One of the longest-running NBA executives is out of a job and it’s a he said, he said story.

After 22 years of running the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Clippers, Elgin Baylor has been replaced by Mike Dunleavy as vice president of basketball operations for the Clippers. The problem is it doesn’t seem like Baylor wants to be out of a job.

The organization said that Baylor has resigned, but it doesn’t appear that way. When asked about his “resignation” from the Clippers, Baylor said that there is a difference between him and the organization and that on the advice of his lawyer he should say much more than that.

When was the last time that someone said they talked to their lawyer and every thing was just hunky dorrie? That’s what I thought.

Outside of being arrested, people talk to their lawyers because they’re either going to file a lawsuit or one has been filed against them. From just looking at the surface it appears that Baylor has been pushed out by the Clippers and he pissed about it.

If someone has put 22 years into an organization, and is 74 years old they are not resigning, they are retiring. Maybe he was resigning to take another job, maybe, but in either case, with as many years as Baylor put into the organization there would be much more remising if he was leaving on its own. It wouldn’t be treated the same way you treat something you’re trying to sweep up the rug and move along as quickly as possible.

It’s not to say that it wasn’t time for Baylor to be replaced of his duties. Given the Clippers’ history it’s amazing that he made it 22 years. If he wasn’t an NBA Hall of Famer and named one of the 50 Greatest NBA Players of all time I wonder if he would have made it that long as bad as the team has been.

During Baylor’s 22 years with the organization, the Clippers posted a 619-1153 record and have been the laughing stock of the Association – and most of professional sports – for some time. They have been joined as the laughing stocks of professional sports like the Cincinnati Bengals and the former Montreal Expos. Baseball has had a number of bad teams of late – primarily because the lack of a salary cap and decent revenue sharing prevents the competitive balance that the other sports have – but of late it’s been my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates.

Here’s my rant about the Pirates. Until they totally revamp the whole organization they are going to be perpetually below .500. Explain to me how the Tampa Bay Rays are making the American League Championship Series and Pittsburgh hasn’t sniffed the playoffs since 1992?

I hope the new ownership is trying to do that, but it doesn’t look good. They brought in a new general manager and team president, but so far their moves during the first year were less than impressive. I’ve heard from a lot of experts on TV that their trades have brought in a lot of talent, but I’ve heard that before and they’ve still gone nowhere. I hope they do, but they’ve got to spend some money to invest in players. If you look at all the players they let get away because they weren’t willing to pay them you could put together a pretty decent team. I don’t know if they’d win a World Series or even make the playoffs, but they’d have a much better chance.

Anyways…

If you take a look at all the first round draft picks the Clippers have had over the years you can see why they’ve been a bad team. Only three times during Baylor’s tenure have they not had a lottery pick – with nine picks inside the top five. That’s a boat load of great to good players that they’ve had a chance to draft and have messed it up more times than not.

The number of first-round draft picks that have panned out can be counted on one hand – Heresy Hawkins, Danny Manning, Antonio McDyess, Lamar Odom and Tyson Chandler – but most of them have succeeded on other teams. And for every Lamar Odom you’ve got three Yaroslav Korolev or Michael Olowokndi.

Chris Kaman – who originally looked like a bust when drafted in 2003 – seems to be coming around. That’s fine for a prospect to come around after five years, but only if you’re an established team and can afford that. If you’re a team like the Clippers you need instant help. Last year’s No. 1 pick Al Thornton of Florida State was a member of the 2008 NBA All-Rookie Team and looks like he could be a good building block for the future.

With Baylor on board, the Clippers managed to make the playoffs only four times in 22 years. He was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2006 after the team beat the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. It was the organization’s first playoff series victory since the 1975-76 season when the team was located in Buffalo.

So it’s not like getting rid of Baylor wasn’t the worst thing for the Clippers to do and was probably way too late. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t just fire him and say he was being let go because the team has sucked? This is just going to make the Clippers look worse.

I can’t say that I’m surprised that Baylor failed. The list of former players who were outstanding during their playing career and then sucked as a coach or executive are longer than anyone cares to look at. I think there is something innate in great athletes that they can not explain how to do things or truly evaluate talent. They really never had to break down the sport and learn the nuisances, they just did it without an explanation. That’s not who you want coaching your team or drafting your players.

You want the guy who had to work his ass of just to be average. They had to look at the sport and the skill from every angle possible to get the most out of themselves. They had to teach themselves the game and they can teach it to others because they’ve already used themselves as a guinea pig.
Now the team is in the hands of Dunleavy, who has been their coach for the last six years. Needless to say I’m opposed to the head coach holding any other position in an organization. To be a head coach of a professional team is a big enough task and to add another big task is just too much for one person to handle, but we’ll save that for another post.