La Clippers

They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and are members of the NBA Western Conference's Pacific Division. The club's home games are played at the Staples Center, which they share with the Los Angeles Lakers.


Franchise history
The Clippers began in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves.

The team's first head coach was Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, the franchise's first star players were Bob Kauffman and Don May, who were acquired in the 1970 NBA Expansion Draft. As typical of first-year expansion teams, the Braves finished with a dismal record, going 22-60, seven games ahead of expansion-mate Cleveland, which finished its season at 15-67.

Kauffman, who averaged 4.3 points per game the previous year with the Chicago Bulls, led Buffalo in scoring with 20.4 points per game and earned a spot on the 1971 NBA Eastern Conference All-Star team.
The Braves repeated their 22-60 record in the following 1971-72 season, but did make good acquisitions that would make the club better. Buffalo drafted center Elmore Smith from Kentucky State University, and local favorite Randy Smith, from Buffalo State College.

Schayes was replaced one game into the season with John McCarthy as the team's head coach. The team did not do much better in the 1972-73 season, as they went 21-61 under new head coach, Dr.

The team finally made its first playoff appearance in 1973-74, where they faced the Boston Celtics in the first round and lost in six games.
In 1974-75, Bob McAdoo was awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, averaging 34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.12 blocks per game, while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the free-throw line. The Braves made a trip to the playoffs in the 1974–75 season and again during the 1975-76 season, which would be one of their last in Buffalo.
By the summer of 1976, the team's founding owner Paul Snyder was doing all he could to sell the team.Later that summer Snyder finally sold 50 percent of the franchise to businessman John Y. Brown later acquired the remaining half from Snyder sometime in the 1976-77 season.

Brown, in turn, sold a percentage of the team to another businessman, Harry T. However, a provision in the transaction stipulated that if Brown sold the contract of any Braves player, then the money would go to Snyder and the purchase price would be reduced.

This subsequently occurred when the Braves sent McAdoo to the New York Knicks for players and cash midway through the 1976–77 season.
Because of the team's poor play in its final two years (30–52 in 1976–77 and 27–55 in 1977-78), along with rumors of the franchise relocating because of low season ticket sales, John Y. Brown met with the then-owner of the Celtics, Irv Levin and negotiated a deal in which the owners would swap franchises, in which Brown would take control of the Celtics and Levin would get the Braves.

The deal was brokered by David Stern, the general counsel for the NBA who later became the league's commissioner in 1984. Following what would be the final season in western New York, the NBA owners voted 21-1 to let the Braves relocate.

They moved to San Diego, California after the 1977-78 season, and became the San Diego Clippers.
The San Diego years (1978-84)


San Diego Clippers logo.

In the team's first season in San Diego, the Clippers posted a winning record, going 43-39, under new head coach Gene Shue. As it turned out, it would be the Clippers' last winning season for 13 years.Randy Smith had another solid season, averaging 20.5 points per game, finishing second behind World B. Free continued his great scoring, again finishing second in league scoring, with 30.2 PPG.

Walton missed the entire season once again due to chronic foot injuries. The Clippers' poor play in their final years in San Diego resulted in poor attendance with the team averaging only 4,500 fans per game.

In the 1989-90 season, Baylor made a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers that brought Ron Harper in exchange for forward Danny Ferry and swingman Reggie Williams. The Clippers advanced to the playoffs for the first time in 16 years (since they were Buffalo), but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz, 3–2.

The Clippers returned to the playoffs again in the 1992-93 season with a 41–41 regular season record, but lost again in five games in the first round, this time to the Houston Rockets.
Brown left the Clippers to join the Indiana Pacers as their head coach, and Bob Weiss was brought in to replace him. After one year on the job, Weiss was fired, and veteran head coach Bill Fitch was brought in to guide a roster of young and inexperienced players.

That team made the playoffs with a losing record (36–46) and were swept in the first round by the eventual Western Conference Champion Utah Jazz, 3 games to none.
From 1994 to 1999, the Clippers played selected home games in the Honda Center (known at the time as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim), sharing the venue with the Anaheim Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim) (hockey) and the Splash (soccer). It was speculated that the Clippers might move to play in Anaheim full time.
However, in 1999, the Clippers and Lakers both started to play in the Staples Center.The team also hired Hall of Famer and former Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as an assistant coach, to help tutor second-year center Michael Olowokandi. Suddenly, with a good point guard in Miller, the playmaker Lamar Odom at small forward, one of the league's best power forwards, Elton Brand, the emerging center Michael Olowokandi, and a very good supporting cast off the bench, the Clippers could actually make a serious run for the playoffs.

The Clippers had been lacking consistent outside shooting which is what they were looking for in the trade.
While the Clippers had a few stretches of poor play this season, resulting in some frustrating losses, they nonetheless were able to maintain a solid record, including posting several winning streaks. Corey Maggette came off the bench to score 25 points, with 7–8 shooting from the field, and 9–9 from the free throw line.

The Clippers lost the seventh game to Phoenix 127–107.
General Manager (and Basketball Hall of Fame member) Elgin Baylor won the NBA Executive of the Year award for his leading the Clippers to the playoffs.
2006–07 season
The 2006 off-season started as the team drafted center Paul Davis from Michigan State University in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft, as the 34th overall pick. While Davis signed with the team in July, Diaz was not signed, and decided to play overseas.

Christie was not retained, and was suspended on the final day of his second 10-day contract with the team, due to Christie's desire to not return to the team, because of the team's lack of on-court direction. Tony Daly, Livingston's prognosis for him to return to basketball activity from the point in time of his injury is eight months (which would put it at around the first week of the upcoming season) to a full calendar year. The Clippers, which were expected by many to make the playoffs again after their surprise appearance the season before, finished the season 40–42, 2 games behind the 8th-seeded Warriors.

Gordon officially signed with the team on July 7, while Jordan and Taylor both signed on July 15.
Also on July 15, the Clippers acquired forward–center Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets in return for a $10 million trade exception and the choice to exchange second round picks with the Clippers in 2010. On July 23, the Clippers also acquired guard Jason Hart from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Brevin Knight. The Clippers continued their active offseason with signing reserve forward–center (and one-time Clipper) Brian Skinner on July 31, and traded for reserve forward Steve Novak on August 6 for future second-round pick considerations, in a deal similar to the Camby trade.
On August 7, the team signed guard Jason Williams from the Miami Heat to a one-year deal.
Recently, the Los Angeles Clippers re-signed forward Paul Davis.Jack Ramsay, Head Coach, 1973-76 (Buffalo Braves)
Elgin Baylor, General Manager, 1986-2008. Coincidentally, one of three teams to have such a low point total in a half was the Clippers.
On March 23, 2007 the Utah Jazz (44-23 at the time) lost to the Clippers (32-36 coming into the match) 104-72 in Los Angeles.

That was the largest margin of defeat by an NBA team at least 20 games over .500 to a team under .500 since the Houston Rockets lost in Orlando 114-82 on March 30, 1991.
The Clippers are currently the oldest NBA team to never appear in the NBA Finals.
The Clippers are one of three teams (along with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Charlotte Bobcats) to have never won an NBA Championship,Conference Championship and a Division Championship in franchise history respectively.
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