Elgin Baylor

Only the Clippers, it seems, could be involved in a fight in which a fair outcome is unattainable, and a rooting interest is impossible. It's Elgin Baylor suing Donald Sterling, a fallen general manager charging the falling owner of being racist and cheap, allegations that apparently occurred to Baylor only after working there for more than two decades. One cannot pick sides, only emotions. Sadness comes to mind. How do you back an owner who is now fighting two lawsuits accusing him of racism?

One of the more provocative allegations in the lawsuit filed by former Clippers executive and NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor against the Clippers, the NBA and owner Donald Sterling and team president Andy Roeser dealt with a comment allegedly made by Sterling about his former player Danny Manning.

The last line of questioning may have been the toughest for Elgin Baylor during his news conference Thursday morning at his attorney's office in Beverly Hills. What have you been doing since October, Elgin? Have you been watching Clippers games? Do you cheer for the team? Is it tough to cheer for the team? Baylor, 74, the NBA Hall of Famer and former Clippers executive, didn't answer and appeared more emotional than at any time during the session.

Elgin Baylor followed Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy's suit a day earlier, labeling the team's season as disappointing. "It's been a disappointing season -- no doubt about that," Baylor, the team's vice president of basketball operations, said at Friday's practice. "The expectations going into the season, with the team we had, we believed we were talented enough to win. Even knowing that [Elton] Brand was out and Shaun Livingston was out. "We haven't played as well as we thought we would play.

It would be easy to say that Elgin Baylor has left the building. But the Lakers great and NBA Hall of Famer never quite got there. Moving Day, the Clippers' switch to their new facility in Playa Vista, took place last month essentially without Baylor, their longtime vice president of basketball operations and general manager. He had not been on hand during the early stages of training camp and his power within the organization had greatly diminished well before then.

Donald T. Sterling Sterling World Plaza Beverly Hills, Calif. Dear Donald, I hate to be the one to tell you this but Elgin Baylor just hung them up. Come on, you must remember. Tall, distinguished-looking former NBA great? Headed up your Clippers' front office the last 22 years? I knew you'd remember! Oh, you knew about this? Actually, it turns out that you hung up Elgin's shoes with Elgin still in them, officially handing his duties to Coach Mike Dunleavy.

Where was Elgin? Clippers center Chris Kaman didn't spend a great deal of time around Southern California in the summer, mostly because he was playing for Germany in the Beijing Olympics. So Kaman didn't think much when he didn't see Elgin Baylor, who had been the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations and general manager since 1986. Even though Baylor didn't come to practice all the time, Kaman finally started wondering as the days passed in the Clippers' training camp.

Elgin Baylor, NBA executive of the year? "I've had some people mention it to me, the award, but I've never really thought about it," the longtime Clipper general manager said. "We need to wait and see what happens before you start getting into all of that. Let's get into the playoffs and do something in the playoffs. That's what I'm thinking about." In large part because of Baylor's moves, the Clippers are in position to earn their first Western Conference playoff berth in nine seasons.

The Clippers are two wins from winning a playoff series for the first time in 30 years, which suggests things haven't gone that well around here, but why now? I had a theory, only to discover the "Curse of Elgin Baylor" had already been posted on the Internet. According to Wikipedia.org, "the free encyclopedia," the Curse of Elgin Baylor "is a phenomenon that supposedly prevents basketball teams from winning championships."