Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are two big reasons why the Clippers will be a force in the Western Conference. (GETTY IMAGES)

Donald Sterling will no longer be an embarrassment to the NBA now that he has been replaced by new Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

Sterling embarrassed himself, the Clippers and the NBA when a recording was leaked by his personal assistant V. Stiviano on April 25, sending shockwaves through the basketball community. In the recording, he got caught red-handed in a racist rant. New commissioner Adam Silver acted quickly and banned Sterling from the league for life and fined him $2.5 million. The fine was the maximum allowed under the CBA. Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, stepped in and offered $2 billion to buy the team, shocking people regarding the amount of money for a largely unsuccessful franchise during the course of their history.

The Clippers won a franchise-best 57 games last season, eclipsing the 56 wins they set in 2012-13. But the Clippers lost in the second round of the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, so there will be a little added pressure this season for head coach Doc Rivers and point guard Chris Paul.

Rivers is entering his second season as the head man and they need to be able to get past the first round. However, his arrival seemed to light a fire under big man DeAndre Jordan, who finally had a career year (10.4 points per game, 13.6 rebounds per game, 2.5 blocks per game and 67.6% on field goals) and achieved some of the vast potential he had been teasing the Clippers with for years.

Paul, 28, was consistent as ever last season (19.1 ppg, 10.7 assists per game, and 2.5 steals per game), but he is entering his fourth season with the Clippers and needs to help the team achieve more when it matters. The West is of course stacked from top to bottom, but if he wants to be considered the best PG in the game, he has to help them win more. Being the best at his position is tied to success in the playoffs.

The team didn’t have a lot of money to spend on free agents in the offseason, but they landed a solid signing when they picked up Spencer Hawes, 26, for four years and $23 million ($5.8 million per season). He made $6.5 million last season and took a minor paycut. He is going to give L.A. one of the best backup big men in the league.

He will backup power forward Blake Griffin and Jordan at center. Last season, L.A. was forced to use Byron Mullens, Ryan Hollins, and Glen Davis at center when Jordan was out of the game. Hawes gives Doc a super-sub at PF/C like Jamaal Crawford gives them at PG/SG. Hawes averaged a career-high 13.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 3 apg for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers. He also made an amazing 41.6% of his 3-pointers. Hawes is a great passer in addition to being a good outside shooter (36.1% on 3-pointers), he has registered nine assists three times in his career. He’s going to give L.A. a nice offensive option when he plays center with Griffin and he can slide over to PF and play the stretch four when Griffin needs a rest.

Crawford is the other super-sub the Clippers have and he’s a huge part of an improved bench with the Hawes signing. Crawford had a great year (18.6 ppg and 3.2 apg) and gives them a great 1-2 punch at shooting guard with J.J. Redick (15.2 ppg, 45.5% and 39.5% on 3’s). Redick was very solid in his first season with the Clippers, even though he played in just 35 games due to a back injury. Having Crawford means they don’t lose too much when Redick is out, but if he’s healthy the Clippers will have one of the best benches in the NBA.

The Clippers lost their backup PG Darren Collison when he signed with the Sacramento Kings. They didn’t have to look far to find a replacement as they snatched Jordan Farmar away from the team across the hall, the rival Lakers. Farmar may not always be the picture of good health himself, but for 15-18 minutes per game and maybe 18-20 starts a season he’s a solid pickup. Farmar is coming off his second-best season of his career (10.1 ppg and 4.9 apg in 22 mpg). However, he played in just 41 games due to a variety of injuries.

Griffin blossomed last season into a full fledged superstar as he averaged a career-high 24.1 ppg (up from 18 ppg the previous season), 9.5 rpg and a career-high 3.9 apg. Griffin’s improvement as a passer means teams can’t just double-team. His defense still needs some work but no player is perfect.

Matt Barnes returns as the starting small forward and provides defense and some timely shooting. Barnes, 34, will have most of the minutes since Jared Dudley was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks (for veteran swingman Carlos Delfino basically). Barnes averaged 10 ppg and 4.6 rpg last season, but his 3-point shooting in clutch situations was good, despite a mediocre 34.3%. Delfino will see some backup minutes there once he’s healthy, he missed all of last season with a foot injury. He averaged 10 ppg and made 37% of his 3-pointers in the 2012-13 season with the Houston Rockets. Reggie Bullock may have a better shot at seeing minutes at SF than SG since the team is loaded at that position.

Outlook

The regular season is just a warmup to the postseason, and that is where the Clippers will be judged. Rivers, CP, Griffin are all going to be graded based on their ability to get beyond the second round. This is a team that should easily win 53-55 games and claim one of the top seeds, unless injuries hit and they need to show they are a true contender for the NBA title. The Spurs have to get old sometime, right?

Darren Jacks is a contributing writer for OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @djroxalot.

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racially insensitive remarks spark a firestorm of criticism. (GETTY IMAGES)

Adam Silver’s first major decision as NBA commissioner was swift, forceful and warranted.

Silver announced Tuesday that the league is banning Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA for racially charged remarks he made during an argument with his alleged mistress. Sterling is also fined $2.5 million, the maximum allowed by the league, and Silver urges the NBA Board of Governors to force Sterling to sell the team.

The decision was justified because of the gravity of the situation.

Sterling has a long history of being insensitive toward minorities. Twice in the last 15 years he was sued for discriminating against blacks, Latinos and Asians. Those who have come to know Sterling — arguably one of the worst owners in sports — are well aware of his reputation. His views are straight out of the mind of a plantation owner. He’s Cliven Bundy without the Cowboy hat and ranch.

