Bay Area Buzz 4/28: Clipper Controversy, Aldon Smith

Amid distractions, Clippers can’t withstand Warriors in Game 4

"The Clippers did everything they could focus on the task at hand, to put aside the exterior distractions and do their jobs on the floor.They shut down their availability pregame in the locker room, and refused to talk about owner Donald Sterling’s alleged racially charged comments.But they also had responsibility. The world was watching, and they opted for a simple, silent protest, turning their warmups inside out to conceal the team’s logo. A powerful gesture, speaking louder than anything they could have said.Then they had to play basketball. And do it at a high level against a very good team in a very difficult environment. Balancing playing a game for each other and their families, while still wearing that Clippers logo on their jersey was an incredible challenge. It seemed as if there were two scenarios at play before the game started: 1) The Clippers fed off that emotion of being us-versus-them and rallied behind it or 2) the outside noise would pummel them too much mentally to have the right mindset.And with the Warriors mostly cruising to a 118-97 win, it seemed that the latter scenario played out.“It could have,” Doc Rivers said when asked about the distractions playing a part. “I’m not going to deny that we had other stuff. Listen, I just believe that when the game starts, the game starts and nobody cares anymore. Golden State surely didn’t care. And it’s just like when a player plays with an injury. They don’t care and they’re going to try and come out and attack you. If we were injured physically, the other team doesn’t care and they really shouldn’t care, because it’s a competition. And we didn’t handle the competition right.“I just know it’s my job as a coach to get them ready, and I didn’t do the right stuff.”The reality also is, though, the off court issue may have actually been entirely unrelated to the team’s performance on it. Because here’s some breaking news: The Warriors are good, and are capable of sometimes being great. Especially at the roaring Oracle Arena. WhenStephen Curry gets it rolling like he did (33 points), that’s a handful for anyone. This was a near must-win Game 4 for the Warriors who played desperate, jumping the Clippers from tipoff, outscoring L.A. 39-24 after a quarter.“I think they were playing great,” Rivers said. “I think you always have to leave it at that. Once the game starts, there are no excuses.”But it wasn’t just the Clippers who have been impacted here. The Clippers are owned by Sterling, therefore creating a direct connection, but everyone in the league has felt the weight of this situation. The Warriors have been answering the same questions as well, and while they weren’t staging protests pregame, they had to deal with it too.“I believe everybody was affected by what took place. I don’t believe it was just the Clippers,” Mark Jackson said. “I don’t think there was anything said directly to the Clippers and the players. I think it was insulting to all of us. I wouldn’t minimize — we got blown out in Game 2, with no controversy. We own that. At the end of the day, we played extremely well today and won a ballgame. I think both teams were somewhat bothered by what took place the last 24 hours, but my guys just played with great energy and effort.”Said Curry: “We obviously understand what the situation is, and it’s unfortunate to take the focus off the court. Kudos to the Clippers for handling it the way they have. I know it’s probably more stressful to them than us, but it’s all about the game and how we represent what we do on the court. So hopefully all the fans around the NBA can focus on that and enjoy the playoffs.”The Clippers’ struggles also were directly related to foul trouble issues again. Blake Griffinand Chris Paul both were in second half foul trouble which limited minutes, and their aggression.But it’s impossible to ignore the circumstances. There was a cloud hovering over this game. And the problem for the Clippers is, that cloud isn’t going away any time soon. With a critically important Game 5 ahead, things may actually get worse for the Clippers before they get better."

–Royce Young, CBSSports.com

Game 4 serves as Day One of workers’ response to Sterling

"In a game with no real winners, the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers played to a draw Sunday, particularly during an emotionally charged pregame inquisition that did credit to them both.Not the game itself, mind you. That was your standard Western Conference quarterfinal Game 4, which both the Clippers and Warriors fought very hard to win in a methane-rich environment made so by Donald Sterling’s alleged remarks to his now former girlfriend, exposed first by TMZ and then by Deadspin.But on the larger scope, the 40-some-odd men at ground zero of Sterling’s grand public undoing did what they felt in their souls was best for them, as sure an acknowledgement of intellect and free will as one can imagine.Or, as Clippers coach Doc Rivers put it Sunday:“We talked, we’re playing, and that’s our message,” he said when asked how the Clippers, most directly confronted by Sterling’s antebellum attitudes, are reacting to the sting. “The one thing I’ve learned is if our message doesn’t vibe with yours, it doesn’t mean yours is right.”And:“Listen, I get all of it. If someone wants to do it another way, I get that too, and I have no problem with that either, so I don’t know all the right things here.”Who does? Such brazen racism on such a public stage is a good 50 years out of date. Not racism, mind you – that still thrives in a myriad of ways, in the shadowy corners of a society still trying to grow into its shoes.But the enormity of this issue – a man with 19th century societal concepts not only employing people of color and regarding them as little more than workhands, and then exposed to the light of modern-day technology because he objects to a picture of his girlfriend with one of his own industry’s most admirable icons – is more than anyone below the age of 70 could realistically cope.“It’s absolutely a distraction,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said Sunday before the teams took the floor, using the word “distraction” correctly for one of the few times in coaching history. “But we understand the assignment.“I see people say, ‘Well, do you boycott?’ No. You stand up there and you answer questions as an African-American man and you sound intelligent and you carry yourself and conduct yourself to answer and let people know.”And so they did, in not just a building created for spectacle but on a national stage addressing one of the more spectacular expressions of retrograde culture in recent memory. It was the goldfish bowl of the outside world gone mega-viral, and the score of the game was dramatically less important than how the players dealt with the strangest pregame prep any of them have ever experienced.The players still had not just their jobs to do but a point to prove – that their goals do not shrink or become diminished by pursuing them in such an environment, but can be used in an odd way to say to their employer/tormentor, “Not even you at your very worst chases us from what we want now. What we may want later is going to be something different, and something you’ll like much less, but we set our priorities irrespective of your naked contempt for us.”“To me, it’s ministry,” Jackson said. “I think it’s great to have a platform and have dialogue about this. And it exposes some evil. And it’s an advantage.”That would have been equally true had the players chosen to boycott the game entirely, or put aside their competitive issues with each other and make a pregame statement of mutual solidarity. Any statement would contain its own power, save refusing to address it, and in any event Sterling’s true undoing would come not at the hands of his players but at the hands of his peers in NBA ownership, and more broadly to the nation at large."

