[Youngmisuk] Steve Ballmer said he “hated” seeing Paul George leave, but made it clear he believes the retooled roster surrounding Kawhi Leonard and James Harden can contend this season.
[Youngmisuk] Steve Ballmer said he “hated” seeing Paul George leave, but made it clear he believes the retooled roster surrounding Kawhi Leonard and James Harden can contend this season.
2019 playoff leonard and prime 35 ppg a game james harden contending this season together
Rzua_
They can’t. Harden is washed and Kawhi just had his healthiest season in like 7 years and still could only play 2 playoff games
The team will be nice defensively but has mid spacing. Most likely outcome is Harden choking again, but this time in the play-in
Bigschusta
Contend for the Play-in.
icewill36
the “others” are clearly better. if porter jr plays well they will be much better than people think.
CP3sHamstring
I think they have the exact same ceiling as last year without having to pay that shitty PG contract. If Kawhi makes it to the playoffs they’ll be better than last year when it was PG and no Kawhi, otherwise it’s a first round exit at best anyway.
pskill43
He also believed Zune would be a hit and Windows phone would take out iPhone
Goldenwarrior92
I’m sure as the owner he is saying that because he doesn’t want to say “We made the team mid this season since we don’t control our picks and keeping PG would have been more of the same with way too much cost to justify a mid tear team and retooled to have a lower ceiling but likely similar floor as seasons past. Instead we opted to make a semi-competitive team that will likely be an early playoff exit and set the team up for 2026 free agency with little to nothing on the books.”
BurnCollector_
Nowhere in the included video here does Ballmer say anything about “contending”. The closest thing to it is: “I think we’re going to have a good team this year. We’ll see how good we are. I like our guys, I like how hard we’re going to compete, and we’ll see how far we’re gonna go.”
More quotes from the article:
“I love Paul,” Ballmer said. “Let’s start with Paul as a human being. Paul is a great human being and I’ve really enjoyed my opportunity to get to know Paul’s family. So on a personal level, I hated it. I hated it.
“From a basketball perspective, Paul is a fantastic player, future Hall of Famer. But we knew we needed to continue to get better. And with the new CBA, what tools, what flexibility [can be restricted], we made Paul what I consider a great offer. But it was a great offer in terms of us thinking about how to win championships. It wasn’t what Paul wanted.”
“He wanted to go and I respect him for that,” Ballmer said of George. “Basketball players don’t have that many years in their lives to really make money, etc. I wish he was here and I wish him well. We got a lot of great players we added that we wouldn’t have been able to add otherwise. So I’m happy about that too.”
LDisDBfathersonsfans
Kawhi is going to play in 40 of the first 50 games followed by missing the rest of the season and Harden will be 35 this season with a reputation for coming into the season out of shape. Very hopeful there Steve.
StoneyRibs
Clippers not better than OKC, Nuggets, Mavericks or Timberwolves in the West.
They might be 5th best. Or they might be 12th best. Think they’re closer to 12th.
screwt
Poor James has just been bouncing around trying to be second or third fiddle somewhere to try and get a ring and instead every place he goes is a team who’s number one guy is made of glass and it’s on him to carry. He keeps choosing them though. Sad to say it’s looking like he’ll be the best player to never win a ring.
UnnamedStaplesDrone
Yeah 34 year old Harden with multiple hamstring issues plus 33 year old Kawhi with multiple/chronic knee issues. Sounds good!
what exactly would’ve keeping PG have cost the clips? They made a few changes but with PG and Kawhi healthy (big if) they still would be contenders..
krusty-krab69
They’ll be lucky to avoid the play in. A few injuries to harden and leonard (almost garunteed at least one of them will miss significant time) they may miss the playoffs entirely. Everyone but the trailblazers and spurs are expected to compete for playoff spots in the west .
BossierPenguin
Lottery team incoming, but without the pick.
TheDogtor--
They will compete, yet not contend.
