BY: Shahan Ahmed, NBC Southern California
Los Angeles is still painted purple and gold.
Steve Ballmer’s personality and passion are undeniable, but his presence courtside will not immediately have any impact on Los Angeles’ allegiance to the Lakers. Eighty-one points and 18 years of Kobe Bryant have cemented another generation of Lakers’ fans.
However, Bryant’s retirement in two years may present the perfect opportunity for the Clippers to step in and create competition. What if the Clippers win the NBA title the same year No. 24 waves goodbye?
As presently constructed, the Clippers probably have a two-year window at a title. Bryant’s contract and likely his career, are up in two years.
Until Bryant’s name is removed from his locker, there is no competition. On the court, the Clippers may have had the Lakers’ number in recent meetings, but off the court, Southern California sweats in Sunday whites with “Bryant” printed on the back, throwback t-shirts that read “3-peat,” and black Hollywood Nights jerseys with “Swaggy P” printed on the back.
When the Los Angeles Lakers were at the top of the standings, getting a seat at Staples Center involved being extremely well connected, handing over a heavy bag of money or being an A-list star. When they hit rock bottom, though, it was difficult to find people consistently watching on television, let alone shelling out big bucks to bear witness to a bad brand of basketball — in this case, “bad” does not mean good. It was painful to watch a team getting blown out and embarrassed on a regular basis, and well, people stopped watching.
— Have You Seen These LIMITED EDITION “Mamba Strikes Back” T-Shirts? —
The Lakers’ television ratings dipped to an average of 2.15 for the 2013-14 NBA season, which amounted to about 122,000 households. That was less than half as many households as the previous season, but in Los Angeles, the Lakers were still well ahead of the Clippers. The Clippers, who finished with more than twice as many wins as the Lakers, ended their season reaching only about 72,000 households on average.
Even through the frustration and anger of losing for a season, though, Los Angeles remained a Lakers’ town. For non-math wizards, the Lakers reached nearly 70 percent more households than the Clippers during the 2013-14 season — a season in which the Lakers set the mark for the worst season in team history (since moving to Los Angeles) with only 27 wins and 55 losses.
Even with the Lakers at their worst, losing every night and starting players that came straight out of the NBA D-League and the Clippers at their best, running away with the division and being one of the favorites to win the title, the Lakers still drove interest in Los Angeles.
New Lakers coach Byron Scott, at his introductory press conference, challenged the notion that Los Angeles had gone to the Clippers. Scott pointed to the 16 championship banners hanging at Staples Center compared to, well, none for the Clippers. Apparently, he could just as well have pointed to the television sets.
For all those claims of bandwagon fandom, the Clippers actually dropped in television ratings from 2012-13 to 2013-14, and the Clippers were popular picks to win the title in 2013-14. Ultimately, Los Angeles jumped off the Lakers’ bandwagon for a season and rather than hop onto the Clippers’ horse and buggy, the bulk of Los Angeles took a gap year from the NBA.
So, why didn’t Los Angeles go to the Clippers?
Shahan Ahmed covers the LA Lakers for NBC Southern California. You can find more of Shahan’s articles on NBCLA’s Lakers’ blog. Also, you can follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA
[divide]Kobe Bryant Reacts To Elbow/Trash Talking Scuffle With Dwight Howard
PAGE 2: Kobe Vs. Dwight: The True Franchise Star Vs. The Heir Non-Apparent
BY: Shahan Ahmed, NBC Southern California
The simple answer is No. 24.
Five championships, seven trips to the NBA Finals and countless moments of brilliance over a career that has spanned nearly two decades makes it impossible to switch sides and truly support the Clippers — at least not while he’s still around.
Lakers’ fans have been spoiled more rotten than Justin Bieber in a Miami penthouse, and they altogether refuse to acknowledge the thought that the Lakers could stay bad for a prolonged stretch. The last time the Lakers were bad for a bit, Kobe Bryant was still scoring 81 points. Shortly thereafter, the Lakers won back-to-back titles.
Before that, the Lakers responded to a couple mediocre seasons by trading for Bryant and signing Shaquille O’Neal. Prior to that, the Lakers had a magical stretch with Earvin Johnson and before that, the greatest offensive player to ever play the game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, held court in bright gold short shorts.
For generations, the Lakers have been great, and the Clippers have been a joke. Generations of Angelinos simply refuse to be reprogrammed. Instead, they choose to deny the reality that the Clippers’ future is brighter than the Lakers’ future because, well, Bryant still has the city under his spell.
For the next two seasons, Los Angeles and the world will tune in to watch Bryant play, presumably, his final years of professional basketball. One of the greatest to ever do it will end his story, and no one — not even Bryant — knows how the book will end.
— Have You Seen These LIMITED EDITION “Mamba Strikes Back” T-Shirts? —
Los Angeles wants to believe in Bryant. How can anyone really doubt Kobe? Who wants to do that? Watching a phoenix rise from the ashes always makes for a better story than watching the final ashes settle on a crisply burnt house.
For nearly two decades, Bryant spoiled the city with his supreme raw talents, his dramatic off the court saga, his athletic maturation, 81 points and his back-to-back return to glory. At the twilight of his career, Bryant’s stubborn attitude not only mirrors the entire city of Los Angeles’ perpetual state of denial. It is the source of said denial.
Scary as it may be to consider, Bryant’s unwavering spell over Los Angeles will be over in a snap. If the Lakers don’t get their stuff together by then, Ballmer and the Clippers may truly pose a threat. With Bryant’s No. 24 in the rafters, the Lakers will need to give Los Angeles a reason to watch.
For now, though, Los Angeles still belongs to the Lakers, and if you hadn’t heard the conversation on the streets, “Kobe is back.”
Shahan Ahmed covers the LA Lakers for NBC Southern California. You can find more of Shahan’s articles on NBCLA’s Lakers’ blog. Also, you can follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA
[divide]Kobe Bryant Reacts To Elbow/Trash Talking Scuffle With Dwight Howard