–Ray Ratto, CSNBayArea.com

Aldon Smith’s fate lies with Jed York

"Forget for a second that San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke recently said the franchise isn’t ready to give up on troubled outside linebacker Aldon Smith. You also shouldn’t spend too much time dwelling on the reports that Smith won’t face felony charges stemming from his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month. The main focus in this ongoing story should be how 49ers CEO Jed York views his 24-year-old star. From the looks of things, York’s attitude toward this situation is the only thing that truly matters going forward.Baalke said Friday that the 49ers are hoping Smith can stabilize his personal life to the point that he can be in San Francisco for many years to come. However, a league source said York doesn’t have much patience left for a Pro Bowl player who has been arrested four times and also missed five games last season after checking into a rehabilitation facility. There already has been an ESPN report that the 49ers aren’t expected to pick up Smith’s $9.75 million option for 2015, but as the source said, “The real variable is what Jed wants to do. If he decides [Smith] lied to him, isn’t committed to sobriety or poses any distraction for his stadium grand opening, he may want to cut bait.”That’s a fairly sizable checklist for Smith to deal with in the coming months. It’s also one that will be somewhat difficult for him to handle. We’re not talking about what he told York about his off-the-field problems, or Smith’s daily battle to stay clean and sober. It’s the part about not becoming a distraction for the 49ers’ new stadium opening — which happens this season — that sounds a little too sizable for him to overcome.You can talk all day long about Jim Harbaugh’s supposedly fractured relationship with Baalke, or the question of how big a contract extension quarterback Colin Kaepernick deserves now that Miami police are questioning him about a “suspicious incident” in that city. Nothing compares to the headlines Smith has produced with his erratic behavior over the past two years. In 2012 alone, he was arrested for a DUI in Miami, stabbed at a party in his home and eventually charged with possessing illegal firearms after police arrived at that event. His recent arrest for allegedly telling airport security he had a bomb as they detained him — a charge that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said will be reviewed as a misdemeanor instead of a felony — also occurred nearly eight months after police found his car crashed in San Jose and booked him on suspicion of DUI and possession of marijuana.No matter how you feel about TSA or the hassles that come with commuting through airports these days, Smith should’ve been smart enough to diffuse a situation that would only look bad for him in the end. Since he apparently did not handle that one well, York has every reason to wonder if it’s time to move on from one of the best pass-rushers in pro football. Smith has a jaw-dropping 42 sacks in just three NFL seasons. But even that isn’t enough to distort the obvious reality that he’s been living on the wild side for far too long.His latest arrest should’ve put Smith into zero-tolerance territory with the 49ers. After all, this is shaping up as the hardest decision York may have to make since he became the operating head of the franchise in 2008 (his parents, John and Denise York, are the 49ers’ co-chairmen). Smith could’ve made things much easier by keeping a low profile and letting his play do the bulk of his talking. Now he’s pushed York into a corner that no owner wants to be in.For the people who think it’s a major deal that Smith won’t get that option, just consider how York would feel if the opening of Levi’s Stadium really was overshadowed by another Smith transgression. The 49ers spent decades trying to make this project work, and they can’t wait to unveil a state-of-the-art venue that will also be home to Super Bowl L during the 2015 season. Talented players come and go. New stadiums — along with the likelihood of greater revenues — always make owners feel like their lives are even more charmed than they already are.The other obvious issue with Smith is that the 49ers have to be thinking about sending a stronger message to the rest of the roster. The decision to not pick up that option (which has to occur by May 3, according to his contract) would be a positive start in that direction. Smith has reached the point in his career where the 49ers have to face legitimate questions about what rewarding a gifted player with baggage could do to their franchise. While the league source quoted earlier said the team is willing to ride out any league-imposed suspension this coming year, don’t think the 49ers aren’t already thinking long and hard about possible options for replacing Smith if he can’t turn around his life.If York needs a situation to compare this to, he might want to look at how the Kansas City Chiefs handled former defensive end Jared Allen in 2008. Allen spent his first four seasons with that organization, including a Pro Bowl campaign in 2007. He also had two arrests for driving under the influence, which proved to be troubling enough for Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson that he refused to offer Allen a long-term deal. That story ended with Peterson ultimately trading Allen to the Minnesota Vikings.That deal is significant in this context for two reasons. The first was that Allen got the opportunity for a fresh start and has been named to four more Pro Bowls to date (he recently joined the Chicago Bears as a free agent). The Chiefs also benefited from the three picks they gained in the trade, as the first-round selection became Pro Bowl left tackle Branden Albert (now with Miami), and one of their two third-round picks turned into Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles. That trade was an example of what happens when a team realizes it needs to make the best of a worrisome situation."

–Jeffri Chadiha, ESPN.com