DontBanMe_IWasJoking
they had one too many stars but they needed to move on from kawhi not PG imo
ngorman007
Sure…..KaWheelchair Leonard, washed Harden, and Temu PG will “contend”
jayelecfan
clippers and contend never belong in the same sentence
TheGhostWithTheMost2
He lying to himself
suckm640
lowkey it sounds like Ballmer is fine with aiming for a play-in spot
jessandjaysaccount
they will be a .500 team
621_
Kawhi needs new knees 😭 what could’ve been if it wasn’t for Zaza
sleepy_fuzz
“Retool” is another word for tank, and they are going to be bad.
elmo_dude0
Meow
Sad-Ship
You would have to be a colossal idiot to make any “plans” that included Kawhi, and I’m a huge Kawhi stan
28 Comments
I do not agree
2019 playoff leonard and prime 35 ppg a game james harden contending this season together
They can’t. Harden is washed and Kawhi just had his healthiest season in like 7 years and still could only play 2 playoff games
The team will be nice defensively but has mid spacing. Most likely outcome is Harden choking again, but this time in the play-in
Contend for the Play-in.
the “others” are clearly better. if porter jr plays well they will be much better than people think.
I think they have the exact same ceiling as last year without having to pay that shitty PG contract. If Kawhi makes it to the playoffs they’ll be better than last year when it was PG and no Kawhi, otherwise it’s a first round exit at best anyway.
He also believed Zune would be a hit and Windows phone would take out iPhone
I’m sure as the owner he is saying that because he doesn’t want to say “We made the team mid this season since we don’t control our picks and keeping PG would have been more of the same with way too much cost to justify a mid tear team and retooled to have a lower ceiling but likely similar floor as seasons past. Instead we opted to make a semi-competitive team that will likely be an early playoff exit and set the team up for 2026 free agency with little to nothing on the books.”
Nowhere in the included video here does Ballmer say anything about “contending”. The closest thing to it is: “I think we’re going to have a good team this year. We’ll see how good we are. I like our guys, I like how hard we’re going to compete, and we’ll see how far we’re gonna go.”
More quotes from the article:
“I love Paul,” Ballmer said. “Let’s start with Paul as a human being. Paul is a great human being and I’ve really enjoyed my opportunity to get to know Paul’s family. So on a personal level, I hated it. I hated it.
“From a basketball perspective, Paul is a fantastic player, future Hall of Famer. But we knew we needed to continue to get better. And with the new CBA, what tools, what flexibility [can be restricted], we made Paul what I consider a great offer. But it was a great offer in terms of us thinking about how to win championships. It wasn’t what Paul wanted.”
“He wanted to go and I respect him for that,” Ballmer said of George. “Basketball players don’t have that many years in their lives to really make money, etc. I wish he was here and I wish him well. We got a lot of great players we added that we wouldn’t have been able to add otherwise. So I’m happy about that too.”
Kawhi is going to play in 40 of the first 50 games followed by missing the rest of the season and Harden will be 35 this season with a reputation for coming into the season out of shape. Very hopeful there Steve.
Clippers not better than OKC, Nuggets, Mavericks or Timberwolves in the West.
They might be 5th best. Or they might be 12th best. Think they’re closer to 12th.
Poor James has just been bouncing around trying to be second or third fiddle somewhere to try and get a ring and instead every place he goes is a team who’s number one guy is made of glass and it’s on him to carry. He keeps choosing them though. Sad to say it’s looking like he’ll be the best player to never win a ring.
Yeah 34 year old Harden with multiple hamstring issues plus 33 year old Kawhi with multiple/chronic knee issues. Sounds good!
[Ballmer Cam 2 years from now when Kawhi is gone and they have no picks so 3/4 of the arena switched back to purp n gold](https://youtu.be/lLPAUHdyjRI?si=-FXg8gU3IW_m5-He)
what exactly would’ve keeping PG have cost the clips? They made a few changes but with PG and Kawhi healthy (big if) they still would be contenders..
They’ll be lucky to avoid the play in. A few injuries to harden and leonard (almost garunteed at least one of them will miss significant time) they may miss the playoffs entirely. Everyone but the trailblazers and spurs are expected to compete for playoff spots in the west .
Lottery team incoming, but without the pick.
They will compete, yet not contend.
they had one too many stars but they needed to move on from kawhi not PG imo
Sure…..KaWheelchair Leonard, washed Harden, and Temu PG will “contend”
clippers and contend never belong in the same sentence
He lying to himself
lowkey it sounds like Ballmer is fine with aiming for a play-in spot
they will be a .500 team
Kawhi needs new knees 😭 what could’ve been if it wasn’t for Zaza
“Retool” is another word for tank, and they are going to be bad.
Meow
You would have to be a colossal idiot to make any “plans” that included Kawhi, and I’m a huge Kawhi stan