move 🤓, Reddit on Aldridge!
Yea I was like wtf
I’ll call it a respectable clown, but a clown nonetheless
anyone saying the trade was a bad decision is captain hindsight and should be ignored
Trade wasn't a bad decision, but getting nothing in return for George leaving is horrible. The one good thing about guys asking out nowadays is at least you can get something out of it.
I don't agree with that. I guess if you want to say taking that Warriors deal today, sure, but it seems like they didn't want to take Wiggins' contract back which is hard to fault. Otherwise I don't think they had any options besides doing in season and holding out for this last year seemed like a good move to me. For the first time of the 5 year experience, they had both of them healthy all year. Giving it a real go is worth it than getting some kind of return and punting that one chance
Just offer the 4 years. You can trade him for stuff back later. Being strict on the 3 years means you no longer have the asset to trade.
To be fair teams would be way less likely to trade for PG than to offer him 4 years max money without losing any assets.
Ok yea, touche. Idk why i didn't consider that lol. Definitely the best option
Lot of people were upset they gave up Shai in the PG trade
Go ahead guys. Clown away. Us Clipper fans are desensitized to most types of shit talking. Gotta have some thick skin to be a Clippers fan.
I don’t wanna clown Clipper fans. I am just happy Kawhi and PG didn’t win shit after Kawhi led us on so the lakers wouldn’t use their 33 million in cap room on other players. All this while the clippers worked in the background to secure a trade for PG13 (who happened to also lead us on a couple of years prior) lol. In all fairness, Ballmer is a really good owner and the dude spends money and tries cool things. You guys are lucky to have him.
That's fair enough. Even I feel a sort of type of way towards the Sixers now. Hope they don't win shit lol. Yeah, PG may be gone but Ballmer is more important. It's not the Clippers of olden days with a cheap owner who didn't care about winning. We might struggle for a few years but I see us bouncing back quicker than people think. The shit franchise stigma is rubbing off with Ballmer on board.
With Jeanie, she isn’t even a billionaire. We have the name brand but we struggle with the money and ownership decisions. She was cheap with giving Ty Lue an extra year and signed pockets to a 4 year deal as a rookie coach instead. She was cheap with Caruso and let him go over 8 million dollars. Just overall bad decisions. Clippers ownership has turned that team into a serious team. Unfortunately for you guys, some bad luck and injuries have really hurt. Well looking forward to playing you guys again next season, Lakers Vs Clippers are always fun
he couldn't have known PG and Doc are bonafide chokers, and Kawhi has been infected by scarlet rot on his knees.
I've followed the Clippers long enough to remember when players couldn't wait to skip town at the first opportunity. It doesn't change the fact that the trade was a huge loss overall, but for a franchise that had absolutely nothing go for it for multiple decades, it was a great moment to land 2 stars in their prime.
What about the part where the Warriors offered them a young player and a pick and instead they get nothing for PG leaving? Can we clown them for that at least?
Agree or disagree, it sounds like the Clippers really wanted to avoid the second apron restrictions and trading with the Warriors likely would have made that very difficult if not impossible.
Who was the young player? Kuminga wasn't apart of the deal
You’re 100% correct. They should be clowned for knowing well in advance their game of chicken w PG had a likely outcome of him receiving max offers from other teams and opting out. Getting nothing in return is ridiculous.
Depends on if you think that makes the Warriors better than the Clippers. Having a hand in the creation of a contender that surpasses your team in your own conference is not something that should be done out of hand. They probably determined that it was worth it to not have that happen.
I dunno... I see the logic, but you are competing against 28 other teams too. Intentionally handicapping yourself to not make a division foe stronger for a couple years is shortsighted if that was really it.
There was a time the Lakers were made fun of for losing the AD trade, and the Clippers were heralded as the new rulers of LA. So I won't be surprised if there's some "meme-ing" about this. That said, if you have the opportunity to get Kawhi and PG, you absolutely do it, so I get it.
Kawhi chose PG over LeBron and AD lol
Kawhi left the best team in the league, the 2019 Toronto Raptors
Funny how KD goes to the warriors and is called the biggest bitch ever but when guys *dont* do similar moves they still get clowned for not going for the easy ring.
KD went to the best regular season team of all time that beat his team in the playoffs mate. No one has ever been that bad.
Even when they win it the "right way" (i.e Tatum this year) they get clowned for weak comp, not being the best performer, etc. It's almost like everyone needs to win a Dirk type of title to get "respect" from casuals
Should've stayed just one more year Kawhi. That 2020 ring was ours. 60 win pace without you. Danny Green most likely would've stayed too. And a healthy and blossoming OG unlike in 2019.
We'll clown ballmer for tampering at a bunch of our home games thinking he had a shot at a ring and coming up short
Clipper curse is real
Always was the right move
Yes, they should be clowned. Lawrence Frank used to stalk Kawhi at our home games. Fuck them.
People will clown OKC for something if they don't win it all, too. It's hard to win. Is what it is.
Exactly, people think that progression is linear, everyone thought that the Baby Thunder would rule the 2010s after reaching the final. There is no guarantee that OKC will win a chip with all these assets
Getting Paul George and Kawhi at that time was easily the correct decision to make. Sometimes things don't work out simply.
The right move at the time but classic Clippers luck, or lack thereof. Franchise is cursed.
Clippers and Warriors are both MASSIVE WINNERS for the day funniest part of all was the Warriors were actually TRYING to pay PG a max. LMAO they have NO IDEA what kind of LANDMINE they just dodged
Kinda agree At the time people were on board for it (the majority of people didn't question it like with the Knicks trading five first rounders for a guy who's never been an all star) But like everything else in life, results have to matter. You can't just attribute something to bad luck and throw your arms up in the air.
You could make this argument about countless teams, it doesn’t mean they deserve a pat on the back for it.
I mean it’s true a lot. It bugs me when fans look at big trades teams made to be contenders and act like they were terrible when they actually were the right move even if they didn’t win.
Fuck them picks and win? Genius. Fuck them picks and lose? Idiot sandwich.
pat on the back and ridicule are not the only 2 options.
I swear people have zero ability to understand nuance
I don't even think they make the attempt.
Agreed, nothing to be ashamed of in this case.
You can clown them for having Josh Primo and Kevin Porter Jr. on their roster.
And still went further into the playoffs that they had ever been.
I can't clown the clippers for their failure when it resulted in r/LAClippers locking down and switching to just posting about boats for a few days. Easily one of my favorite reddit events.
Hey, they went to the conference finals. Something that was never done in franchise history. But now it’s time for the next era
Neither of them are top 10 players...
Shai is still on OKC and is arguable better than Paul George already. Clippers still owe first round picks to OKC for the PG trade until 2028. Yup this trade was absolutely disastrous for them.
i love how some people are trying to say now that the Clippers got worse... by NOT giving PG a $220M max LMAO the guy looks washed for the good part of every season... but the Clippers are now somewhere WORSE for not carrying his corpse on their cap sheet for another 4 years? WHAT?
I mean you lost him for nothing and don’t have your picks to reload so.. you did get worse objectively.
IMO that's really the worst part. They originally traded SGA for him and SGA looks like one of the most promising young players in the entire league. Losing Paul George for nothing is absolutely horrible considering what they gave up.
Balmer sending out Microsoft stock to reporters to drive the narrative as we speak
Sure they shouldn’t have been clowned at the time of making these moves, and they weren’t, but SGA turning into a legit MVP candidate only a few years later throws a big wet blanket when looking back on their moves.
I don't see anyone talk about this about the Nets though lol You hear people unironically say they should have build around D'Lo and Levert instead
Moral victory clippers