Lucas Hann joined the Hoops Addicts Anonymous to discuss Donald Sterling, Clippers’ playoff matchups, and important offseason questions.
The Los Angeles Clippers are entering what could be a golden era in their franchise’s 50-year history. Founder of 213Hoops, Lucas Hann joined the Hoops Addicts Anonymous podcast to talk about the transition from Donald Sterling to Steve Ballmer, chemistry on the court between Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, as well as, key offseason questions.
In what seems like almost a decade ago, but in fact, it’s been just over six years since former Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling received a lifetime ban after he was exposed for making racist comments to his, at the time, girlfriend V. Stiviano.
“I have a really vivid memory of not being at home during the Adam Silver press conference… And I remember watching on my phone and using all of my cell-phone data for the month, because this is 2014 and we don’t have unlimited data yet,” Hann recalled.
“It was one of those things for Clippers fans, where Sterling had been around for so long,” Hann later added. “… We all knew who Sterling was, and we all knew that he was the reason why the team was consistently bad. … It was never possible for them to have sustained success under the culture that Donald Sterling created for the team.”
Transitioning to the 2020 Clippers, Hann was asked about the on-court chemistry of George and Leonard. Despite a stellar regular-season record, George and Leonard’s offensive cohesiveness has not always been apparent.
“These are two guys that are unlike some other superstar pairing that we’ve seen. PG and Kawhi don’t necessarily have complementary games. … I don’t think there’s ever going to be an amazing mesh between PG and Kawhi where we’re like, these guys are better because they’re on the floor with each other.”
“What I think they need, and Kawhi has done this, this year and PG hasn’t. … These guys both need to step up their own creation in ways that they haven’t had to in their careers before.”
Hann and Hoops AA host Geoff Campbell went on to discuss the Clippers’ chances at beating the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game series as well as the odds that Montrezl Harrell returns next season. A fascinating and entertaining conversation with one of the biggest Clippers fans around just in time for the NBA restart.