When TMZ obtained the audio recording between Sterling and his female friend, V. Stiviano — who is half his age — the rest of the world got to know the real Donald Sterling. When TMZ gets a hold of something it spreads like a forest fire.

Here’s part of their conversation published by TMZ and Deadspin:

V. Stiviano: I don’t understand, I don’t see your views. I wasn’t raised the way you were raised.

Donald Sterling: Well then, if you don’t feel—don’t come to my games. Don’t bring black people, and don’t come.

V: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?

DS: It’s the world! You go to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs.

V: So do you have to treat them like that too?

DS: The white Jews, there’s white Jews and black Jews, do you understand?

V: And are the black Jews less than the white Jews?

DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.

V: And is that right?

DS: It isn’t a question—we don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.

V: But shouldn’t we take a stand for what’s wrong? And be the change and the difference?

DS: I don’t want to change the culture, because I can’t. It’s too big and too [unknown].

V: But you can change yourself.

DS: I don’t want to change. If my girl can’t do what I want, I don’t want the girl. I’ll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want. But you’re not that girl.

The comments were downright disturbing, but not stunning. In today’s world, if you think racism doesn’t exit then you must be hiding under a rock. No matter how far we’ve come as a society and no matter how many times we’ve moved forward, there is still a large portion of society who are racists and bigots. Sterling is not the first nor the last billionaire who thinks the playing field should not be level.

Other NBA owners didn’t exactly condemn Sterling’s remarks until a couple of days later. They have their own skeletons in the closet. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he doesn’t want to associate himself with an owner who have racist views, but punishing owners for making ignorant statements is a “slippery slope.”

Sterling must not like prosperity because it took three decades for his franchise to finally enjoy a winner on the basketball court. The Clippers were the laughingstock of the NBA until Chris Paul joined forces with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form Lob City in 2011.

With Doc Rivers at the helm, the Clippers are legitimate championship contenders this season. But after Sterling’s skeletons spilled out into the open, the Clippers name is sullied again.

The players silently protested at the start of Game 3 of their playoff series with Golden State by removing their warm-up sweaters and dropping them at center court. They flipped their T-shirts inside-out so the Clipper logo doesn’t show on their chest or back.

Paul says the team is unified more than ever and moving forward because they don’t want one man to ruin the season. But you can see the stress on Paul’s face. He looks fatigued from all the off-the-court drama he has to deal not just as a player but as president of the NBA Players Association.

Rivers also looked stressed. As much as he wanted to focus on the series with the Warriors, the Sterling debacle is inescapable.

The Clippers head home to L.A. for Game 5. But being at home probably won’t keep them safe from the dark cloud that hangs over the entire organization.

“We’re going home now,” said Rivers. “Usually that would mean we’re going to our safe haven. And I don’t even know if thats true.”

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

It’s time for Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers to make the leap into the upper echelon of the Western Conference. (GETTY IMAGES)

The Clippers are tired of being the other team in Los Angeles.

They traded for Chris Paul before last season, but it wasn’t enough. Not after Chauncey Billups was lost for the season with a serious injury when he tore his left Achilles tendon in February.

So, they went out and upgraded the bench and adding some scoring punch. Jamal Crawford was added to back up Billups and provide some insurance in case he continues to break down physically. The team acquired veterans Grant Hill and Lamar Odom to provide some frontcourt depth. In other minor moves, Ronny Turiaf and Ryan Hollins, as well as former Laker Matt Barnes, were added to the roster.

Barnes is expected to compete for minutes as a backup small forward, and Willie Green as a backup shooting guard.

Crawford was the best pickup as he gives the Clippers a talented shooter that will help Paul, so he doesn’t have to try and do too much offensively like he has had to do his entire career (mostly with the Hornets).

Paul should be able to focus on running the offense and scoring when he sees an opportunity. Billups gives them a second floor general at shooting guard who can pick his spots to launch his shots and also run the offense at times. But at his age, he needs to choose his spots more carefully. The man can still play some ball when healthy though.

Caron Butler has more help at SF and that should save wear and tear on him. Blake Griffin is recovering from an injury he suffered during the Olympics, but he should be ready for the start of the season. However, he needs to develop his offensive game in order for the Clippers to become a special team capable of taking over L.A. from the Lakers.

Center DeAndre Jordan, who was given a crazy $51 million contract before last season, provides defense and rebounding. If he could develop an offensive game, the Clippers would be a deadlier team with more offensive options than just Griffin, CP, Billups and Crawford.

So what does all this mean for the Clippers? They need to try and win so Paul is enticed to stay in Los Angeles and sign long-term extension (he turned down a three-year deal worth $60 million in July) rather than leave and go to another team. That’s the trendy thing to do lately and Paul isn’t above that. No elite player is.

The man on the hot seat is head coach Vinny Del Negro. The Clippers helped save his job by beating the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the postseason, but the pressure will be on to get better and to advance to the Western Conference finals.

That has to be the expectation with all the money Donald Sterling has doled out. Sterling is a Scrooge when it comes to handing out big contracts, but lately he has spent the kind of money that leads to high expectations. Del Negro has to be happy that they are adding depth, but it puts the pressure squarely on his shoulders to make this work. Owners find it much easier to fire a coach than the 12-15 players on the roster if they don’t perform up to the expectations.

Lets see how good of a coach you are, Vinny.

Projected finish in Pacific Division: Second.

Darren Jacks is a regular contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Send him an email at: djroxalot@hotmail.com.